Auschwitz survivors and world leaders mark 80 years since Nazi death camp’s liberation

January 27, 2025 – NBC News reports: “The Soviet Red Army troops who arrived here on Jan. 27, 1945, helped uncover one of the greatest atrocities ever committed by — and against — humankind.

Inside the Auschwitz concentration camp complex, the soldiers liberated roughly 7,000 prisoners who had been brutalized by a Nazi regime hell-bent on exterminating the Jewish people. The horrors there defied comprehension.

Eighty years later, some former prisoners returned to mark the 80th anniversary of their deliverance — a date that is known as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

In the eyes of so many around the world, the survivors’ very existence is a resounding act of defiance against the world-historic cruelty and vast injustice of Adolf Hitler’s reign of terror. Their stories of survival are also implicit pleas to the world: Never forget humanity’s capacity to commit unthinkable crimes.  (When Hitler came to power in Germany, the fate of the Jews in Europe was sealed. Like many before and after him, Hitler blamed the Jews for all the ills of society. He saw the Treaty of Versailles that ended the First World War as a Jewish document. Weaknesses in the German economy were attributed to the Jews. He faulted the Jews for the birth and presence of communism in the world. He accused the Jews of being revolutionary and instigating internationalism, a supposed plot of the Jews to destroy Germany and seize control of the world. They became his favorite scapegoat, and their suffering at his hands rivals the most gruesome of human crimes.

Hitler’s persecution of the Jews began in 1933; shortly after he took office. On April 7 of that year he stripped all Jews of offices in the German civil service. Government officials, doctors, lawyers, and workers in educational and cultural fields were all required to sign the following statement:

I declare officially herewith I do not know of any circumstance — despite careful scrutiny — that may justify the presumption that I am not of Aryan descent; in particular, none of my paternal or maternal parents or grandparents was at any time of the Jewish faith. I am fully aware of the fact that I expose myself to prosecution and dismissal if this declaration proves untrue.

Within three months, thirty thousand heads of Jewish families had been deprived of income.

The future sufferings of the Jews were also announced in two lines of a song called “The Horst Wessel Song,” which became the theme of every major parade in Germany. Translated, two lines of the song were: “When Jewish blood flows from the knife, Things will go much better.”

Under Hitler’s direction there was a steady rise in outrageous demands and unlawful acts against all Jews. By 1938 every synagogue in the nation had been burned, the windows of every Jewish establishment had been shattered, and twenty-five thousand innocent Jews were in concentration camps.

In the infamous Buchenwald camp Jews were shipped and tortured during the day, while throughout the night a voice shouted over the loudspeakers, “Any Jew who wishes to hang himself is asked first to put a piece of paper in his mouth with his number on it so that we may know who he is.”

At the end of World War II, General Eisenhower made a decision to personally visit as many Nazi concentration camps as he could. His reason? He wanted to document the camps and their appalling conditions.

In his book Crusade in Europe he stated: The same day [April 12, 1945] I saw my first horror camp. It was near the town of Gotha. I have never felt able to describe my emotional reactions when I first came face to face with indisputable evidence of Nazi brutality and ruthless disregard of every shred of decency. Up to that time I had known about it only generally or through secondary sources. I am certain, however that I have never at any other time experienced an equal sense of shock.

    I visited every nook and cranny of the camp because I felt it my duty to be in a position from then on to testify at first hand about these things in case there ever grew up at home the belief or assumption that `the stories of Nazi brutality were just propaganda.’ Some members of the visiting party were unable to through the ordeal. I not only did so but as soon as I returned to Patton’s headquarters that evening I sent communications to both Washington and London, urging the two governments to send instantly to Germany a random group of newspaper editors and representative groups from the national legislatures. I felt that the evidence should be immediately placed before the American and British publics in a fashion that would leave no room for cynical doubt.

Anticipating a time when Nazi atrocities might be denied, General Eisenhower also ordered the filming and photographing of camps as they were liberated.  Members of the U.S. Army Signal Corps recorded approximately 80,000 feet of moving film, together with still photographs.

Within months after the war in Europe, about 6,000 feet of that film footage was excerpted to create a one-hour documentary called “Nazi Concentration Camp”.  Prosecutors used the film, which is graphically gruesome, to prove that Nazi leaders, on trial at Nuremberg, had perpetrated unbelievably heinous crimes against humanity.

Thomas Dodd, one of the U.S. prosecutors, introduced the film into evidence on the 29th of November, 1945.  When the lights came up, after the trial film was screened, people had a new understanding of what the words “concentration camp” really meant.

Eisenhower wanted to be in as many pictures as possible to prove the death camps really existed. He was sometimes accompanied by Generals Bradley and Patton (such as their visit to the Ohrdruf concentration camp on April 12, 1945).  See the next report.)

