Never Again?
The memorial was held at the site where around a million Jews were murdered, among the six million Jews who were killed in the Shoah.

Marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and death camp, survivors of the Holocaust and world leaders came together on January 27 in a solemn ceremony to remember the Holocaust.
The memorial was held at the site where around a million Jews were murdered, among the six million Jews who were killed in the Shoah.
Sadly, as many Holocaust survivors have passed away, it was attended by only 50 survivors, including Australian Sir Frank Lowy. Survivors and dignitaries lit candles at the cattle car, which was used to transport Jews to camps. Lowy sourced and donated the train car to honour the more than 420,000 Hungarian Jews sent to Auschwitz, as well as his father Hugo who, on arrival at the camp, was beaten to death for refusing to part with his tallit and tefillin.
Lowy told a reporter the memorial must “remind the world of the evil” and “bring the issue of hate to the fore”. The 94 year-old said a lesson of antisemitism is that “We need to respect each other,” but “Unfortunately the world has not developed to that effect.”
World leaders in attendance included German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron, Polish President Andrzej Duda, Danish royals King Frederick and Queen Mary, and King Charles, who became the first British monarch to visit Auschwitz. Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch attended in place of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite Poland assuring it would not act on the International Criminal Court’s warrant for his arrest.
Australia was represented by Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who said he was attending “not just as Attorney-General of Australia but to honour my great-grandparents Ida, Albert and Paula, who all perished in the Holocaust”. Special envoy to combat antisemitism Jillian Segal and Executive Council of Australian Jewry Co-CEO Alex Ryvchin also attended.
Ryvchin lamented on X, “Mankind is essentially unaltered. We’re no better, wiser or more compassionate than we were back then. We are just as susceptible to missing the signs … Just as bad at recognising evil.
“The only difference is Israel. The only guarantor of Jewish permanence.”
The choice of Wong to represent Australia was criticised prior to the event, with a petition against her attendance attracting at least 16,902 signatures. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton called her “the most inappropriate person” to attend.
Dreyfus responded on Sunday that it was “grotesque” to “politicise either the commemoration of the Holocaust or combating antisemitism”. He made the comments while visiting a Jewish community centre in Krakow with Wong, where they met with Holocaust survivor Zofia Radzikowska.
Wong remarked, “This is a time to be above politics, because this is such a solemn and sad occasion, but also a time to recommit ourselves to learning the lessons of the Holocaust, the murder of six million Jews and to say never again.”
Meanwhile, the ABC was criticised for not sending a reporter to the memorial, with Holocaust survivor Eddy Boas saying it was “a disgrace” when “every major news source around the world has”.
Back in Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Dutton attended a Holocaust memorial in Perth on Monday. Commemorations also took place in Melbourne and Sydney on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
In Perth, Albanese promised $4.4 million to build a National Holocaust Education Centre in Canberra and $2 million to upgrade the Holocaust Institute of Western Australia’s education centre “to educate our young Australians about the horrors of the Holocaust”.
Dutton also pledged $2 million for WA’s Holocaust Institute to help educate about the atrocities of both the Holocaust and the October 7 Israel attacks.
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