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On Holocaust Remembrance Day, the lessons endure for all of us

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  john-russell  •  5 years ago  •  46 comments

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, the lessons endure for all of us
the lessons of the Holocaust are hardly static. Today synagogues are vandalized in Europe. The Arab press publishes articles stating that Jews use the blood of Muslim children in Passover festivals. Arab children use textbooks that demonize Jews. Rumors persist that America and Israel orchestrated the 9/11 terrorist attacks.And now, here in America, we have the killings at Jewish houses of worship in Pittsburgh and outside San Diego.

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T



04/30/2019, 12:38pm


On Holocaust Remembrance Day, the lessons endure for all of us





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Holocaust survivors light a candle during the annual "Days of Remembrance" event at the Emancipation Hall of the U.S. Capitol on April 29, 2019 | Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images








By William Choslovsky






The final solution: Auschwitz, Treblinka, Bergen-Belsen, Dachau, Buchenwald, Terezin, Chelmno, Sobibor, Majdanek, Belzec, Polish ghettos.

Adolf Hitler’s Nazis murdered some 6 million Jews — 6 million girls, men, grandmothers, babies, uncles, neighbors, women, fathers, friends, sisters, colleagues, cousins, lovers, boys, mothers, aunts. Six million human beings. Though Hitler’s main target was Jews, he also exterminated an estimated 5 million other people — mostly Catholics, homosexuals, gypsies and the handicapped — to support his master race ambition.

For perspective, and to humanize each of the 6 million victims, consider this: If you read each victim’s name — taking just two seconds per name — it would take you 139 days to complete the task. Start today and you will not finish until September.  But that is only if you never stop to eat, drink or sleep, much like the conditions the victims endured.


OPINION

Most perished (were murdered) quickly in the gas chambers, gallows or execution lines. The rest were forced to perform labor so excruciating that adjectives do no justice in describing. Then there were the rapes, beatings, heinous medical “experiments” and brutal, arbitrary tortures.

None of this happened by accident. Quite the contrary, it was planned, it was designed. It took the participation — or active indifference — of an entire country to accomplish, not the workings of just a few evil leaders. It happened in the “modern era” in the most civilized of countries, and it happened for only one reason: because they were Jews.

Somehow, a few survived.

Note, the above description is hollow, it is weak, it is inadequate. But it is all I can offer in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Amazingly, there is a group of individuals who deny  the Holocaust  occurred. They call themselves “Holocaust revisionists.” If they are Holocaust revisionists, I suppose someone who claims two plus two equals five is a “mathematical revisionist.”

Calling Holocaust deniers “revisionists” wrongly suggests there is room for debate. It lends credence to asinine assertions. We are talking historical fact, not policy debates or competing historical theories.

Ideally, the deniers would not warrant any attention. As my grandmother Baba Bella used to say, “If you argue with a fool, that makes two.”

Unfortunately, some of the deniers possess an air of credibility. Take Northwestern University engineering professor Arthur Butz, who penned a book in 1976 denying the Holocaust.

In a world that is often ill-informed, ignorance can pass as fact if left unchallenged. If supposedly credible individuals like Butz are not condemned, then the perpetual lie soon becomes “truth.” Our silence is the source of their strength.

Consider — for shock value — what the reaction would be if a group of “antebellum revisionists” claimed African-Americans were never slaves? That blacks were never sold, lynched, beaten, raped and bartered? Suppose these “scholars” claimed the whole idea of a black slave trade was simply a hoax devised by blacks to garner sympathy. How would we respond?

I would like to think that I would be joined by all people, no matter their ethnicity, in obliterating such a lie. I would like to think that the revisionists would be called racists.

It’s been 74 years since World War II ended, and soon there will be no survivors left. The events will truly be “history,” meaning that the human connection for most of us will be no different than our connection to the Civil War.

Even so, the lessons of the Holocaust are hardly static. Today synagogues are vandalized in Europe. The Arab press publishes articles stating that Jews use the blood of Muslim children in Passover festivals. Arab children use textbooks that demonize Jews. Rumors persist that America and Israel orchestrated the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

And now, here in America, we have the killings at Jewish houses of worship in Pittsburgh and outside San Diego.

