History Book: Remembering the Holocaust

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Monday, January 29th, Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Up next, the WORLD History Book. Today, we include some difficult themes, so listeners with children nearby may want to hit pause and come back later.

EICHER: This past weekend marked the 79th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp. In a moment we’ll hear from the soviet cameraman first on the scene who filmed it. Also today, a few excerpts from Friday’s United Nations commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Here’s WORLD Radio Executive Producer Paul Butler.

PAUL BUTLER: Today we mark a somber anniversary: the day the Soviets cut through the barbed wire of the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp.

VORONSOV: Before I entered the Auschwitz camp area I had already heard some things about it, but what I saw there was the most horrible thing I ever saw or filmed during the great patriotic war…

Alexander Voronsov was the first Soviet cameraman to film the atrocities of Auschwitz immediately following its liberation on January 27th, 1945. He appeared in the 1986 documentary: “The Liberation of Auschwitz.”

The Nazi’s turned the former Polish army barracks into a prisoner of war camp in 1939. Its initial detainees were mostly political dissidents. But between 1942 and 1944, the camp was the site of nearly a million Jewish murders—in addition to many other ethnic minority executions. Those not gassed died of starvation, disease, or during medical experiments.

VORONSOV: Behind the barbed wire fence stood hundreds of people. They looked at our soldiers with fear in their eyes, because they didn't know that these were Soviet soldiers liberators, so they were expecting the worst.

In January 1945, the Nazi’s fearing defeat sent most of the camp's population on a death march to nearby Germany and Austria. When Soviet troops entered the camp to release those left behind, they were unprepared for what awaited them. Again cameraman Alexander Voronsov:

VORONSOV: There in front of our eyes was a horrible sight. A huge number of barracks. Many of them with practically no roof. In many barracks people were lying on bunks. They were practically skeletons covered with skin, their eyes staring blankly. Returning them to life was no easy matter.

The Soviets and Polish Red Cross began treating the 7,500 remaining prisoners. In searching the grounds they discovered more than 800,000 female garments, 370,000 men’s suits, 44,000 pairs of shoes, and 7 tons of human hair.

In 1947, Poland opened the camp as a memorial and museum—displaying many of the items to communicate the scale of human loss.

GUTERRES: Excellencies, dear friends…

For nearly 20 years, the United Nations General Assembly has marked January 27th as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres has come under fire in recent months for his comments regarding Israel’s response to the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7th. But on Friday he took a more conciliatory tone during this year’s holocaust commemoration. Here are a few excerpts of his speech. He began by addressing the holocaust survivors in attendance:

GUTERRES: I thank you for sharing those memories with us and we the world's all of us leaders and citizens if A responsibility to listen and to learn from what you have to say, and to act on it by condemning these terrible crimes against our common humanity by striving to eradicate anti semitism, and all forms of bigotry, hatred, and intolerance…

The anti semitism that fueled the Holocaust did not start with the Nazis, nor did it end with their defeat. The Holocaust was preceded by 1000s of years of discrimination, expulsion, exile and extermination, including by my own country, Portugal. Today, we are witnessing hate spreading at alarming speeds…It has moved from the margins to the mainstream, and Holocaust denial and distortion, are proliferating. It's up to all of us to defend the truth and to defend our common humanity. Working together, we must combat online lies and hate. We must promote Holocaust education as a critical part of our defense against ignorance, indifference and intolerance. And crucially, we must listen to survivors. And we must remember that demonization of the other and disdain for diversity is a danger to everyone. That no society is immune to intolerance and worse, and that bigotry against one group is bigotry against all.

And we must equally condemn all other forms of racism, prejudice and religious bigotry, including anti Muslim hatred and violence against minority Christian communities. Let us never be silent in the face of discrimination and never tolerant of intolerance. Let us speak out for human rights and the dignity of all. Let us never lose sight of each other's humanity and never let down our guards. To all [who] confront prejudice and persecution, I say clearly you are not alone…and to all those past and present who have had the courage to share their stories of the Holocaust so the world can know the truth… I say thank you. [APPLAUSE]

That’s this week’s WORLD History Book. I’m Paul Butler.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.