22.03.2025
Holocaust Memorial Day - 80th Anniversary Of The Liberation Of Auschwitz
People across the world are marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazis' most notorious death camp. Auschwitz was the largest concentration and extermination centre in the Third Reich – more than 1.1 million men, women and children lost their lives there. A day of international commemoration, Holocaust Memorial Day is dedicated to honouring all those, including six million Jews, who were murdered under Nazi rule during the Second World War. The scope of the anniversary this year has been widened to include all victims of genocide in countries like Rwanda (1994) and Bosnia to try and ensure that the memory of those murdered in the name of ‘hatred for the other' are never forgotten. More than 7,000 emaciated prisoners left behind to die by SS guards, who evacuated the Auschwitz camps after trying to cover up their crimes, were discovered by Soviet soldiers when they opened the gates on 27 January 1945. The gas chambers they discovered were a major site for the Nazis' Final Solution which set out to systematically murder all European Jews. Holocaust Memorial Day serves as a poignant moment to reflect on the lessons from these catastrophic events, and the hatred that fuelled them. The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2025 is ‘Learn for a Better Future' and is being used to emphasise the lessons that can be taken from the events, laws and propaganda that led to the Holocaust, to highlight and warn about the effects of dehumanising different groups.
Credit: DW
Credit: DW
Poverty deprives people of adequate education, health care and of life's most basic necessities- safe living conditions (including clean air and clean drinking water) and an adequate food supply. The developed (industrialized) countries today account for roughly 20 percent of the world's population but control about 80 percent of the world's wealth.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
