I haven’t written about the Holocaust in a while because the thought of human destruction not only makes me incredibly sad, it terrifies me. To think, that the majority of the German nation, willfully supported the slaughtering of their fellow human beings. Their very own neighbors were helplessly drug from their homes and loaded like animals onto trains. They were transported to their final places of torture, terror, and butchering.
Yes. Many Germans supported the Nazi movement. Some say they were afraid of going against them. And many others said, “They didn’t know.” And the reason for my terror is in these very things.
I’m reminded of this so many times. But it was on this date, June 14, 1940, when the first transport of Polish political prisoners arrived at Auschwitz. Auschwitz was Nazi Germany’s largest concentration, extermination, and slave-labor camp. It later expanded to include civilian Jews and gypsies. And here is the thing. Approximately three million people would die within its walls.
But. It was much larger than that. More than six million people were killed during the years of the holocaust, as you know.
If we are not careful, these things could happen again.
Social media is a dangerous place for this because people say things that simply are not true. And these comments become even more dangerous because they fuel hatred. Many people think we should just ignore these remarks filled with untruths, propaganda, and hostility. Their reasoning is that we will never change these people’s minds by objecting.
They might be right. It won’t likely ever change the minds of these haters. Yet, I argue, that by being silent, by not responding — we are being complacent. We are allowing this behavior to occur and saying it is okay for them to do this through our silence. Just like the good citizens in Nazi Germany, who went back inside their homes, and turned the other way, as Jews were being shot down in the streets.
There are many lessons to be learned from the Holocaust, but the first and foremost of those lessons is the Importance of Remembrance. Our responsibility to remember as our duty.
We must remember. Those six million Jews who were killed — dehumanized, tortured, slaughtered — a “justified” genocide by the Nazis — were not just a matter of abstract statistics.
They were people. Individuals. Like you and me.
And unto each person, there was — and is — a name. Each of those people had an identity. They had family, friends, and pets. They had careers, talents, homes, and lives.
I’ve heard it said that each person is a universe. They say that “saving a single life is like saving an entire universe.” So with that, we must remember. We must speak out. We must take our stand for what is right.
If we don’t, no one will.
And it will surely happen again.
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“If we don’t fight for what we ‘stand for’ with our passionate words and honest actions, do we really ‘stand’ for anything?”
― Tiffany Madison, Black and White
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“Stand up for what is right even if you’re standing alone.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun
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“Stand up and be counted, or sit your ass in the corner and color.”
― Lori Goodwin
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Remembering what we should never forget. Or else.
