The living survivors and liberators to the Holocaust—one of history’s greatest crimes against humanity—are passing away, silencing the few voices left to tell first-hand accounts. Their testimonies have shaped how the world understands the Holocaust and the consequences of unchecked hatred. Remembering the Holocaust serves to not only preserve history but to prevent truth from being erased. As survivors become fewer in number, the responsibility to carry their stories belongs to all of us – to remember not only what was lost, but the strength and resilience that endured, and to ensure those lessons are not forgotten.
The memory gap: Fewer witnesses, more lies
On April 14, Jews worldwide mark Yom Hashoah—Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day—commemorating the Nazi annihilation of 6 million Jews and the Jewish resistance. At a recent remembrance event in New York City, survivor Fred Schoenfeld spoke not only for himself, but as “someone who carries the memory of many who are no longer here to speak.”
Memory is at the heart of Jewish life—not as distant history, but as something lived, retold and passed from generation to generation. Around 220,000 Holocaust survivors remain worldwide, most of them in their late 80s and 90s. Last year, 82-year-old Holocaust survivor Karen Diamond was murdered in a firebombing attack in Boulder, Colo., while peacefully demonstrating for Israel. The memory she carried died with her.
The dwindling number of survivors coincides with a decrease in Holocaust knowledge. The American, British and other allied soldiers who liberated concentration camps came face to face with the horrors of what the Nazis perpetrated; their testimonies echo the accounts of survivors. A staggering 26% of Millennials in the United States believe that the Nazis murdered only 100,000 Jews in the Holocaust, according to a 2018 survey by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. A majority of Americans are unaware that the Nazis targeted other marginalized groups described as sub-human, including gay people, individuals with disabilities and the Roma, highlighting how preserving Holocaust memory is a responsibility for society as a whole.
Distortion, denial and inversion: Three weapons of Holocaust liars
With each passing year, firsthand testimony becomes increasingly rare. And into that vacuum, distorters and deniers are moving fast. Holocaust memory is being attacked through a clear playbook: minimizing, relativizing or selectively omitting what happened. Popular far-right podcasters and political commentators Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes have all promoted Holocaust denial.
Holocaust inversion recasts Jews and Israelis as the perpetrators of Nazi crimes—a tactic embraced by Iran, whose state media routinely promotes Holocaust denial while calling Israel a “Nazi state.” Far-left influencer Hasan Piker, who is increasingly embraced by major Democratic politicians, has called Israeli soccer fans “Judeo-Nazis,” praised Hamas terrorists and declared that America “deserved 9/11.”
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism provides a widely adopted framework. It provides a practical tool to recognize how antisemitism appears in both traditional and contemporary forms, including when it is masked as legitimate criticism of Israel. The definition has been adopted or endorsed by dozens of countries and hundreds of institutions worldwide.
Violence starts with words
The Holocaust did not begin with ghettos or concentration camps. It began with words, exclusion and the normalization of hatred. Long before mass violence, Jews were labeled, isolated and dehumanized, as their rights were steadily stripped away. The Nazi German regime legislated such exclusion into law, stripping Jews of their citizenship, livelihoods and basic protections.
Between rhetoric and violence, antisemitism often becomes embedded in systems—through discrimination in schools, workplaces and public institutions—reinforcing the same patterns that historically enabled persecution to escalate. The Anti-Defamation League’s Pyramid of Hate illustrates how bias and discrimination can escalate into violence and genocide.
The Antisemitism Worldwide Report for 2025 compiled by Tel Aviv University found that the number of Jews killed in antisemitic attacks in the Jewish Diaspora reached its highest level in three decades.
Terrorists carried out four lethal attacks across three continents in 2025, including:
- America: Two Israeli embassy staffers shot and killed while leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., in May, and an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor murdered in June, fire-bombed by an Islamist terrorist who shouted: “Free Palestine!”
- England: An Islamist terrorist attacked a synagogue on Yom Kippur in October, killing two Jewish worshippers
- Australia: Two Islamic State jihadists, a father and son, shot and killed 15 people at a Chanukah celebration on Bondi Beach in December
Physical assaults, synagogue bombings and vandalism against Jewish businesses have become increasingly routine. Recent attacks include:
- America: Three American men beat two Israeli Americans sitting at an outdoor restaurant in San Jose, CA, after overhearing them speaking Hebrew
- Macedonia: Arson attack on the country’s only synagogue during Passover – first since the Holocaust
- Canada: A terrorist fired gunshots into a Jewish-owned restaurant
Post- Holocaust: Resilience, rebuilding and the right to fight back
In the decades following the Holocaust, Jewish communities around the world rebuilt synagogues, schools and cultural institutions. Jews have made major contributions in fields ranging from science and medicine to law, education, business, finance and the arts. However, the global Jewish population has still not recovered to the pre-Holocaust level of 16.6 million.
While Israel is at war, Jewish communities worldwide are fighting back—in courtrooms, in legislatures and in the public square. Many Jews are also choosing to move to Israel not out of fear, but out of conviction.
The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 created, for the first time in nearly two millennia, a sovereign Jewish nation with the capacity for political self-determination and organized defense. This reality is not separate from the Holocaust but rather is shaped by its lessons and consequences.
Despite nearly constant attacks and multiple wars over 78 years, the Jewish people have a home again where they are welcome. That safety relies on Israel’s citizens to defend their ancestral homeland.
Points to consider:
1. Memory is fading, and lies are filling the gap.
Fewer Holocaust survivors remain to share first-hand testimony about Nazi atrocities. As their voices disappear, younger generations are left to learn about the Holocaust from social-media algorithms, biased Wikipedia editors and AI-generated content, sources that can be incomplete, misleading or deliberately false. These technologies are making it easier than ever to reshape, edit or fabricate history. Preserving that truth requires active learning and teaching of Jewish history, identity and antisemitism. When the last survivor or liberator is gone, the truth will not speak for itself.
2. The Holocaust started with words, not violence.
The systematic Nazi campaign against Jews did not begin with mass murders. The Holocaust began with rhetoric that labeled Jews as outsiders, spread conspiracy theories and normalized their exclusion from society. Nazi laws followed, stripping Jews of their rights, livelihoods and citizenship, while their neighbors looked away. By the time violence escalated, the groundwork had already been laid. This progression—from words to laws to violence—is exactly why Holocaust remembrance matters today.
3. Antisemitism is rising and increasingly deadly.
The number of Jews killed in antisemitic attacks has reached its highest level in three decades: in synagogues, restaurants and other public places. This is not a debate about politics or policy. Jews are being targeted for being Jewish—beaten for speaking Hebrew, fire-bombed on the street, murdered at prayer. When antisemitism becomes this normalized, the people spreading it—whether from a podcast, a political rally or a state media studio in Iran—bear responsibility.
4. What starts with the Jews does not end with the Jews.
The Holocaust primarily targeted Jews for elimination, but not only Jews. The Nazi regime also persecuted and murdered millions of others, including Roma, people with disabilities, political dissidents and LGBTQ individuals. When hatred toward Jews is accepted or ignored, it creates space for other forms of intolerance to grow. Tolerating hatred toward any group creates permission for hatred toward every group. Holocaust remembrance is not a Jewish responsibility but a human one.
5. Jewish identity is defined by resilience, not victimhood.
Romanian American Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize and helped shape global understanding of human rights. The State of Israel was re-established in 1948 as a sovereign Jewish nation for the first time in nearly two millennia. Jewish life is not defined by persecution; it is defined by what came after. The Jewish story is one of resilience, contribution and a refusal to disappear.
