COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jan. 27, 2025, is the 80th anniversary of Soviet soldiers liberating the largest German Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz, in World War II. It is a reminder of just how dangerous discrimination can be.

During the Holocaust of World War II, 6 million Jewish men, women and children were murdered by German Nazis.


What You Need To Know

  • Jan. 27, 2025, is the 80th anniversary of Soviet soldiers liberating the largest German Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz in World War II

  • International Holocaust Remembrance Day is held each year on January 27 to honor the 6 million Jewish men, women and children murdered by Nazis during the Holocaust

  • Morris Dach was among the prisoners set free during the liberation, his daughter Debbi now shares his story to ensure the world never forgets the horrors of the Holocaust

On Monday, people around the world are honoring each life lost on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of Soviet troops putting an end to the largest Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz, freeing thousands of prisoners in the process.

Among those liberated on Jan. 27, 1945, was Morris Dach.

“People didn’t want to believe what happened,” said his daughter, Debbi Dash Sugarman. “That’s why my father lived.”

Growing up, Dash Sugarman said she could always sense something was different about her dad.

“My dad had nightmares every night, and if I’d sleep over at somebody else’s house, that wasn’t happening,” she said.

Another sign was the numbers 83988 tattooed on his arm.

Around age 7, she started seeking answers.

“I asked the librarian if a person had a number on their arm. Is there a book?” she said.

Receiving in return, a book about a German Nazi death camp in World War II.

“I couldn’t understand how my father was still alive, but I knew why when he spoke about his family, why he cried so much,” Dash Sugarman said.

Morris grew up in Poland, the youngest of four sons. His entire family was taken to Auschwitz, and Morris was the only one to survive and make a fresh start in America.

He found freedom after escaping from a prisoner death march.

“He ran from the death march, and he was in the forest a while, with two other guys roaming,” Debbi said. “Then the Russian army liberated them. They didn’t even know where they were.”

Decades later, he faced his painful past head-on by returning with his kids to the place that haunted him for the rest of his life.

“I just felt I needed to complete the journey,” Dash Sugarman said. “And while my dad could go with us. And talk about, I guess, his journey, how this all happened.”

He gave his first-person account of the horrors of the Holocaust to anyone willing to listen, with Debbi picking up where her dad left off when he passed away in 2003.

“So my family isn’t forgotten, the 6 million aren’t forgotten, and the 5+ million others that were murdered aren’t forgotten,” Dash Sugarman said. “So it’s important.”

She works with Jewish Columbus and Jewish Family Services to share Morris’s story, speaking to hundreds of groups so far.

“I mean, who would think that somebody could come to power and invoke such cruelty on people?” Dash Sugarman said. “Why? Because their religion was different? Their sexual preference was different? They were developmentally disabled?”

She also keeps her father’s memory alive inside Restaurant Equippers, a food service supply business he started in Columbus nearly 60 years ago.

“He built it from nothing,” Dash Sugarman said. “He came from death’s doorstep and built this from nothing.”

Employees like Eduardo Padilla said his kindness left a lasting impact.

“That experience in life that, you know, anybody probably could have just devastated anybody,” he said. “He was the nicest person ever.”

With Dash Sugarman proud to deliver her dad’s message, asking the world to never forget.

“Anything can change on a dime,” she said. “So in order to go on with the future, you have to remember the past.”