January 27th is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In 2022, it's of particular importance that we honor this date and use it to learn about the horrors of the Holocaust, especially in light of the rise in global antisemitism.

There are various organizations and websites sponsoring events, online and in-person, and I recommend you look into these. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum, the United Nations, Yad Vashem in Israel, and others are among them. 

Educated and caring people of all types tend to assume that nearly everyone is aware of the Holocaust and has learned about it in some manner, but that's not the case. Too many people have no knowledge of the Holocaust and many have scant knowledge and warped knowledge.  

Why? We could fault various educational systems to some extent. But it goes beyond that. Frankly, a major reason is the same reason behind the Holocaust itself: antisemitism. People who hate Jews aren't likely to teach about it or will downplay it. Holocaust denial is a thing, and it's wrong. 

The Holocaust and learning about it are downright embarrassing for some people. It's uncomfortable and reveals the depths of evil and prejudice of humanity. Reading about death camps such as Auschwitz and looking at photographs of starved, shaved-head prisoners of death camps such as Majdanek and Treblinka is unsettling. Indeed, it is, and we shouldn't perpetuate these kinds of horrors ever again.

There is a growing, malignant practice of invoking the Holocaust whenever someone wants to make a dramatic point. There are people who protest Covid vaccinations and mask-wearing protocols by comparing them to the Holocaust (which is insipid). People who have little knowledge about modern-day Israel make assumptions about its policies and say that it is a Nazi-like state, which it isn't. 

Type "misuse of the word 'Holocaust'" into a search engine such as Google, and you'll get a list of essays decrying this practice. Holocaust denial and distortion are terrible things.

I've read and heard people say, "It's time to get over the Holocaust already," and when they say or write that, I know they need to learn more about the Holocaust, as well as world history in general. 

When we grapple with the history of the Holocaust, which is messy, horrifying, and embarrassing, we realize it has deep historical roots. It manifested itself in many ways. Other events in history certainly do have awful similarities to the Holocaust. But the Holocaust in itself was such a methodical, targeted series of policies that were meant to get rid of Jews and certain other groups (such as the Roma) -- and there really hasn't been anything else that was quite this targeted and concentrated. And there should never be.

Think of children killed during the Holocaust, such as Anne Frank, Rose Aboulafia, Akiva Broner. 

Pay more than lip service to Never Forget. Remember.