By Miho Matsuzaka

It has been sixty years since the surviving victims of the Auschwitz concentration camp were freed. On January 27, 2005, a memorial ceremony of the 60th anniversary was held at the site of the concentration camp in the Southern Poland. Government delegates from 44 countries gathered from around the world for the service. Ukrainian President Yushchenco attended, too. More than 1,000 survivors also joined, for it seemed to be the last chance for many of the aging survivors to take part. A former Polish inmate asserted that people must pass on to the younger generation the importance of mutual respect and tolerance beyond race or religion and never let it happen again.

I want to explain a bit about the actual conditions of the concentration camps, including Auschwitz. In 1939, Nazi Germany occupied Poland. In June 1940, Nazi Germany established the first camp to imprison political prisoners, homosexuals, Gypsies, and others in the occupied area. This camp was called "Auschwitz." At the end of 1941, Birkenau concentration camp was newly established. By the end of the war, they had established more than 20 camps. As the war extended to six fronts, many people were captured in the name of ethnic cleansing. Among them were Jews of the occupied areas, and Jews, Poles and Russians banished from France where Vichy France took power.

Nazi Germany forced old people, women, and children into gas chambers soon after their arrival. In the gas chambers, the virulent toxin Zyklon-B was sprayed on them. It took 15 to 20 minutes for people, writhing in pain, to die from the gas. Thereafter, the non-Germanic collaborators who joined the Nazis robbed the dead of their gold teeth and their jewels. In the end, 30 million tons of gold was collected. Nazi Germany chose collaborators from among the Jews and had them spy on each other. Also, women were forced to have their hair shaved off to use as a material for cloth. Until January 1945, Nazi Germany performed lots terrible experiments on human beings in the concentration camps. In addition to about 1.1 million Jews and about 140 thousand Poles, many handicapped people, homosexuals, and the like were massacred by using Zyklon-B in the gas chambers at Auschwitz.

The tyranny of Nazi Germany has been fading after 60 years. A recent incident, which is a typical example, happened in Britain on January 12. Prince Harry, the second son of Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana wore a Nazi uniform at a fancy-dress party with his friends. Prince Charles ordered William and Harry to watch a film of the Holocaust massacre of Jews at Auschwitz and to study about the Holocaust. Also, he made them watch the movie "Schindler's List," which is a true story of 1,200 Jews who were saved during World War II. Charlesﾕ decision is definitely honorable.

The BBC conducted a survey about the Holocaust last December of 4,000 British over the age of 16 years old. The results showed that 45 percent had never heard the name Auschwitz. In the case of 16 to 35 year-olds, over 60 percent had never heard of Auschwitz. The memory of the Holocaust is fading.

This incident shows that history itself is fading. If the same survey were taken in Japan, the results would be no different. During World War II, Japan practiced the same kind of terrible things as Nazi Germany. However, have the young Japanese been taught about it? Do they know the facts? Admittedly, achievement at school is important, but we should learn more about history. It is important to know history so that we can make a peace-loving nation. The news of the memorial ceremony at Auschwitz makes us hope that young people can receive a good historical education.