Jan. 27, 2025, marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a Nazi concentration camp where more than 1 million people were murdered as part of the Holocaust. In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated Jan. 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Dr. Joanne Lucena, associate professor of Modern Languages and Cultures, head of the Jewish Studies minor at Arcadia, and a scholar on the Holocaust, sheds insight on the Holocaust and International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“It is important to commemorate International Holocaust Day so the atrocities committed against the Jewish people are not forgotten or ever repeated,” said Dr. Lucena, who also noted a decline in “an accurate understanding of the Holocaust among our younger generations.” 

“In a 50-state survey, reported by NBC News in 2020,” Dr. Lucena continued, “63% of Gen Z and Millennials didn’t know 6 million Jewish people died in the Holocaust and over 50% thought the toll was less than 2 million. The survey also states 45% of Millennials and Gen Z couldn’t name a single concentration camp from the Holocaust. Even more disturbing, 11% of respondents felt that the Jews caused the Holocaust. 

“Unfortunately, many first hand accounts are no longer told in person because the survivors are dying. Anti-Semitism is at an all-time high and a deluge of anti-semitic tropes are leading to a skewed understanding of the Holocaust. It is necessary to understand why the Holocaust happened so that another one doesn’t happen again.” 

What lessons from Holocaust studies can we apply to prevent the escalation of modern day human rights challenges?
“History has taught us that great atrocities begin with efforts to dehumanize a group of people and foment hatred and enmity towards them through racist tropes,” said Dr. Lucena. “It is deeply troubling that these so-called ‘lessons from the Holocaust’ continue to be perpetuated in our time. More than ever, college campuses are engaging in conversations about racism, homophobia, and social justice while anti-semitism continues to rise. There are far too few programs and discussions about anti-semitism.”

How do you see the role of younger generations, particularly students, in continuing the commemoration of the Holocaust?
“Without a continued commemoration and education of true and proper history, we are bound to forget and repeat that history,” said Dr. Lucena. “Younger generations are inundated with false and misleading information all the time, mostly designed to divide us. Social media apps thrive off of disharmony and discontent and are teeming with influence agents dedicated to these ends. Through commemoration, we prevent the whitewashing or rewriting of history.”