MOSCOW, January 27. /TASS/. Russia will never forget the heinous crimes committed by Nazism, crimes that were ultimately eradicated by the brave soldiers and commanders of the Red Army. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed this sentiment in a message to participants of the memorial ceremony commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 81st anniversary of the Red Army’s liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

"We will never forget these monstrous atrocities, which were brought to an end by the Soviet Union’s Red Army. We pay tribute to the heroism of its soldiers and commanders, who saved Jewish and other peoples from annihilation," Putin stated. He emphasized that Russia honors the courage and resilience of all who refused to surrender in the face of unimaginable adversity - those who fought in guerrilla units and underground movements, contributed to the war effort from behind the lines, and helped bring about the defeat of the enemy and the victory of the Great Patriotic War.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed annually on January 27. This date marks the day in 1945 when the Red Army liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, the notorious Nazi concentration and extermination camp in Poland. The term "Holocaust," derived from the Greek word "holocaustosis", meaning "burnt offering" or "destruction by fire," gained widespread usage in the 1950s, notably through the writings of Elie Wiesel, a survivor of Auschwitz.