Yom HaShoah Honors Holocaust Victims, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

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Summary

• Honors Yom HaShoah and the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust, highlighting the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising as a symbol of resistance.
• Warns that unchecked antisemitism and racism can spread, threatening broader civil rights and enabling systemic discrimination.
• Emphasizes the urgency of preserving survivor testimony amid rising misinformation and Holocaust denial.
• Urges renewed commitment to human dignity, civil rights, and preventing future atrocities.

sakchai vongsasiripat via Getty Images

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April 14th, 2026 is Yom HaShoah, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, recalling the murder of 60% of Europe’s 10 million Jews in World War II. The date was chosen to commemorate the 1943 uprising of the 50,000 Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto; rather than follow orders to go to concentration camps, 25% of that population fought back and was killed in a month of fighting, the rest then sent to Polish death camps. While most of the 6,000,000 Jews murdered by the Nazis were killed mechanically – gathered and shot in trenches, starved in cattle cars, gassed en mass – the Warsaw Ghetto uprising became a symbol for an unarmed community fighting against evil even when surrounded, with the odds hopeless.

Yom HaShoah is not only about the lethal effect of unchecked hatred against Jews; Jews are only the first – but never the last – victim of xenophobic and racist hate. Once normalized against any group, demonization, degradation, and violence will attack other groups. That is why the mission of The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is “to keep Holocaust memory alive while inspiring citizens and leaders to confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity.” Simon Wiesenthal and his Center have the “mission of promoting human rights, confronting hate and intolerance, and educating future generations about the Holocaust and the ongoing fight against racism and genocide.” It is a universal warning.

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But it is also very particular, and almost every person who made it out alive has an amazing story of bravery, and/or luck, and/or sacrifice and survival; you should hear that testimony live, firsthand. Women forced to bed their captors to avoid the gas chamber. Families spiriting their children into orphanages, then spending years hiding in the forests. Those who could passing themselves off as non-Jews; others running and hiding, staying one step ahead of the genocide machine. Each survivor’s story is different.

But 95% of those witnesses are now gone, the rest will perish in a decade. The truth they experienced will be replaced by the loud cynical denials of the misinformation industry. Holocaust deniers and conspiracy theorists Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens each has more subscribers than there are Jews on Planet Earth! What chance does the truth have against that?

Yom Hashoa, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, stands as a counterweight to that attempt to erase history, and excuse institutional racism. It reminds us of the danger that starts with the demonization of strangers, the exercise of unchecked authority and the deprivation of the civil rights of any group; it is even more dangerous when ordinary, decent people start to consider it normal. It presents a lesson for our day and for all time.

The call was “Never Again” – that the lives of 6 million Jews bought an everlasting vaccine against antisemitism and racial hate. But after a scant 80 years, the disease is blooming with a vengeance, with the Holocaust distorted and barely remembered – just one more fact hidden under a barrage of lies. For at least today, let’s all take one step to support dignity and respect for all and – even if it is only a dream – make bigotry a thing of the past.

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See more from the ABA Presidential Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, which works on implementing the policies adopted as Resolution No. 514 at the 2023 ABA Midyear Meeting.

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Co-Chair, ABA Presidential Task Force to Combat Antisemitism

Mark I Schickman

Mark Schickman has been practicing labor and employment law and civil litigation for over 50 years. He serves on the American Arbitration Association's select panel of employment law arbitrators and is Editor of the...

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Co-Chair, ABA Presidential Task Force to Combat Antisemitism

Mark I Schickman

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Committees

This content was produced by:

• Religious Freedom Committee

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