International Holocaust Remembrance Day

January 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This date was designated by resolution of the United Nations General Assembly in November, 2005. The day is an international memorial day for the victims of the Nazi holocaust, which saw the murder of 6 million Jews, 2 million Roma people, and 15000 people who were LGBTQ. 

January 27 was selected because it is the date when the Nazi concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by Soviet troops in 1945. Each year, Canadians and individuals all over the world take this opportunity to remember the victims of the atrocities of the Holocaust and reflect on the dangers of antisemitism.