The United Nations designated January 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day to mark the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

When the resolution was passed in 2005, it also rejected any form of Holocaust denial. There has been different themes during every year. In 2022, the day’s theme is Memory, Dignity, and Justice.

Going into April 2020, I knew that I lost an aunt, uncle, and a number of cousins during the Holocaust. What I did not know was that my second great-grandmother, Taiba Salzman (We have the spelling in our family tree as Saltzman or Zaltsman), died during the Shoah. My father’s paternal grandfather came to the United States in the early 1900s. I just assumed that my second great-grandparents had died of natural causes. It wasn’t until seeing the records for myself that I learned that a direct ancestor died during the Shoah. What I did know from my father is that my great-grandfather often said he had a famous rabbi for an uncle. I’ve been involved in genealogy since my aunt died in 2002 but knew it wasn’t anyone we had on the tree. Cut to April 2020 and I learn that my 3rd great-granduncle is Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski.

With today marking the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, here are some movie recommendations of currently released films:

• Schindler’s List
• Inglourious Basterds
• Judgment at Nuremberg
• The Diary of Anne Frank
• Denial
• Defiance
• Woman in Gold
• The Zookeeper’s Wife
• Resistance
• 1945
• Jojo Rabbit
• To Be or Not to Be
• The Last Laugh
• Antisemitism
• The Last Days
• The Meaning of Hitler
• Who Will Write Our History
• Of Animals and Men

Not included in this piece are films that recently premiered during film festivals and awaiting their theatrical or digital release. The Survivor is certainly going to be a must-watch upon its HBO release. But in addition to these films, please feel free to check out the offerings from the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s film division, Moriah Films.

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