Representational Image. ANI
International Holocaust Remembrance Day is marked on 27 January every year by people across the world. The solemn occasion is observed on the anniversary of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp’s liberation by Russian soldiers in 1945. On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the United Nations and other global entities reaffirm their commitment towards fighting anti-Semitism, racism and other forms of discrimination. The world recalls the horrors of the Holocaust on this day and vows to never let such widespread genocide take place again. The theme of this year’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day is “Home and Belonging”, to highlight the multidimensional needs of those who have been the victims of “atrocity crimes”. The theme also draws attention to the dangers posed by Holocaust denial and distortion, hate speech, anti-Semitism and prejudice.
What was the Holocaust?
The Holocaust was the systematic state-sponsored persecution of Jews by the Nazi government in Germany and its allies and collaborators. About six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust between 1933 and 1945.
According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Nazi Germany and its allies and collaborators killed almost two out of every three European Jews using deadly living conditions, mass shootings and gassings, brutal mistreatment and specially designed killing centres during the Second World War.
Essential books to read on International Holocaust Remembrance Day:
It is essential for everyone to know more about the horrors that took place during the Holocaust to ensure that the extermination of people belonging to a particular religion, region, race, colour or culture is not repeated anywhere in the world. It is also important for them to understand how nations begin discriminatory policies against their own citizens, which can ultimately lead to state-sponsored persecution programs and policies.
Here are some books you can read on Holocaust Remembrance Day:
Maus by Art Spiegelman:
This graphic novel recounts the experiences of the author’s father during the Holocaust. Maus took an experimental approach towards the depiction of the Holocaust with the Jews being depicted as mice and the Nazi Germans as cats. In a series of interviews with his father Vladek, Spiegelman explores the themes of guilt and grief and comes to term with his family’s past. The book was widely praised for showing how trauma can fester on for years, leading to complicated relationships between Holocaust survivors and their children. Maus was the first graphic novel to win the Pulitzer Prize.
Night by Elie Wiesel:An account of Wiesel’s time at the concentration camps in Buchenwald and Auschwitz towards the end of World War II, Night is a terrifying account of what actually went on in the places. The book, which is the first part of Wiesel’s trilogy dealing with the Holocaust, shows how he and his family had to fight for their survival and the brutality and cruelty they endured.
Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
Victor E Frankl was imprisoned for three years in Auschwitz and other concentration camps. But the Austrian psychiatrist did not lose hope of a rescue. Man’s Search For Meaning is at once his memoir, a self-help book, as well as a psychology manual. Frankl developed the theory of logotherapy from his experiences in the camp, claiming that people can overcome suffering by finding purpose in life.
Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Kenally
Later renamed as Schindler’s List (on the Steven Spielberg movie of the same name), the novel is based on the true story of German industrialist Oskar Schindler, who gambled away his fortune to rescue 1,300 Jews from the gas chambers. The novel closely follows Schindler’s attempts to save the Jewish people under his care, while also elaborating on the conditions in war-time Germany.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
The book traces the journey of Lale Sokolov, who is forcibly transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau because he was a Slovakian Jew. The novel describes how Sokolov was given the job of a T?towierer (the German word for tattooist) and forced to mark his fellow prisoners with tattoos, just because he could speak multiple languages. Risking his own life, he tries to make life better for his fellow inmates and barter with his German superiors. He vows to survive the camp when he meets and falls in love with Gita, another person who is imprisoned at the camp. The emotional tale will surely leave you teary-eyed.
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