Most people believe a genocide of Jews could happen today, multi-country survey finds

January 23, 2025 — The Times of Israel reports: “A majority of people in seven countries believe a mass genocide against Jewish people similar to the Holocaust could happen today, according to a survey published by The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

The report — which surveyed people in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Austria, Germany, Poland, Hungary and Romania — also exposed a global trend of fading knowledge of basic facts about the Holocaust, the Claims Conference said.

It showed that almost half of young adults in France don’t even know what the Holocaust is.

The report was published ahead of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on January 27. Data was collected from a representative sample of one thousand adults in each country in November 2023.

Some 76 percent of people in the United States said they thought another Holocaust could happen, followed by the UK at 69%, France at 63%, Austria at 62%, Germany at 61%, Poland at 54%, and Hungary at 52%. In Romania, 44% said they thought such a scenario was possible…”

Hundreds chant for ‘intifada’ at New Year’s Day protest in NYC’s Times Square

January 2, 2025 — The Times of Israel reports: “Several hundred demonstrators called for an intifada on Wednesday at an anti-Israel protest in New York City’s Times Square to mark New Year’s Day.

Attendees chanted ‘Resistance is glorious — we will be victorious,’ ‘We will honor all our martyrs,’ and ‘Gaza, you make us proud.’ They carried signs that said ‘Zionism is cancer,’ ‘No war on Iran,’ and ‘End all US aid to Israel.’

‘There is only one solution — Intifada revolution,’ they chanted, using a common refrain at anti-Israel rallies in the US. ‘Intifada,’ Arabic for ‘uprising,’ is associated with the Second Intifada, a period of terror attacks in Israel in the early 2000s marked by suicide bombings.

Speakers at the Wednesday rally urged attendees to recommit to anti-Israel activism in the new year…”  (The Jewish people have long been blamed for all of the world’s ills.  All throughout history they have been the universal scapegoat.  Incredibly, even the awful plague of the Black Death that swept Europe was blamed on the Jews. They were accused of having poisoned wells with a powder made of spiders, frog legs, Christian entrails, and consecrated hosts (Communion bread). The public wrath that resulted from that fantastic tale brought about the slaughter of thousands of Jews and the complete extermination of two hundred Jewish communities.  This can be traced back to the father of anti-Semitism – Satan who …stood up against Israel – I Chronicles 21:1.  God loves His Chosen People – …I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee – Jeremiah 31:3.  See the next three reports.) 

Mass. man arrested for incitement to shoot synagogue worshippers, threats to rape Jewish women 

January 7, 2025 — The Jerusalem Post reports: “A Massachusetts man was arrested on Saturday for inciting others to shoot worshippers outside synagogues and multiple firearms violations, the Beverly Police Department announced on Monday. 

Mathew Scouras, 34, was arraigned Monday for allegedly posting on an internet image board threats against Jewish people, threats to rape Jewish women, and encouraging other users to shoot people outside of synagogues. 

The suspect was taken into custody for a mental health evaluation, and a search of his home recovered a Nazi flag, a 9mm Glock ghost gun with no serial number, six boxes of ammunition, $70,000 in cash, and various firearms parts and accessories including stocks, scopes, pistol frames, and rifle lower receivers…”

‘Israel must go’: Israeli attacked in Berlin over Israeli-Palestinian peace pin – report

January 6, 2025 — The Jerusalem Post reports: “An Israeli Jewish street artist was hospitalized in Berlin after she was attacked on New Year’s Eve for wearing a restaurant’s Israeli-Palestinian peace pin, according to the vegan Israeli-Palestinian restaurant Kanaan Berlin.

The artist, identified as ‘Soli,’ was wearing the Kanaan pin, which depicts a heart divided into an Israeli and Palestinian flag. She was approached by at least four individuals, according to the Saturday Instagram post.

‘Israel must go,’ one of the attackers reportedly shouted.

A young Arab woman pulled the Israeli artist’s hair, and the situation escalated with three men joining the physical attack, striking Soli.

According to photographs shared by the restaurant, Soli was hospitalized with a head injury…”

Syria’s new curriculum: Jews are ‘damned and have gone astray’

January 3, 2025 — Israel National News reports: “Syria’s newly formed government is under fire following the announcement of proposed changes to the school curriculum. Critics have voiced concerns that the amendments, which some perceive as introducing an Islamist bias, could reshape the country’s educational framework, CNN reported Thursday.

Details of the changes were posted on the education ministry’s official Facebook page, according to the report.

Among the modifications are alterations to certain phrases: ‘path of goodness’ has been replaced with ‘Islamic path,’ and the phrase ‘those who are damned and have gone astray’ now explicitly refers to ‘Jews and Christians,’ reflecting a strict interpretation of a Quranic verse.

Additionally, the definition of ‘martyr’ has shifted from someone who died for their homeland to someone who sacrificed their life ‘for the sake of God.’ Entire chapters, such as one on ‘the origins and evolution of life,’ have been removed altogether…”