Will County Gazette

Two very different but important events happened on the same day in different years - almost 28 years apart - in living memory of those whose lifetimes encompassed both events.

Those events were the liberation of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz in 1945 and the end of the United States' involvement in the war in Vietnam.

Illinois State Sen. John Curran (R-Downers Grove) | facebook.com/senatorjohncurran

State Sen. John Curran (R-Downers Grove) used Facebook earlier this week to recall those two different points of history that occurred on the same day.

"Today is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945 as well as the signing of the Paris Accord in 1973," Curran said in his Thursday, Jan. 27 Facebook post. "Take a moment to reflect on that time in our world's history."

The Soviet army liberated the Auschwitz death camp in Poland, about 37 miles west of Krakow, on Jan. 27, 1945.  During the approximately five years prior, at least 1.3 million people were imprisoned in Auschwitz and the vast majority - at least 1.1 million - were hideously murdered.  When the Soviet army arrived, only about 7,000 prisoners remained alive at Auschwitz.

Auschwitz was only one of many camps in which six million European Jews and at least five million prisoners of war, Romany, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals and other victims were killed.

Less than 40 years later, the 1973 Paris Peace Accords formally ended the United State's involvement in the war in Vietnam.  The document, "An Agreement Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam" was signed by representatives of the U.S., South Vietnam, the Viet Cong, and North Vietnam.  The agreement established a cease-fire and required the U.S. to withdraw all troops and advisors from Vietnam, while the North Vietnamese would release all prisoners of war.

Curran has represented Illinois' Senate District 41 since he was appointed to the seat in July 2017 following the resignation of his predecessor, then Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno. He previously was vice-chairman of the DuPage County Board and was a board member from 2008 to 2017. In 2018, he won a full term in the House during that year's General Election.

The 41st Illinois Senate district is located within the Chicago metro area in Cook, DuPage and Will counties. The district includes all or parts of the townships of Downers Grove, DuPage, Homer, Lemont, Lisle, Lyons and York, and the villages of Bolingbrook, Burr Ridge, Downers Grove, Hinsdale, Homer Glen, Indian Head Park, La Grange, Lemont, Lisle, Palos Park, Western Springs, Westmont, Willow Springs, Willowbrook and Woodridge.