"However, these portraits represent something far greater than seven remarkable individuals. They stand as a living memorial to the six million innocent men, women and children whose stories will never be told, whose portraits will never be painted."
"They stand as a permanent reminder for our generation - and indeed, to future generations - of the depths of depravity and evil humankind can fall to when reason, compassion and truth are abandoned."
In July 1944, Lily Ebert - then aged 20 - was transported to Auschwitz with her mother and five siblings.
The Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, notorious for his deadly experiments on prisoners, sent her mother, her younger brother and younger sister to die in the gas chambers, while other family members were put to work.
She said the pendant in the shape of an angel had been given to her by her mother when she was five.
"Auschwitz took everything, even the golden teeth they took off people. But this survived," she said.
Our appreciation to Ms. Jodi Wilson-Raybould for the reminder
"January 27, 2022 marks the 77th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp where more than a million people were murdered."
https://globalnews.ca/news/8542062/holocaust-remembrance-day-kingston/amp/
"The day of remembrance comes at a time when some people are comparing COVID-19 vaccine mandates to the conditions of the Holocaust.
“There’s a lot of education that needs to be done, because these comparisons are not only wrong, but they’re offensive and they’re dangerous frankly,” says Rabbi Erin Polansky of Beth Israel Congregation.
“And the more misinformation and rhetoric like this that we hear, the more unsafe it gets for Jewish people and any minorities."