Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The Holocaust refers to the genocide that took place primarily against European Jews, in addition to other populations deemed undesirable by the Nazi regime such as Roma, Black people, and homosexuals. During this 6 year period from 1939-1945, Jews were gradually vilified and alienated from society, starting with their banishment from public spaces, progressing to their forced relocation to Jewish-only neighbourhoods (ghettos), culminating in deportations to concentration camps and death camps where the Jewish inmates would be subject to harsh working conditions, involuntary medical experiments, and mass executions; 11 million people, 6 million of which were Jewish, were murdered throughout the Holocaust. It is important that we, as Brunel students educate ourselves about historical atrocities such as the Holocaust so that we play a role in safeguarding the future of all people.
If you want to learn more about the Holocaust, here are some resources to read: