Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me!
For my soul trusts in You;
And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge,
Until these calamities have passed by.

Psalm 57:1

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

The liberation of Auschwitz

January 27, 2022

The world must never forget the horrors of the Holocaust.

The murderous evil of the Nazi war machine must be remembered for the sake of the persecuted and to prevent future atrocities.

On January 27 1945, soldiers of the Soviet Union liberated the persecuted souls who were prisoners of the infamous Auschwitz Camp in Poland. Over 1.1 million Jews, 75 000 Poles, 20 000 gypsies and others were brutally murdered.

I have visited Auschwitz and I have witnessed what was left behind. Auschwitz remains stained with pain and sorrow.

I saw the possessions of those who were murdered are still stored in huge storage sheds. Hair, artificial limbs, suitcases and other personal possessions.

Gas chambers and crematoria furnaces were used with lethal effectiveness against the prisoners. An Auschwitz survivor recalled how healthy mothers and children were sent to the furnaces upon arrival.

“Transports to Auschwitz included between ten and twenty children who were murdered immediately on arrival. If a mother had a child in her arms during the selection, both were sent to the crematorium even if the mother was young and looked healthy. If a grandmother carried her grandchild, she was sent to the gas, while the child’s mother became a camp prisoner.”

Nazis would later use the furnaces to destroy as much evidence as they could of their cowardly and wicked crimes.

This is why it is so important that we acknowledge antisemitism as an ongoing evil that must be combated and defeated.

We must never forget.

Yours faithfully,

Rev Hon Fred Nile MLC

Reverend Frederick John “Fred” Nile ED LTh MLC (born 15 September 1934) is an Australian politician and ordained Christian minister. Nile has been a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since 1981. He is also a member of the Christian Democratic Party in NSW.

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