On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the United Jewish Peoples Fraternal Order (UJPFO) commemorates the six million Jews and millions more racial and religious minorities and political dissidents killed by the German Fascist Nazi regime. The world witnessed the brutal results of fascist state-sponsored repression, mass murder, and the loss of basic human rights.
UJPFO recognizes International Holocaust Remembrance Day in January 27, 1945 as the day that the Soviet Red Army and their Resistance Allies in the partisan movement heroically liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and death camps.
The Holocaust, commonly known as the Shoah, was one of the darkest times for the Jewish people. UJPFO can never forget or forgive these fascist crimes which targeted much more than just the Jewish people. Thus this Trump initiated government campaign of gestapo-like mass round-ups of immigrants into deportation centers and concentration camps is most troubling. In addition, extrajudicial executions of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, innocent American citizens in Minneapolis draws easy comparisons to the barbarous tactics reminiscent of the fascist period in Nazi Germany. We also cannot ignore Trump’s acts of international aggression that cause both economic and political instability among the American people for the purpose of profits for America’s Corporate oil oligarchs.
In the immortal words of Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl ultimately murdered by a government-sponsored program of bigotry and hatred, writing in her diary on January 13, 1943:
“Terrible things are happening outside. At any time of night and day, poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. They’re allowed to take only a knapsack and a little cash with them, and even then, they’re robbed of these possessions on the way. Families are torn apart; men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared. Women return from shopping to find their houses sealed, their families gone.”
Anne Frank’s words highlight troubling similarities between what happened during the Nazi occupation of Europe and what is happening now in the U.S. under the current Trump Administration. Some children are afraid to go to school, worried they might not return home or that their parents will not be there to pick them up because of ICE raids. There are videos of children crying in detention centers and many reports and videos of families, both immigrants and citizens, being separated. The many videos we see from ICE raids remind us of the shocking film clips of liberated WWII concentration camps and the harsh conditions they endured.
Talking about the Holocaust in this moment does not lessen the importance of our Jewish tradition. Our struggle is linked to the struggles of all oppressed people. We are reminded, “we were once slaves in Egypt,” and so the Jewish tradition must continue to speak about the Holocaust and recognize the patterns of our history in today’s tragedies. We mark January 27, 2025, as the day of liberation to honor those who were lost and to continue the fight against fascist oppression. Never again means never again for everyone.
Executive Board of the United Jewish Peoples Fraternal Order