Holocaust Remembrance Day: Never stop asking why

Seventy three years ago today, the Soviet Army entered Auschwitz-Birkenau liberating around 7,000 prisoners, most of whom were ill and dying, having barely survived the Holocaust. Sixty years later, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution designating today, Jan. 27, as International Holocaust Remembrance Day (IHRD). Commemorating the liberation of the most notorious Nazi killing center, IHRD was established to honor the victims of Nazism and promote Holocaust education.

And never before has exploring the Holocaust’s lessons been more critical, both here in the United States and abroad as anti-Semitism rises in the lands where the Holocaust happened. The truth of the Holocaust is increasingly under attack, and our best teachers, the survivors, diminish in number.

The Holocaust teaches us that no individual, institution, or society is immune to succumbing to evil, and that the unthinkable is always possible. Those lessons carry great urgency today. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum opened 25 years ago as a living memorial to honor the victims but also to serve as a warning to the future. At the museum’s dedication, our founding chairman Elie Wiesel said, “The museum is not an answer; it is a question.”

For 25 years, the museum has challenged people to consider their personal and professional roles and responsibilities in society in the context of the Holocaust. The museum spurs people to “Never stop asking why?” Visitor comments, in the building and online, show how the Holocaust spurs people to critically examine profound questions, like why a developed society like Germany descended into genocide, and why so many people remained silent or were complicit in the face of the suffering of others. They ask why people are so vulnerable to hate, and what we can do to confront it in society today.

Holocaust history remains relevant to everyone. As Elie Wiesel wrote in the 1979 Report of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust that recommended the establishment of the museum:

“The real discussion today…centered around the question: was the Holocaust a universal event, or solely a Jewish, and therefore, unique one? My answer: it was both….If we are to remember the Holocaust, it is not only because of the dead; it’s too late for them. Nor only because of the survivors; it may be too late for them. Our remembering is an act of generosity…extended to all others. Our remembering aims at saving as many men and women as possible from apathy to evil, if not from evil itself.”

The museum speaks both to the past and to the present. We honor the survivors and acknowledge their dream of “Never Again” has yet to be realized, obligating us to speak up when atrocities occur today. The museum recently opened a special exhibition, “Syria: Please Don’t Forget Us,” documenting the atrocities being committed against Syrians by the Assad regime and one victim’s search for justice. We may not always be able to halt genocide and mass atrocities, but we can never remain silent when they occur.

Our world seems to be undergoing unprecedented changes. The museum is a timeless reminder of the nature of humankind and the fragility of societies. A quarter century after the museum’s founders, many of whom were Holocaust survivors, realized their bold dream of putting a Holocaust memorial on the National Mall, the questions it raises are more relevant than ever.

On today, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, consider which questions Holocaust history raises for you, and how our exploration of these questions help all of us build a stronger and more just society. Join the online conversation at #AskWhy.

Robert Tanen is the acting director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Southeast Region based in Boca Raton, Florida. The museum’s 25th Anniversary South Florida “What You Do Matters” Dinner will take place on Jan. 30 in Boca Raton.