WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Saturday marked the 79th anniversary of the Auschwitz liberation and International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Josephine Gon with the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County said it's important to never forget what happened.
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Nazi camp survivors mark 79th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation
"It's to remember the genocide that took place during the Second World War, where two-thirds of European Jewry were wiped out, including one-and-a-half-million children," Gon said.
However, this year hits differently. Gon said it’s hard not to see the parallels between the Holocaust and the Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7, 2023.
"What happened on Oct. 7 was the largest murder of Jews since the Holocaust in a level of brutality and barbarism we haven't seen since the Holocaust," Gon said.
This comes as billions in U.S. aid for Israel and Ukraine are held up in the Senate as border discussions drag on.
"I feel that we need to support all those countries that are democratic, that have democratic values, that strive for democracy and tolerance," Gon said.
For now, she said these are events that people need to keep talking about, not just to remember but to take action to prevent them from happening again.
"This has been the lesson of history that we've tried to teach," Gon said. "It's not just what happened, but to be up-standers when society turns against its most vulnerable. ... Never again is now."
