A Holocaust Memorial Day 2024 During a Genocide?
Another people added to the ‘Never Again’ list
January 27th is the day when we remember those who were murdered in the Holocaust under Nazi-ruled Germany and it also commemorates those killed in other atrocities. Holocaust Memorial Day will be marked in 2024 in the UK with the theme of ‘Fragility of Freedom’, 30 years after the genocide of the Tutsi people in Rwanda.
The date was chosen as it remembers the day in 1945 when the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the Soviet Union. Once the ally of the West and without the huge loss of German men killed in the Battle of Stalingrad — and during the whole of Operation Barbarossa — the defeat of Hitler and Nazi Germany would have been in some doubt.
In 1948, the Genocide Convention was drawn up by the United Nations to stop events such as the Holocaust from happening again. However, the phrase ‘Never Again’ which should have been the ultimate existential and civilised redline for humanity has failed. Genocides that have taken place since 1948 include:
- Cambodia (1975–1979): The killing of up to two million dissidents under the Communist regime of Pol Pot
- Guatemala (1960–1996): The Maya people and alleged communists were targeted over decades with hundreds of thousands of…
