In the midst of the Israeli-Palestine conflict where many of the same ideologies that prompted the Holocaust and other genocides since are used to justify the death of hundreds of civilians in the West Bank and fuel Islamophobia around the globe, it's important to remember the casualties and the heroes alike.

January 27th - today - marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated this day as International Holocaust Remembrance Day (IHRD), an annual day of commemoration to honor the victims of the Nazi era.

From 1940 to 1945, more than 1.1 million men, women and children were killed in the Auschwitz concentration camp. 90% of them were Jews. All were innocent. Today, we remember - זכור - as well as pledge to do our part to combat genocide and similar crimes around the world in places like Sudan, North Korea, Burma, the Congo, Mexico, Syria, and many others near and far, and pledge to eradicate the ways of thinking that fuel such hatred that can prompt these genocides.

Thanks, Dippers.