Sixtieth Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz

January 27, 2005 marked the 60th anniversary of the day the Red Army (Russia) marched through Poland, liberating the survivors of Auschwitz, an infamous and cruelly efficient Nazi concentration camp. Over one million people were killed at Auschwitz within five years. The majority were Jews, but Poles, Russian prisoners of war, suspected homosexuals and Roma (Gypsies), were also imprisoned there. I'd have written about it earlier, but I've been completely wrapped up in news coverage about the event. My favorite (or should I say favourite) source is the BBC's in-depth coverage of Auschwitz, its history, its creators, victims and survivors.

Great Britain also deserves belated props for its honest take on humanity's progress since the end of the Holocaust. The theme of last year's Holocaust Memorial Day was '"From the Holocaust to Rwanda: Lessons learned, lessons still to learn."

Coincidentally, also on January 27, 2005, the United Nations commission appointed to investigate charges of genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan submitted its report to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Horrific atrocities notwithstanding, the commission's report revealed that they could find "no genocidal intent" in Darfur. I hope that 10 years from now we won't be making the theme of Holocaust Memorial Day: "From the Holocaust to Sudan: We've got the books out, but we still can't get that lesson."

Props to the US Department of State for defying the UN and standing by its determination that genocide was, and perhaps still is, occurring in the Darfur region. Not that the US did anything about the genocide, but one must take what narrow scraps one gets and try to build a house.

--YG&B