World remembers Holocaust amid signs of rising hatred

Holocaust survivors gather to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day during a ceremony at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum on January 26, 2018 in Washington, DC.

Elderly survivors were gathering on Saturday at the former Auschwitz death camp and political leaders warned that the Nazi genocide must continue to serve as a warning as the world marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

In Warsaw, Poland, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson paid his respects in a solemn ceremony at a memorial to the Jews who died revolting against German forces in the doomed Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943.

Tillerson trailed two uniformed Polish military officers and readjusted a wreath underneath the monument, a hulking structure located in what was once the Warsaw Ghetto.

READ: World remembers Holocaust amid signs of rising hatred


The head of Warsaw's Jewish community read a prayer and Tillerson made brief remarks about the importance of not forgetting the horrors of the Holocaust.

"On this occasion it reminds us that we can never, we can never, be indifferent to the face of evil," Tillerson said.

"The western alliance which emerged from World War II has committed itself to the assuring the security of all, that this would never happen again," he said. "As we mark this day in solemn remembrance, let us repeat the words of our own commitment: Never again. Never again."

His words came amid signs in Europe and beyond that ultra-nationalism and extreme right-wing groups are on the rise.

In Germany and Austria, the nations that perpetrated the killing of 6 million Jews and millions of others during World War II, far-right parties with their roots in the Nazi era are gaining strength.

The anti-migrant, anti-Muslim AfD party won seats in the German parliament for the first time last year, while in Austria the nationalist, anti-migrant Freedom Party is in the government.

Both parties have had issues with members making anti-Semitic remarks.

Fringe neo-Nazi group that honours Hitler
Even Poland which was occupied and terrorised by Hitler's regime was convulsed this week by revelations of a fringe neo-Nazi group that honours Hitler. Other ultranationalist parties that espouse anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim views seem increasingly emboldened as well.

In Europe, that support is partially a backlash to the large influx of mostly Muslim migrants to Europe that peaked in 2015.

Some of those migrants, especially from Arab countries, have brought their own brand of anti-Semitism with them.