Likewise, the lessons of the Holocaust are not limited to Jews.

Throughout the world, over the decades since World War II, religious and ethnic groups have been persecuted and butchered — Christians in Sudan, Hindus in India, Tutsis in Rwanda, Muslims in Bosnia, the list goes on.

Millions killed not for anything they did, but simply because of who they were, including Sri Lankans on Easter Sunday.

I relish the day when Holocaust deniers can be scorned. Until then remember, two plus two is four. Do not forget it lest the victims of the Holocaust died in vain.

William Choslovsky is a Chicago lawyer.

Holocaust Remembrance Day begins at sunset Wednesday and continues until sunset Thursday.



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JohnRussell
Professor Principal
1  seeder  JohnRussell    5 years ago

Holocaust Remembrance Day begins at sunset Wednesday and continues until sunset Thursday.

This year this day seems a little more significant than in most other years. 

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
1.1  Trout Giggles  replied to  JohnRussell @1    5 years ago

Thanks for seeding this

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
2  Kavika     5 years ago

Excellent article. 

''Never forget''

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
3  Ender    5 years ago

I will never understand people that deny the truth. The horrors are all very well documented.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 

 
 
 
lib50
Professor Silent
3.1  lib50  replied to  Ender @3    5 years ago

Some are right here trying hard to redefine 'nationalism' as patriotism, ignoring the context of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany.  They ignore Trump's racist dog whistles because they like  winning more than morals.  But they are still trying to play the values card once in a while, looking like totally clueless hypocrites.  I will never let them forget the horrors of that ideology.

 
 
 
lib50
Professor Silent
3.1.2  lib50  replied to  XDm9mm @3.1.1    5 years ago

So don't complain when you don't like the historical context and get smeared with that baggage.  You want it to be one thing, but it has multiple meanings and a recent historical context, and most people will associate it with white supremacy and WWII.   And you won't get to tell them they are wrong, because you are willingly putting yourself there to make a point, to reclaim the word and erase the baggage that comes with it.  But you can't remove it.  Things are more complex and its not possible for those who know more to pretend it doesn't exist.  Especially when racism and white nationalism is exploding and killing Americans.  Have fun being in the middle of that. 

 
 
 
Greg Jones
Professor Participates
3.1.3  Greg Jones  replied to  lib50 @3.1    5 years ago

And it only takes a few comments for some fool to bring Trump and white people into the mix.

It's not working, because it's not true.

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
4  Buzz of the Orient    5 years ago

Have any of those who comment on NT ever experienced being at Yad Vashem, any Holocaust Memorial Museum, or visited a concentration camp like Auschwitz?  Have they ever been taught about The Holocaust in school?

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
4.1  Kavika   replied to  Buzz of the Orient @4    5 years ago

Yes, I was at Dachau in 1959.

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
4.1.2  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  Kavika @4.1    5 years ago

It must have been an experience that had a great effect on you.

 
 
 
Perrie Halpern R.A.
Professor Principal
4.1.10  Perrie Halpern R.A.  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @4.1.2    5 years ago

Comments removed from this thread for being "off topic"

 
 
 
lib50
Professor Silent
4.2  lib50  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @4    5 years ago

Yes, I've been to Dachau in the 1970's, one of the more powerful experiences of my life.    I've been interested in the history of that period and studied it profusely.  Is there a point to that question? 

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
4.2.1  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  lib50 @4.2    5 years ago

I believe that having such an experience would deepen the understanding and depth of knowledge of an event in history that should be a lesson to mankind - one would never expect a revisionist, one incapable of love of humanity, to bear the comprehension of such evil. 

 
 
 
1stwarrior
Professor Participates
4.2.2  1stwarrior  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @4.2.1    5 years ago

Dad was stationed at Darmstadt when I was 8 years old.  We live in "Off-base housing" in Pfungstadt.  Our house was directly across from the main railway works and I used to hitch rides with the locomotives and engineers and go to their houses for lunch - with my Mom's permission of course.

