There is no substitute for hearing and learning from the stories of those who bore witness to the atrocities of the Holocaust.

Growing up, Gerda Weissmann Klein’s personal account as a survivor, her book All But My Life: A Memoir, had a significant impact on me—her recounting of humanity and inhumanity, friendship and family, hope, chance, small gifts and sacrifice, and the ultimate arrival of liberation and new love.

I had the great honor and pleasure of sharing a meal and visit with her a few years ago. I think especially of Gerda and other survivors having to watch the destructive hatred, racism, antisemitism, fascism, and general disregard for the sanctity of all human life that has continued to permeate our society and rear its ugly head.

I think of so, so many people we lose to hatred and inaction, and feel a renewed sense of urgency to listen while we have the opportunity so that “Never Again” does not become an empty promise.

Here are just some of the memorials from around the world (Israel, Berlin, Hungary, Holland, U.S., Italy) that for me best express the immense and profound loss.