Marking the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz–Birkenau is as important as ever, says Zaki Cooper. 27/01/2026

Today marks Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) and my mind is turning to my wife’s maternal grandmother, Raymonde Feuerwerker, or Mémé as we called her, who passed away 10 years ago.

“You have two hands, one for each of your brothers. Never let go.” These were the instructions Mémé’s mother gave her 12–year–old daughter when she recognised the growing threat to Jews in Vichy France and sent her away with the duty of safeguarding her two younger siblings. The three children were separated from their parents, who were later sent to Auschwitz where they were killed, as part of the Nazis’ attempt to annihilate the Jewish people.

During the months that followed, Mémé guided her brothers and several other young people toward safety, ultimately arriving at the border with Switzerland after a dangerous trek filled with narrow escapes, assistance from a rabbi, and her own remarkable instinct for survival. Though I only knew her in her later years, her journey was extraordinary.

Having endured such traumatic ordeals that broke many other survivors, she built a new life in Geneva and became a mother, grandmother, and great–grandmother, demonstrating extraordinary strength and determination. Sadly her story was a rare positive one, set against a mountain of despair, loss, destruction and death.

Holocaust Memorial Day is the time to reflect on these stories, and dwell on the Holocaust, the systematic, state–sponsored persecution and murder of six million Jewish men, women and children by Nazi Germany and its collaborators. It is sometimes hard to comprehend the scale. In the tragedy of 9/11 in 2001, approximately 3,000 people were killed. During the Holocaust, 3,000 people were killed every day, every week, every month of every year for six years.

HMD on 27th January marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz–Birkenau and was started by the UN in 2005. It is as important as ever for several reasons. Firstly, ignorance about the Holocaust is increasing. Several recent surveys in the UK and overseas show substantial gaps in basic knowledge. A national Holocaust knowledge survey of UK adults found that 52% did not know that six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

Secondly, the corollary of that is that some people do not believe that the Holocaust took place at all, and argue that it’s a fabrication. In the same UK study, 9% of respondents said the Holocaust is a myth or that the number of Jews killed has been greatly exaggerated, and almost a third had seen Holocaust denial or distortion online. The internet and its twin sister social media have become a toxic wellspring of Holocaust misinformation and denial. This nonsense is promulgated by a number of extreme, populist politicians in Europe, the US, and elsewhere.

Thirdly, the people who lived through the Holocaust are becoming increasingly frail and elderly, or passing away. In recent years, King Charles has gone out of his way to meet with and engage with Holocaust survivors like Lily Ebert and Manfred Goldberg. By all accounts, he has been inspired by their indomitable spirit.

Finally, over 80 years after the end of the Holocaust and Second World War, antisemitism is rearing its ugly head again. Surveys show it is on the rise in the UK and in many other countries around the world. Terrorist attacks in Manchester in October and Australia two months later, which killed Jewish people going about their lives, have been a terrible blow for the community. The war in Gaza, which was precipitated by Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, has opened the floodgates to virulent antisemitism. Criticism of Israel’s government has, on too many occasions, morphed into hatred of Jews, which has found expression on the streets, on social media, and elsewhere.

Against this depressing backdrop, what can we do about it? The starting point has to be education, particularly in schools. The fact that the Holocaust is on the national curriculum is welcome. Programmes, such as those run by the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET), which arranges visits by schoolchildren to Auschwitz, carry out an important function. But there is so much more to do.

Furthermore, the UK has some excellent exhibitions about the Holocaust, not least at the Imperial War Museum and the National Holocaust Centre in the Midlands. There are thought to be approximately 450 memorial museums worldwide dealing with the Holocaust. The latest to open was the impressive Lost Shtetl Museum in Lithuania just four months ago. All these museums serve as an important pillar in representing historical truth and acting as a bulwark against misinformation and ignorance.

Alongside these physical buildings, we need to harness the potential of technology to promote Holocaust education. There is some creative work taking place. As an example, HET is rolling out “Testimony 360” in UK schools, using AI to let pupils ask questions to virtual versions of survivors and then explore camps and ghettos in VR linked to that testimony.

A number of other organisations carry out important work educating about the Holocaust. One such example is the Council of Christians and Jews, the national interfaith organisation, which was set up in 1942 as an initiative by the then Archbishop of Canterbury, who was horrified by reports of what was happening to the Jews of Europe. It organises study trips to Poland for senior Christian leaders.

Yet for all these noble efforts, we must acknowledge they are not enough. As the generation of survivors diminishes, the imperative to tell their stories grows ever more urgent. By sharing Mémé’s story and those of countless others like her, we bear witness to both the depths of human cruelty and the heights of human courage.

These testimonies are not simply historical records. They are beacons that illuminate the path forward, reminding us of our shared responsibility to confront hatred wherever it emerges.

Zaki Cooper is a Vice–President of the Council of Christians and Jews.

Interested in this? Share it on social media. Join our monthly e–newsletter to keep up to date with our latest research and events. And check out our Supporter Programme to find out how you can help our work.