Finland 

Day of Remembrance: 27 January

Historical Background:
On the morning of 27 January, 1945, the Soviet Army entered Auschwitz III, followed by Birkenau and Auschwitz I later that afternoon. Altogether, they liberated some 7650 prisoners. During WWII, the Nazis murdered over one million Jews in the Auschwitz concentration and extermination camps.

Finland and the Holocaust:
Lexicon entry from Yad Vashem's online Holocaust Resource Center: Finland  

Educational Activities:
Friends of Yad Vashem in Finland have organized a ceremony for the Holocaust Day of Remembrance every year since 1995. In 2002 this initiative gained the support of the Finland Ministry of Education. In 2003 the ceremony took place in the auditorium of the University and the Prime Minister of Finland, Mr. Pabo Liponen, addressed the gathering.
Students in Finland usually learn about the Holocaust in Grades 7,8, and 9, as well as in the upper secondary school as part of a compulsory history course.
The Living History project in Sweden, especially the book Tell Ye Your Children, has been successful in Finland, especially since Swedish is an official language in Finland. The Finnish edition, which includes a chapter about Finland and the Holocaust, was distributed to every school in the country.

Educational Activities on Holocaust Memorial Day:
This year the commemoration took place at the great Festival Hall of Helsinki University, and was organised by the Yad Vashem Society in Finland.
The program included a number of speeches, greetings from the Israeli Ambassador to Finland, Shemi Tzur, and musical interludes.

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