Whenever I write on the Holocaust – the Shoah – I do so with a certain degree of humility, and not without a deep sense of pain.
For I am reminded of what my parents taught me while still a young boy — the profundity and pain of which I realized only years later — that there are things in Jewish history that are too terrible to be believed, but not too terrible to have happened; that Oswiencim, Majdanek, Dachau, Treblinka — these are beyond vocabulary. Words may ease the pain, but they may also dwarf the tragedy. For the Holocaust was uniquely evil in its genocidal singularity, where biology was inescapably destiny, a war against the Jews in which, as Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel put it, “not all victims were Jews, but all Jews were victims.”
But while the Holocaust was “uniquely unique” as Holocaust scholar Yehuda Bauer put it, there are important universal lessons to be acted upon.
Lesson 1: The Importance of Holocaust Remembrance – The Responsibility of Memory
The first lesson is the importance of Zachor, of the duty of remembrance itself. For as we remember the six million Jewish victims of the Shoah — defamed, demonized and dehumanized, as prologue or justification for genocide — we have to understand that the mass murder of six million Jews and millions of non-Jews is not a matter of abstract statistics.
For unto each person there is a name — unto each person, there is an identity. Each person is a universe. As our sages tell us: “whoever saves a single life, it is as if he or she has saved an entire universe.” Just as whoever has killed a single person, it is as if they have killed an entire universe. And so the abiding imperative — that we are each, wherever we are, the guarantors of each other’s destiny.
Lesson 2: The Danger of State-Sanctioned Incitement to Hatred and Genocide — The Responsibility to Prevent
The enduring lesson of the Holocaust is that the genocide of European Jewry succeeded not only because of the industry of death and the technology of terror, but because of the state-sanctioned ideology of hate. This teaching of contempt, this demonizing of the other, this is where it all began. As the Canadian courts affirmed in upholding the constitutionality of anti-hate legislation, “the Holocaust did not begin in the gas chambers — it began with words”. These, as the Courts put it, are the chilling facts of history. These are the catastrophic effects of racism.
The Holocaust did not begin in the gas chambers — it began with words.
As the UN marks the commemoration of the Holocaust, we are witnessing yet again, a state-sanctioned incitement to hate and genocide, whose epicentre is Ahmadinejad’s Iran. Let there be no mistake about it. Iran has already committed the crime of incitement to genocide prohibited under the Genocide Convention. Yet not one state party to the Genocide Convention has undertaken its mandated legal obligation to hold Ahmadinejad’s Iran to account.
Related Article: Does the Holocaust Still Matter? http://www.aish.com/jw/s/48900947.html
Lesson 3: The Danger of Silence, The Consequences of Indifference — The Responsibility to Protect
The genocide of European Jewry succeeded not only because of the state-sanctioned culture of hate and industry of death, but because of crimes of indifference, because of conspiracies of silence.
We have already witnessed an appalling indifference and inaction in our own day which took us down the road to the unspeakable — the genocide in Rwanda — unspeakable because this genocide was preventable. No one can say that we did not know. We knew, but we did not act, just as we knew and did not act to stop the genocide by attrition in Darfur.
Indifference and inaction always mean coming down on the side of the victimizer, never on the side of the victim. Indifference in the face of evil is acquiescence with evil itself.
Lesson 4: Combating Mass Atrocity and the Culture of Impunity — The Responsibility to Bring War Criminals to Justice
If the 20th Century — symbolized by the Holocaust — was the age of atrocity, it was also the age of impunity. Few of the perpetrators were brought to justice; and so, just as there must be no sanctuary for hate, no refuge for bigotry, there must be no base or sanctuary for these enemies of humankind. Yet those indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity – such as President Al-Bashir of Sudan – continue to be welcomed in international fora.
Lesson 5: The Trahison des Clercs — The Responsibility to Talk Truth to Power
If the Holocaust proved anything, it is that a person can both love poems and kill children”.
Related Article: Does the Holocaust Still Matter?
The Holocaust was made possible, not only because of the “bureaucratization of genocide”, as Robert Lifton put it, but because of the trahison des clercs — the complicity of the elites — physicians, church leaders, judges, lawyers, engineers, architects, educators, and the like. Indeed, one only has to read Gerhard Muller's book on “Hitler’s Justice” to appreciate the complicity and criminality of judges and lawyers; or to read Robert-Jan van Pelt's book on the architecture of Auschwitz, to be appalled by the minute involvement of engineers and architects in the design of death camps, and so on. Holocaust crimes, then, were also the crimes of the Nuremberg elites. As Elie Wiesel put it, “Cold-blooded murder and culture did not exclude each other. If the Holocaust proved anything, it is that a person can both love poems and kill children”.
