January 27th will mark both the UN and the EU’s official Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorated on this date since a United Nations General Assembly Resolution in 2005. The date of January 27th was chosen to mark the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet forces in 1945. In Israel, Yom HaShoah, the official Holocaust memorial is marked on the 27th of Nisan (April/May), and January 27th, since 2004, has been designated as a date to mark the struggle against Anti-Semitism.
A further difference in the way January 27th will be marked in Israel and in the rest of the world will be in regards to the narrative surrounding the role of Jews during the Holocaust and the Second World War. The prevailing narrative in the majority of the world is solely of victimhood. That is not to say that the victim narrative is an incorrect one. Millions of Jews perished during the horrors of the Holocaust and many more millions had their lives completely torn apart. It is important that we use any memorial day for these events to remember the victims, as well as the evil of anti-Semitism, an issue that has returned to the forefront of the international news agenda due to recent events in France.
However, it is equally important that when we look back upon the Holocaust, we remember that several million Jews also fought back during the Second World War. Too many people remain unaware of the fact that over 1.5 million Jews fought in the Allied Forces, ghettoes and underground groups with over 200,000 medals for bravery and citations awarded to Jewish soldiers, both living and dead, across the world. They were the only soldiers in World War II with a dual identity; national and religious.
In Israel we are fortunate enough to have organisations that serve to remind us of the contribution of Jewish soldiers during the Second World War, one of which being the Museum of the Jewish Soldier in World War II. Located in Latrun, the museum is currently under construction. Once opened it will become an international research and education hub with the focus on highlighting the contributions of Jewish soldiers in the Second World War. It will comprise of several spaces and wings presented chronologically, with details of the armies and the fighting organisations starting from September 1939 and ending with the Japanese surrender on September 1945. The museum will chart the story of Jewish soldiers of from over twenty countries who fought in the Second World War, including forces from Great Britain, Australia, the USA and France.
Maryana Greenberg, the Chairperson of the Friends of the Museum of the Jewish Soldier in World War II, and a prominent supporter of the project, believes that organisations such as the museum play an important part of Holocaust memorial. “Memories of the Holocaust and its atrocities are, of course, especially painful for the Jewish people”, she said. “It is our hope that by educating people and encouraging them to remember the efforts of Jewish soldiers during World War II, we can help people to remember and celebrate the extraordinary courage that the Jewish soldiers showed in the face of treacherous danger and hatred.”