Proc. 10889: National Day of Remembrance of the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz, 2025

Proclamations

TLDR

This executive order establishes January 27, 2025 as the National Day of Remembrance of the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz, commemorating the 1.1 million victims murdered there. It comes amid rising antisemitism, connects to broader anti-discrimination initiatives, and signals strong support for Israel while using religious language that may blur church-state separation.

This proclamation by President Trump establishes January 27, 2025 as the National Day of Remembrance of the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz. The order serves multiple purposes:

Historical Commemoratio

The proclamation accurately acknowledges that approximately 1.1 million people were murdered at Auschwitz between 1940-1945, with Jews comprising the majority of victims. The camp was liberated by Soviet troops on January 27, 1945, a date now observed globally as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Current Context

The timing of this proclamation is significant as it comes amid concerning trends:

  • A documented 361% increase in antisemitic incidents in the US between October 2023 and January 2024
  • Growing antisemitism on college campuses and in public spaces
  • This may be the last major anniversary where a significant number of survivors can attend the commemorations

Policy Implications

The proclamation connects to broader administration initiatives:

  • Follows the January 29, 2025 executive order on “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism”
  • Directs the Department of Justice to take immediate action against antisemitic acts
  • Calls for investigation of antisemitism in educational institutions

Analysis

Accurate Elements

  • The death toll and victim demographics cited align with historical records
  • The proclamation correctly identifies Auschwitz’s central role in the Holocaust
  • The reference to Israel’s founding as a response to the Holocaust is historically accurate

Problematic Elements

  • The proclamation’s religious language (“child of God”) may blur separation of church and state
  • The strong pro-Israel rhetoric potentially conflates Judaism with Zionism
  • The text emphasizes American friendship with Israel while omitting mention of Soviet forces who actually liberated the camp

Political Context

This proclamation appears designed to:

  • Position Trump as a defender of Jewish Americans amid rising antisemitism
  • Signal strong support for Israel
  • Appeal to religious conservative voters through religious language
  • Establish policy groundwork for stronger federal action against antisemitism

The proclamation serves both commemorative and political purposes while connecting to broader policy initiatives on antisemitism.

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi concentration camp in Poland that stood at the center of the Holocaust and focus for their systematic slaughter of the Jewish people. Between 1940 and 1945, more than one million Jews, religious leaders, disabled persons, and other innocent victims were viciously and mercilessly executed in Auschwitz at the hands of the evil Nazi regime — culminating in one of the darkest chapters in human history. On this solemn day,America joins the Jewish community, the people of Poland, and the entire world in mourning the lives lost, the souls battered, the heroes forgotten, and the countless men and women who gave their lives for the cause of freedom.

Over those 5 gruesome years at Auschwitz, mothers and fathers lost their children, daughters and sons lost their parents, and wives and husbands lost their soulmates to the deadly scourge of anti-Semitism — leaving an unfillable void in their hearts.

To those who lost family members and loved ones, we pray that Almighty God will grant you comfort and strength. To those who survived the atrocities at Auschwitz, we honor your courage, we salute your sacrifice, and we offer you our enduring love and unceasing gratitude. And to every person touched by the calamities of the Holocaust, we give you our unwavering devotion and eternal promise to never forget the evils that took place during that dark time in history.

Sadly, despite decades of wisdom shared by survivors, years of reflection on the depravities committed, and decades of progress towards peace, the poison of anti-Semitism still courses through the veins of cowards in dark corners of the world. So today, we renew our promise that anti-Semitism has no place in a civilized society, no place in our foreign policy, and no place in the United States of America.

In the years since the liberation of Auschwitz on this day eight decades ago, the grave offenses that took place during the Holocaust and the cries of the Jewish people have echoed throughout the halls of history. In the wake of the oppression, persecution, and injustice committed at Auschwitz and elsewhere in Europe, the Jewish people gallantly persevered to re-found their homeland in the modern State of Israel — our mighty friend. To this day, the Jewish people proudly represent the peak of human tenacity and the pinnacle of human triumph.

As we commemorate this somber occasion, we pay tribute to the undying spirit of the Jewish community. We reaffirm our commitment to educating our children and every future generation about the horrors that took place within the confines of Auschwitz and other concentration and death camps. We renew our resolve to end anti-Semitism and religious bigotry of all forms. We proudly reassert our strong bonds of friendship with the State of Israel. And we declare the timeless truth that every human being is a child of God and inherently worthy of dignity and respect.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 27, 2025, as a National Day of Remembrance of the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz. On this day, I call upon every American citizen to observe this day with programs, ceremonies, and prayers commemorating the victims of the Holocaust and honoring the sacrifices of the men and women who helped liberate the victims of the Nazis at Auschwitz.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-seventh day of January, in the year of our Lord twothousandtwenty-five, and of the Independence of the UnitedStates ofAmerica the twohundred and forty-ninth.