Today, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we remember the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust and honor the victims of the greatest crime in human history. As the grandson of Holocaust survivors, this day is deeply personal for me. It carries the memory of lives stolen, families destroyed, and the strength of those who survived and rebuilt.
However, in 2026, remembrance must be more than ceremony. Holocaust denial is rising again, now spoken openly and spread online. Just as troubling is the distortion of the Holocaust to serve political agendas, using its language to demonize Jews, trivialize genocide, or draw false comparisons to modern conflicts, including the war in Gaza and elsewhere.
The Holocaust was a singular crime. It was not a metaphor or a slogan. It was the systematic attempt to annihilate the Jewish people, and its memory belongs to the victims and survivors alone. Today, as antisemitism rises again in our streets, on campuses, and online, that memory feels not distant, but urgently relevant.
We have a responsibility to speak when silence becomes complicity. We owe this to those who were murdered, to those who carried the truth forward, and to future generations who deserve to live without fear.
Never Again must be more than words. It must be a promise we keep every day.
Daniel Rosen, President of the American Jewish Congress
