Seventy years ago, Soviet army troops stormed through the front gate of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in southern Poland. What they found stunned many of the battle-hardened soldiers.

More than 1.1 million men, women and children were murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Most of the victims were among the more than 6 million Jews killed as part of “the final solution.”

Ceremonies held recently at the camp – one of dozens of killing factories operated by the Nazis – were a reminder of what can happen when vicious fanatics gain power.

Only about 300 survivors of the camp were able to attend. Few of those victimized by Hitler’s regime remain among us today.

Fewer and fewer eyewitnesses to The Holocaust, combined with those who deny it ever happened, place an enormous responsibility upon the rest of us.

The terrible inhumanity of The Holocaust – in all its aspects – must not be forgotten or minimized. “Never again” needs to be in our minds, not just part of books and movies. Otherwise, the horror will be repeated.