This year marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Nazi Germany. January 27, 1945, was a day of deliverance for thousands of Jews as Soviet soldiers from the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front opened the front gates of Auschwitz. In recognition of this event, the United Nations General Assembly formed a resolution that designated January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The concept of remembrance is a focal point that God has imparted to the heart of the Jewish people. They remember the Sabbath and other holy days to keep them and act upon them. When we “remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy,” we are remembering that God who created the heavens and the earth is the Lord of all creation (Exodus 20:8).[1] He rested on the seventh day, and we are to rest with Him on this sanctified day. God has constantly imparted to Israel this idea of remembering, guarding, and acting upon what is to be remembered.
The Feast of Passover or Pesach is another example of commemoration that remembers God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt. As it says in Deuteronomy 5:15, “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day.” During Passover we remember the events that took place in Egypt because they are filled with instructions that are to be remembered, learned, and taught to our children. We are to keep the reality of those lessons fresh and pass them on to the next generations.
A third example of remembrance is in the Feast of Purim, which remembers the victory over Haman, who had determined to annihilate the Jewish people (Esther 9:24). This lesson applies to us today as we remember the attack of Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023. We see the shadows of what took place during the days of Esther, and we recognize that the same determination to annihilate the Jewish people is still alive today. We are not just to memorialize and honor those who were murdered during these events, but we must also learn the lessons of what God is teaching His people and act upon those memories.
The Jewish people are motivated by and act on that which they are remembering. So it is no surprise that the United Nations’ Resolution 60/7 for the International Holocaust Remembrance Day was introduced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel. This initiative was presented and passed, stating that educational programs about Holocaust history needed to be developed to help prevent future acts of genocide. We are to remember those who were massacred during the Holocaust and educate future generations of its horrors.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated,
The International Day in memory of the victims of the Holocaust is thus a day on which we must reassert our commitment to human rights. … We must apply the lessons of the Holocaust to today’s world. … The participation of young people highlights the value of going beyond remembrance and ensuring that new generations know this history. … All peoples must enjoy the protections and rights for which the United Nations stands.[2]
We set our hearts to remember and to act. We remind the United Nations of their commitment to Israel in this resolution, and together we cry, “Never again!”
Listen to this entire message: GIG194 Holocaust Memorial Day 2024
[1] All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995).
[2] United Nations, “‘Remembrance Plays Vital Role in Efforts to Stem Tide of Human Cruelty,’ Says Secretary-General in Message for Day in Memory of Holocaust Victims,” January 29, 2007, press release.