January 27, 2021 - 09:43 AM EST
GETTY IMAGESBY JOHN BOWDEN
Pope Francis in an address Wednesday as part of Holocaust Remembrance Day urged his followers to continue battling the forces of political extremism, warning that genocide "can happen again" if society doesn't remain vigilant.
"To remember is an expression of humanity. To remember is a sign of civility. To remember is a condition for a better future of peace and fraternity," the pope said in comments marking the 76th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, according to Reuters.
"Be wary of how this path of death, extermination and brutality started," he added from the papal library in the Vatican, referring to the rise of the Nazi Party in 1930s Germany.
His remarks come just weeks after the Washington, D.C.-based Holocaust Museum "unequivocally" condemned comments from a Republican congresswoman who referenced Nazi leader Adolf Hitler while attacking Democrats at a rally just before then-President Trump's supporters rioted at the U.S. Capitol. Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, died as a result of the siege.
"Hitler was right on one thing, that whoever has the youth has the future. Our children are being propagandized," Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) said at the Jan. 6 event.
The head of the Jewish community of Vienna, Austria, also warned last week that anti-Semitism is again on the rise across Europe.
"Austria is not an island. The increase in anti-Semitic incidents can, unfortunately, be observed across Europe," Oskar Deutsch told The Associated Press. "The fight against anti-Semitism is not a Jewish task alone, but rather a task for society as a whole. The findings of 2019 show us that the time to act has really come."
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