Pfungstadt was one of the primary railway prisoner transport sites and our house was one block from the main station's office.

Learned a lot about the atrocities at the tender age of 8 - and they will never be forgotten.

 
 
 
lib50
Professor Silent
4.2.3  lib50  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @4.2.1    5 years ago

I agree, I wish everybody had a chance to experience that.  Have you ever read Viktor Frankl's book 'Mans Search for Meaining'?  I used to listen to Dennis Prager (waaaay back when he was normal) and he recommended that book on his show and its been one of the most impactful in my life, and I've read tons of books. 

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
4.2.4  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  lib50 @4.2.3    5 years ago

No, I've not read it, but with your recommendation I wish I could. I'm afraid I have no access to it. I'll never find it here, and I refuse to put any credit card or banking info on the internet.

 
 
 
lib50
Professor Silent
4.2.5  lib50  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @4.2.4    5 years ago

Keep it in mind when you get a chance to pick it up, I've given copies out over the years to people I thought would appreciate it.

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
4.3  Split Personality  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @4    5 years ago
any Holocaust Memorial Museum,

yes

 
 
 
luther28
Sophomore Silent
5  luther28    5 years ago

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, the lessons endure for all of us

For me the best method to honor all victims of the madness of Nazi Germany, would be to never allow it to happen again on any scale.

Sadly we have not done this to date, Rwanda, Serbia, Cambodia.................. if there is a Jesus he surely weeps.

 
 
 
1stwarrior
Professor Participates
6  1stwarrior    5 years ago

Please don't take this wrong, but Hitler got his "extermination/Camp" idea from the wonderful U.S.A.

True, he and his troops murdered over 6 million Jews and maybe 5 million non-Jews - a massive occurrence.

But, the U.S.A., with it's many ethnicities, murdered over 100 million people - "girls, men, grandmothers, babies, uncles, neighbors, women, fathers, friends, sisters, colleagues, cousins, lovers, boys, mothers, aunts" - recognized as American Indians/Native Americans/Indians for - dominancy and greed. 

None of this happened by accident. Quite the contrary, it was planned, it was designed. . . . It happened in the “modern era” in the most civilized of countries, and it happened for only one reason:  dominancy over "SAVAGES" - peoples who had been on this land for over 30,000 years - peoples who reached out to help and to educate and to provide care with only one request - treat us as you would have us treat you (gee - sounds kinda biblical, eh?).

So, when many of you lament the actions of Germany and the resulting "Holocaust" - think about what happened right here at home - where THERE IS NO REMEMBRANCE of the horrors perpetrated against Nations/Tribes just so the lands/peoples would/could belong to Dominant races/ethnicities - kinda like Hitler's desire for a "Master Race".

Don't mean to offend - but education goes a long way, eh?

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
6.1  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  1stwarrior @6    5 years ago

It appears to me that America was one big shooting gallery - and although not to the extent that it was, it still is.

 
 
 
Dean Moriarty
Professor Quiet
6.1.1  Dean Moriarty  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @6.1    5 years ago

Colorado public radio was just reporting that the Chinese government now has internment camps with an estimated 1.5 to 2 million Uyghur's imprisoned simply for being Muslim. 

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
6.1.2  Split Personality  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @6.1    5 years ago

Most native Americans on both continents died from disease brought with the explorers and conquistadors.    

Estimates range from 8.4 million to as many as 112 million, but since there were no Mayan or Aztec census left behind, it's all educated guessing.

Once the Europeans and British invaded North America, the full time fighting lasted almost 400 hundred years.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
6.1.3  Kavika   replied to  Split Personality @6.1.2    5 years ago
Most native Americans on both continents died from disease brought with the explorers and conquistadors. 

Indeed, people are wont to argue that plague and disease killed Native Americans in great numbers, which is true – Native Americans did die in mass numbers as a result of European pestilences and our biological inability to fight off these foreign microbes. But that argument inherently ignores the well-documented extermination policies set forth by the United States.

