On this day in 1945, Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz. January 27 is now observed by the United Nations as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Rather than trying to comprehend the millions who were murdered by the Nazis’ hateful ideology and regime, I want to focus on just one of them.
Ralph Ronald Belinfante would have turned 90 today. He was born on January 27, 1936, but was murdered in Auschwitz on October 15, 1944, at just eight years old.
This is the timeline of his short life:
January 27, 1936 – Born in Wijk aan Zee, the Netherlands
May 18, 1943 – Transported to Westerbork (this date appears on the card shown above, which I believe to be a Westerbork registration card, though I cannot be completely certain)
February 26, 1944 – Transported from Westerbork to Theresienstadt (Terezín)
October 4, 1944 – Transported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz
October 15, 1944 – Murdered in Auschwitz
But Ralph was more than a name on a list or a set of dates on a timeline. He was a young boy who played with friends and siblings. A child with a future that was never allowed to unfold. He might have grown up to become a doctor, a plumber, a salesman, a father, a husband, a grandfather, an uncle, or simply a lifelong friend.
Remembering one life reminds us what was truly lost: not only millions of deaths, but millions of stolen lives.
#WeRemember
Sources
https://www.joodsmonument.nl/nl/page/150850/ralph-ronald-belinfante
https://www.oorlogslevens.nl/tijdlijn/Ralph-Ronald-Belinfante/02/9184
History of Sorts 
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