Radio | News week in plain Finnish | Sunday 2.2.2025

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Last Monday was Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The Holocaust refers to the genocide of Jews in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s.

Now we will tell you more about it.

Stubb at the memorial service

President Alexander Stubb was at the memorial service. Photo: Wojtek Radwanski / AFP

A memorial service for the victims of the Holocaust was held at the Auschwitz concentration camp on Monday.

Over 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

Many leaders of European countries were at the event, including the President of Finland Alexander Stubb.

Auschwitz is in Poland. Today it is a museum.

Prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp in the 1940s. Photo: All Over Press

The Auschwitz concentration camp has a really bad reputation.

There, the Germans murdered 1.1 million people during World War II.

About a million were Jews, the rest were Roma, for example.

The reason was the racism of the Germans at the time. Because of racism, over 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.

Germans have long remembered the Holocaust, the genocide of the Jews.

The Germans have apologized a lot and, for example, built Holocaust memorials.

Many people think that Germany is doing the right thing by remembering the Holocaust.

Few countries want to remember their own evil deeds.

The world’s richest man Elon Musk. Photo: Angela Weiss/ AFP

Some people think that Germans remember the Holocaust, the genocide of the Jews, too much.

For example, the world’s richest man Elon Musk said a while ago that Germans are too ashamed.

Elon Musk believes that Germany should be proud of German culture.

![Professor Antero Holmila. Photo: Niko Mannonen / Yle](https://images.cdn.yle.fi/image/upload/c_crop,h_3375,w_6000,x_0,y_253/ar_1.7777777777777777, c_fill,g_faces,h_431,w_767/dpr_1.0/q_auto:eco/f_auto/fl_lossy/v1737121496/39-1408164678a5e0e196e5)

Finnish history professor Antero Holmila has studied the Holocaust.

Yle asked Holmila if we can learn anything from the Holocaust.

According to Holmila, the most important lesson of the Holocaust is that ordinary, decent people can commit truly evil acts.

This time the topic of the news week was Holocaust Remembrance Day. Let’s recap the most important things.

Monday was Holocaust Remembrance Day.

In the Holocaust, the Germans murdered over 6 million Jews.

The Holocaust teaches that ordinary people can commit terrible acts.