Are we doing enough to ensure that history does not repeat itself? January 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“Never again”?
Today, during new wars in Europe and the Middle East, we bow our heads in memory of the millions of people killed just for the right to be themselves.

This memory has not remained in textbooks. It is once again with us — in the news, in photographs of destroyed cities, in the fates of families whose lives have been erased by violence.

And once again, systems Nazi in their essence want the destruction of people just for who they are — Jews or Ukrainians.

On January 27, 1945, the Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by soldiers of the 60th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front of the Red Army. Then the world first saw on a full scale what cannot be justified, explained, or “put into context”.
The conveyor of human destruction — systematic, cold-blooded, industrial.

This date is established by the UN as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Six million Jews were killed by the Nazi regime.
Almost a third of them — on the territory of modern Ukraine.
They were shot in Babyn Yar, Drobytsky Yar, Kamianets-Podilskyi, destroyed in ghettos, camps, on death marches. This is not abstract statistics. These are specific places. Specific families. Specific lives.

The history of the Holocaust is not only a history of pain.
It is also a history of choice.

More than 4,000 Ukrainians are recognized as Righteous Among the Nations. People who, risking their own lives, saved Jews. Even in the darkest times, a person can choose humanity — and this choice is always specific.

On the eve of this date, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk spoke the right words — about hatred, dehumanization, about the lessons of the past. He reminded: the Nazi regime destroyed Jews “with the terrifying efficiency of a conveyor” — openly and practically without consequences.

The words are correct.
The problem is that we hear them from international officials, as a rule, once a year.

Passive memory has not become a protection against new genocides.
This is a fact.

Today, during the Russian war against Ukraine, the whole world once again witnesses war crimes: mass killings of civilians, deportations, destruction of cities, attempts to deny an entire people the right to exist.

In the face of this evil, Ukraine is at the forefront defending fundamental human values — life, freedom, and dignity. Not in theory, but at the cost of real sacrifices.

Israel is forced to defend itself under constant pressure from terrorist organizations and regimes of hatred, which openly declare that they do not recognize its right to exist at all. This is not about disputes or political disagreements, but about a systematic attempt to destroy the state and its citizens — just for who they are. Israel is fighting not for territory, but for the right to live, to protect its people, and to prevent hatred from once again becoming a conveyor of death.

Yesterday the last hostage held by Hamas terrorists “returned”. Behind this “return” is not a joyful conclusion, but a long chain of tragedies: those killed in captivity, women and children who experienced violence, civilians who became targets just because they were civilians.

Memory makes sense only when it becomes action.
Only then do the bitter pages of history not repeat, but become a warning that the world is capable of hearing.

Today we bow our heads before the millions killed.
And today this question sounds especially acute:

Are we doing enough to prevent history from repeating?

NANews —Israel News | Nikk.Agency