Memorial Day for the Victims of National Socialism

Since 1996, Germany has a memorial day for the victims of National Socialism on the day the Concentration Camps in Auschwitz had been liberated by Sowjet troops.¹

One may wonder, how late such an national memorial day had been introduced, especially with regards to the importance of the Holocaust for recent German history and the contemporary external and self-perception. In Israel, the Shoa is being remembered on Jom haScho’a, beginning on the 27th nisan of the Jewish calendar (2009: April 21st, 2010: April 11th). The United Kingom introduced in 2001 a “Holocaust Memorial Day”, also on January 27th. Since 2005, the European Union distinguishes the same day as “International Holocaust Remembrance Day”, one year later, the UN proclaimed it the  “International Day of Commemoration to honour the victims of the Holocaust”.²

Nevertheless, most of such official memorial days primarily have symbolic meaning: wreaths are laid, there are (at least, one might add) a few specific reports in the media, and politicians hold speeches, such as in the Bundestag (German Federal Parliament).³

While such political symbols are quite important, it is even more interesting how the memorial places are being treated. The Auschwitz Memorial is not able to maintain the increasingly crumbling buildings. At BBC online, one can find an interesting debate between the historian Robert-Jan van Pelt and the former Polish Foreign Minister Władysław Bartoszewski, including further information on the issue. Today, the German newsreel Tagesschau picked up the issue, too. A few days ago, a foundation has been founded in Poland to set up a fund of 120 Million € to preserve the area.⁴