Politicians gathered in the German Bundestag on Thursday, January 27, to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In their speeches, the president of the Israeli parliament, Mickey Levy, and Holocaust survivor Inge Auerbacher appealed to the parliament to keep the memory of the victims alive. 

German parliament marks 77 years since liberation of Auschwitz

January 27, 2022, marks 77 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in German-occupied Poland. Since 1996 it has been designated in Germany as an international day of remembrance for the victims of the National Socialist regime, including 6 million murdered Jews. 

The day was marked in the German parliament in Berlin with a special event featuring music by composers who were sent to concentration camps, and speeches from Levy and Auerbacher. Auerbacher, who was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechia in 1942, at the age of seven, was visibly fighting back tears as she recalled the abuse and suffering inflicted on her family by the Nazis. 

She told the Bundestag that marking the day was essential to keeping the memories of those lost alive. “I have lived in New York for 75 years and can still remember well this terrible time of terror and hate,” the 87-year-old said. “Unfortunately this cancer has resurfaced and hatred of Jews is common in many countries of the world including Germany… This sickness must be healed as soon as possible.”  

Mickey Levy, who is the speaker of the Israeli Knesset, embraced Auerbacher and cried as he recited a poem for the dead. “Keeping the memory of the Holocaust alive is a difficult task, a task placed on the shoulders of every generation,” he said. 

Number of Holocaust survivors dwindling every year

This year’s event is expected to be one of the last Holocaust Remembrance Days addressed by a survivor. Every year, the number of remaining survivors in Germany - living, breathing witnesses to the atrocities committed nearly 80 years ago - is dwindling. According to the Holocaust Survivors’ Rights Authority, more than 15.000 survivors died in 2021 alone. 

Steffen Hebestreit, a spokesperson for Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said that Germany would “soon have to go forward without the personal recollections of the last survivors.” 

On Wednesday, leaders in Europe pledged to confront the rise of antisemitism and Holocaust denial, with the coronavirus pandemic having seemingly driven extremist violence and incitement. European Council President Charles Michel said the lessons of the Holocaust were now “more relevant than ever.”