Greece commemorates again this year the 81st anniversary since January 27, 1945, the day when the Soviet army liberated the Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, in then Nazi-occupied Poland.
This day, by decision of the Hellenic Parliament since 2004, has been established as the Day of Remembrance of Greek Martyrs and Heroes of the Holocaust and, by decision of the United Nations (UN) since 2005, as the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
As the number of Holocaust Survivors dwindles, we feel an ever graver duty to ensure that younger generations learn and understand the unspeakable and inhumane acts of the Nazis.
The construction of the Holocaust Museum of Greece in Thessaloniki, the city that mourned its large Jewish community almost in its entirety, as well as numerous educational, informational and awareness-raising activities, contribute towards this goal.
We further participate in many European and international initiatives to combat anti-Semitism, all forms of racism, intolerance and hate speech, on and off the internet, as well as to defend the Memory of the Holocaust and reject the ahistorical denial of it.
So that the disastrous mistakes of the past can never be repeated. So that we say, mean and truly put into action the phrase “Never again”.
January 27, 2026