“Serve one another humbly in love” ~ Galatians 5:13 (NIV)

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On January 27, we observe International Holocaust Remembrance Day — a day when people around the world remember the six million Jewish lives lost in the Holocaust, along with the millions of others who suffered and died under the brutality of the Nazi regime.

Why This Happened — A Brief, Clear Background

In the years leading up to World War II, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party rose to power in Germany by spreading dangerous ideas:

• that some people were “superior,”
• that others were “inferior,”
• and that entire groups — especially Jews — were to blame for Germany’s problems.

Schools, newspapers, radio, and government policies repeated these lies until hatred became normal.
Step by step, Jewish people and other targeted groups lost their rights, their jobs, their homes, and eventually their lives.

Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi regime carried out a systematic plan to imprison, enslave, and murder millions of people, including:

• 6 million Jews
• Millions of Slavic civilians
• Soviet prisoners of war
• Romani families
• People with disabilities
• Political prisoners, clergy, LGBTQ+ individuals, and too many to name

Historians estimate that genocide, starvation, forced labor, mass shootings, and concentration camps killed more than 20 million people.
This is why the world pauses on January 27 — the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz — to remember what unchecked hatred can do.

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Why This Day Was Established in 2005

The United Nations created International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2005 as survivors aged and historical awareness began to fade.
At the same time, the world was seeing a rise in antisemitism, denial, and distortion of the Holocaust.

The UN established January 27 as a permanent day of remembrance to:

• Honor victims and survivors
• Preserve the truth as eyewitnesses pass away
• Teach younger generations what hatred can unleash
• Strengthen global commitment to human dignity and human rights

This day exists to protect memory and to prevent silence from allowing hatred to grow again.

A Moment of Remembrance and Moral Clarity

January 27, we pause to remember the six million Jewish lives lost in the Holocaust, along with the millions of others — Romani families, disabled individuals, prisoners of war, Slavic civilians, and countless people across Europe — whose deaths remind us of the devastating cost of hatred.

This day calls us to honor their memory with compassion, humility, and moral courage.
Hatred destroys everything it touches.
Love, dignity, and truth are what heal and rebuild.

As we remember, we choose to stand against prejudice in all its forms.
We choose to affirm the sacred worth of every human life.
We choose the light that darkness cannot overcome.

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” — Romans 12:21

May our remembrance today strengthen our commitment to justice, mercy, and the hope God calls us to carry into the world.

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A Closing Word of Hope

Even in humanity’s darkest moments, God’s light has not been extinguished.
Survivors rebuilt.
Communities remembered.
The world learned — and continues to learn — the cost of hatred and the power of love.

Your ministry’s message shines here: God’s promise still stands, even after the storm.

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