Thread by @RachelBendayan

In the 1930s, the Jewish population in Europe was almost 10 million.

By 1945, 60% had been murdered, decimating communities that had lived there for centuries.

This is the story of the #Holocaust.

#InternationalHolocaustRemembranceDay

Jewish communities in Poland date back at least 1,000 years.

3.5 million Jews lived in Poland before the war.

Over 3 million were murdered by the Nazis.

Today, only a few thousands remain.

The first Jews arrived in Ukraine in the 4th century BC.

1.5 million were murdered during the Holocaust.

Many were killed at the hands of Einsatzgruppen, or "Death Squads".

This includes the Babi Yar massacre, killing 35,000 and decimating Kiev's Jewish community.

Of the 825,000 Jews living in Hungary at the beginning of the war, most survived until the German occupation of 1944.

In the space of two months, as Allied troops were landing in Normandy, 440,000 jews were deported to extermination camps, mainly to Auschwitz.

Over 750,000 Jews lived in Romania before the war.

Those who did not die at the hand of death squads were sent to death camps of Transnistria.

Less than half of the Jewish population remained at the end of the war.

260,000 Jews were murdered in Czechoslovakia
165,000 Jews were murdered in Germany
145,000 Jews were murdered in Lithuania
102,000 Jews were murdered in the Netherlands
76,000 Jews were murdered in France
70,000 Jews were murdered in Latvia

And the list tragically goes on

The pain of these memories is still with us to this day.

Theses wounds will never truly heal.

And the impact is still felt to this day.

In 1939, there were nearly 17 million Jews worldwide.
In 2022, that number is below 15 million.

The loss is incomprehensible.

But even through the darkness, through this period of abject inhumanity and murderous hate, there are also incredible stories of true heroes risking their lives to save their neighbours, their friends, their fellow humans.

I am thinking of Raoul Wallenberg, Carl Lutz, Oskar Schindler, Johan van Hulst, Archbishop Damaskinos and so many more.

We know them as "Righteous Among the Nations"

They were not Jewish, but put themselves in danger to protect Jews from the Nazi regime.

And as the Nazis were about to deport over 8000 Jews in Denmark to their deaths, civil society fought back.

After neutral Sweden agreed to take in Jewish refugees, Danes from across society banded together to help evacuate over 90% of Danish Jews, saving so many.

This is the memory of the #Holocaust

A horribly vivid demonstration of the depth of evil that can live among us.

But also a reflection of the power and possibility of human solidarity.

On this #HolocaustRemembranceDay, #WeRemember and we #NeverForget

#cdnpoli