January 27, 2005 marks the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Death Camp. Trying to assess the meaning of what is undoubtedly one of theworst atrocities ever perpetuated by some human beings against others is indeed difficult. For the Jewish people, the symbolism of what Auschwitz represents has been inscribed in our hearts and on our souls.

The Jewish philosopher Emil Fackenheim speaks of "The Commanding Voice of Auschwitz." If divine revelation was given to the Jewish people on Mt. Sinai some 3,280 years ago, then 60 years ago a different type of revelation occurred. The revelation at Mt. Sinai was a revelation of goodness and Godliness, whereas the revelation to the Jewish people at Auschwitz was indeed one of great evil deriving from incomprehensible acts of inhumanity.

In January of 1942, the decision was made to exterminate the Jews of Europe. The ultimate goal of the Nazis at that time was to exterminate 11 million people. By the end of the war, six million of our brothers and sisters had been murdered, of these a million and a half were children. It is estimated that 300,000 Roma or gypsies were also the victims of mass genocide.

The Nazis decided that six death camps would be created in Poland. The largest of these death camps was to be Auschwitz. Estimates are that 1,500,000 people, most of whom Jews, died at Auschwitz.

Auschwitz was designed so that two transports per day, each with 6,000 Jews, would be "processed." These 12,000 Jews would have their heads shaved, clothing collected and stored, be gassed and cremated all within a 24 hour period. Within 24 hours, all traces of their existence would be obliterated from the face of the earth.

When the trains arrived, a "selection" was held and less than 10% were chosen to be slave laborers. Life for the slave laborers was often unbearable and many would die of overwork, starvation and disease.

In 1944 when the Jews of Hungary were deported to Auschwitz, the death factory was unable to absorb the mass numbers. It was estimated that in the spring of1944, 46,000 Jews were killed in one day. Those who could not be "accommodated" by the gas chambers and crematorium were shot and burned in mass pits on the grounds of Birkenau, the death camp complex of Auschwitz.

The allies were made aware of the atrocities of the Holocaust as early as August of 1942. They knew the specifics of Auschwitz in early 1944. Repeated efforts by the Jewish community to request that the tracks to Auschwitz be bombed were denied. In November 1944, the Assistant Secretary of War, John J. McCloy, wrote that the allies lacked the ability to bomb the targets in the area of Auschwitz. In 1965, documents were declassified which proved that in May through September of 1944, months before McCloy wrote the letter, the allies had actually carried out bombing runs in the area of Auschwitz. In other words, in November 1944 the American government lied to the worldwide and to the Jewish community.

In short, the allies let the Jewish community down and from this there is a tremendous lesson for us as Jews. Tragically in our own time, we are witnessing the emergence of increased Anti-Semitism in the world, particularly in Europe. The Holocaust teaches us that as Hillel said, "If I am not for myself, then who shall be?" Sadly we must come to the conclusion that the only true reliable ally to a Jew, will be another Jew.

And yet, there is a second part to Hillel's statement which reads, "But if I am only for myself, what am I?" Elie Wiesel, in his speech at the United Nations Ceremony commemoration of the atrocity of Auschwitz, asserted that the world had yet to learn the lesson of Auschwitz. He cited several instances of genocide which has taken place since 1945. Interestingly, he also mentioned the current conflict in Sudan as an example of how the world continues to remain silent and shuts both its eyes and its ears to these crimes against humanity.

For us as Jews, the lesson is we must continue our efforts not only to protect our own people, but to protect any people who are faced with genocide. We must continue our efforts to ensure the well being of Jews everywhere in the world and in particular to ensure the security and well being of the State of Israel as a haven for oppressed Jews.

In addition however, we as Jews have a responsibility to raise our voices and increase our efforts on behalf of those who are suffering the same sort of crimes in which we have been victims. We are told many times in the Torah to treat the stranger nicely because, "You were strangers in Egypt." In our own time, the message to us is that our voices for peace and social justice for those who are persecuted, oppressed, abused and downtrodden must be raised. Even though our liberation from Egypt has occurred and even though the holocaust has ended and the State of Israel has been created, the completion of liberation for the Jewish people will only occur when bias, bigotry and racism of all sorts are eliminated. At that time, atrocities such as what occurred to our people at Auschwitz will no longer occur and will be consigned to the annals of history. Then, truly as the biblical prophet said, "On that day, God shall be one, and God's name shall be one."