In fact, President   Thomas Jefferson   himself famously said (well, famous throughout Native America) that the “(American Indian has) justified (their own) extermination.” And it was   George Washington   who thought the only way to kill Native Americans was to rage war on their crops.

SP, I suggest that your read  The Doctrine of Discovery "Inter Caetera'' issued by Pope Alexander VI and Manifest Destiny, It will certainly give you a greater understanding of what transpired in the Americans. 

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
6.1.4  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  Dean Moriarty @6.1.1    5 years ago

And during WW2 the USA put Japanese Americans in internment camps....

China has already experienced Islamist terrorism from the Uyghurs, and it will make sure it is kept to a minimum, if not eradicated entirely.  American laws and rights will guarantee that the USA remains a shooting gallery with DAILY examples.

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
6.1.5  Split Personality  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @6.1.4    5 years ago

What happened to the Midianites?

Typical Bible BS, Kill all the males and enslave the women, but,

Moses had a change of heart and killed all of the adult women

and spared only the female virgin children.

Point of fact,

there is something wrong with humanity.

First we killed off the Neanderthals, then we started killing each other.

There is ample evidence in the Bible, and all of the earlier cuneiform and hieroglyphs.

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
6.1.6  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  Split Personality @6.1.5    5 years ago

Good thing we're living in the 21st Century, eh SP?

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
6.1.7  Split Personality  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @6.1.6    5 years ago

Unfortunately it seems to be baked into our genes.

No government, not even the Chinese can put a clamp on the DNA.

 
 
 
luther28
Sophomore Silent
6.2  luther28  replied to  1stwarrior @6    5 years ago

Yes indeed the truth can hurt.

Though America was certainly not the first to practice such insanity, we were one of the slowest to admit it. Along with slavery a part of what we can hope is our darker past.

Sadly one of the things humans seem to excel at, killing one another.

 
 
 
1stwarrior
Professor Participates
6.2.1  1stwarrior  replied to  luther28 @6.2    5 years ago

Ain't that the truff.

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
6.2.2  Split Personality  replied to  luther28 @6.2    5 years ago

Apparently it's genetic!

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
6.3  Split Personality  replied to  1stwarrior @6    5 years ago
Please don't take this wrong, but Hitler got his "extermination/Camp" idea from the wonderful U.S.A.

BS. he was a Christian who got it from the Old Testament.

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
6.4  Split Personality  replied to  1stwarrior @6    5 years ago

Your point about no monuments or remembrance has some validity.

I am surprised you haven't mentioned it here as well.

 
 
 
Split Personality
Professor Guide
6.4.1  Split Personality  replied to  Split Personality @6.4    5 years ago

oh, and as far as monuments go,

there are probably more monuments to NAI in this country than to the Holocaust.

.

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
8  Kavika     5 years ago
BS. he was a Christian who got it from the Old Testament.

“Hitler’s concept of concentration camps as well as the practicality of genocide owed much, so he claimed, to his studies of English and United States history,” Toland wrote in his book,  Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography.  “He admired the camps for Boer prisoners in South Africa and for the Indians in the wild west; and often praised to his inner circle the efficiency of America’s extermination—by starvation and uneven combat—of the red savages who could not be tamed by captivity.”

 
 
 
Perrie Halpern R.A.
Professor Principal
8.1  Perrie Halpern R.A.  replied to  Kavika @8    5 years ago

Don't forget the Armenian Genocide. Hitler actually said:

Accordingly, I have placed my death-head formations in readiness -- for the present only in the East -- with orders to them to send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we gain the living space (Lebensraum) which we need. Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?

btw, till today, the US does not recognize the Armenian Genocide since we are allies of the Turks. 

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
8.1.1  Kavika   replied to  Perrie Halpern R.A. @8.1    5 years ago
btw, till today, the US does not recognize the Armenian Genocide since we are allies of the Turks. 

Nor do they recognize the American Indian genocide..

 
 

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