January 27 is Holocaust Remembrance Day
In 2005 UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, declared that 27th January would be Holocaust Remembrance Day.
It’s a day to pay tribute to the memory of of people lost during one of the darkest periods of human history, and reaffirm an unwavering commitment to counter antisemitism, racism, and other forms of intolerance that can lead to targeted violence.
The date of 27th January was chosen because it is the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration and extermination camp at Auschwitz-Berkenau. Soviet troops arrived at the facility early in the morning, it was a Saturday, they found over 7,500 prisoners in the camp, the majority of them in poor health.
Between 1940 and 1945, about 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz by Germany’s Nazi regime. It is estimated that 1.1 million people were murdered, most of them because they were Jewish.
In August 1944, there were more than 135,000 prisoners across the complex, but by the time the Russian soldiers arrived only 7,000 remained in the camp. The Nazi regime targeted Jewish people as well as ethnic Poles, Soviet citizens, the Roma, the disabled, political and religious dissidents and gay men.
Located in Poland the Auschwitz camp comprised many different camps including those where they built the gas chambers which hundreds of thousands of people were killed in. It was just one of several concentration camps run by the Nazi regime.
In the concentration camps prisoners were often identified by different symbols sewn on to their clothes. Gay men were given pink triangles, the symbol was later adopted as a symbol for gay liberation and gay pride.
OUTinPerth contributor Terry Larder previously shared his experience of visiting the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Austria.
Olympian Greg Louganis is celebrating his birthday
Olympic diver Greg Louganis was born on this day in 1960.
He is considered one of the greatest divers of all time, having won four Olympic gold medals and five World Championship titles in both the springboard and platform events. Louganis began diving at the age of 16 and quickly made a name for himself in the sport, winning his first Olympic medal, a silver, at the 1976 Montreal Games.
In the 1980s, Louganis became a dominant force in diving, winning two gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and another two at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He is the only male and the second diver ever to sweep the diving events in consecutive Olympics. He was also the first diver to score over 700 points on a single dive.
In addition to his athletic achievements, Louganis is also known for his activism in the LGBTIQA+ community. He came out as gay in the mid-1980s and later tested positive for HIV in 1988, which he publicly disclosed at the time.
He has since become an advocate for HIV/AIDS education and awareness. He also wrote a bestselling autobiography in 1995, Breaking the Surface in which he spoke openly about his personal struggles with coming out and being HIV-positive.
Happy Birthday to Alan Cumming
Actor Alan Cumming turns 59 today, born in 1965 in Aberfeldy, Perthshire in Scotland he has become a successful actor and entertainer.
Cumming is known for his versatile performances in a wide range of genres, including film, television, and theatre. He began his acting career in Scotland in the 1980s, and has since appeared in over 50 films, including Goldeneye (1995), The Anniversary Party (2001), and X2 (2003).
Cumming is also known for his television roles, particularly his portrayal of Eli Gold in the drama The Good Wife for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He has also appeared in several other television shows such as Frasier, Sex and the City and Web Therapy.
He reprised his role as Eli Gold in the final series of Good Wife spin-off The Good Fight and he also had a leading role in the musical comedy series Schmigadoon.
On stage, Cumming has received critical acclaim for his performances in various productions, including his Tony-nominated role as the Emcee in the 1998 revival of Cabaret. He has also written and performed in several one-man shows, including Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs and Legal Immigrant.
Cumming is also a published author, writing his memoir Not My Father’s Son which was released in 2014, while bringing our a second volume titled Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life in 2019.
This post was first published in 2020 and has been updated.
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Lifeline: 13 11 14 / lifeline.org.au
Beyondblue: 1300 22 4636 / www.beyondblue.org.au
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