Lesson 6: Holocaust Remembrance — The Responsibility to Educate
In acting upon the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, states should commit themselves to implementing the Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust, which concluded: “We share a commitment to encourage the study of the Holocaust in all its dimensions… a commitment to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and to honor those who stood against it… a commitment to throw light on the still obscured shadows of the Holocaust… a commitment to plant the seeds of a better future amidst the soil of a bitter past… a commitment… to remember the victims who perished, respect the survivors still with us, and reaffirm humanity’s common aspiration for mutual understanding and justice.”
Lesson 7: The Vulnerability of the Powerless — The Protection of the Vulnerable as the Test of a Just Society
The genocide of European Jewry occurred not only because of the vulnerability of the powerless, but also because of the powerlessness of the vulnerable. It is not surprising that the triage of Nazi racial hygiene — the Sterilization Laws, the Nuremberg Race Laws, the Euthanasia Program — targeted those “whose lives were not worth living”; and it is not unrevealing, as Professor Henry Friedlander points out in his work on “The Origins of Genocide”, that the first group targeted for killing were the Jewish disabled — the whole anchored in the science of death, the medicalization of ethnic cleansing, the sanitizing even of the vocabulary of destruction.
And so it is our responsibility as citoyens du monde to give voice to the voiceless, as we seek to empower the powerless — be they the disabled, the poor, the refugee, the elderly, the women victims of violence, the vulnerable child — the most vulnerable of the vulnerable.
We remember – and we trust – that never again will we be silent or indifferent in the face of evil. May this International Day of Holocaust Remembrance be not only an act of remembrance, but a remembrance to act.
This article originally appeared in the Jerusalem Post.
(22) RABBI DR. BERNHARD ROSENBERG, April 25, 2020 3:42 AM
THE HOLOCAUST IS UNIQUE
To the Editor
Often, I write about the uniqueness of the Holocaust and how it is completely different from other genocides. There are those who believe that the only way to preserve the memory of the Holocaust is by making it a universal lesson regarding the traumas and tribulations other peoples and nations have suffered.
The article Shoah Museums Telling a Multicultural Story/April 17 by Steve Lipman stressing the importance of holocaust educators teaching the similarities between the Holocaust and other genocides. By doing so I believe we are diluting the significance of the Holocaust . The aim of the holocaust was to murder every single Jew in every single country throughout the world.
While it is important to stress that we should not be bystanders while others are murdered or discriminated against, we should remember that the Holocaust was anti semitism carried to the extreme of total annihilation. Unless we preserve the memory of the Holocaust and tie it to Jewish observance and ritual by including the Holocaust in prayer services, the Holocaust will become a mere date in history. It will be regarded as just another genocide in the history of genocides. To preserve the memory, I created a Holocaust Haggadah, most recently translated into Spanish. Hopefully, families will read the excerpts pertinent to the Holocaust as they read the Haggadah, remembering the honor the six million who perished.
My parents of blessed memory were both Holocaust survivors. I was born in a displaced persons camp and came to the United States as a refugee. Growing up without grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, cousins, made me the person I am today. The memory and lessons of the Holocaust will be kept alive by future generations if we have pride in the accomplishments of the survivors and preserved Judaism through education. RABBI DR. BERNHARD ROSENBERG
(21) Anonymous, September 13, 2019 3:23 AM
A Holocaust of a Different Kind
The Holocaust of the Jews during World War II was a horrible thing, and as Irwin Cotler states with such clarity and urgency, something that we must learn from and not allow to ever happen again. I read with great interest the seven lessons that one can (must) learn from the Holocaust. I would like to comment on Lesson #7 : The Vulnerability of the Powerless--The Protection of the Vulnerable as the Test of a Just Society.
In 1973, seven Supreme Court justices made it lawful to kill the unborn; i.e., to abort a "fetus". Before that decision, life of the unborn was considered to begin at conception. After the Supreme Court decision, known as Roe vs. Wade, it was suddenly LAWFUL to abort a baby even into the trimester of gestation. Just as in Germany during WWII it was LAWFUL to kill Jews.
The unborn child is the MOST VULNERABLE of the vulnerables--the unborn child is absolutely helpless. As you said in your article, Mr. Cotler, it is our responsibility to give voice to the voiceless--and the unborn are voiceless!
Yes, this is a holocaust of a different kind. And the amazing thing to me is,, the majority of American Jews are in favor of THIS holocaust, or it seems to be the case--during the last mid-term elections here in America, about 81% voted for Democrats, and one of the planks of the democrat platform is pro-choice (or pro-abortion).
The Jewish Torah says this: "And if men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she has a miscarriage, yet there is no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman's husband may demand of him; and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life." see Exodus 21:22-23. A miscarriage caused by an outside force,as this is, is abortion. Please note that G-d recognizes the unborn as life ( "life for life" ).
(20) bob, April 23, 2019 12:46 PM
hey
(19) Bobby5000, August 18, 2018 1:03 PM
Lessons Israel adopted
Israel has survived by incorporating the lessons of the holocaust. While Israel is frequently criticized, Jews tried the other way. Lessons,
1. Take statements seriously When an Arab country says they want to destroy the Zionists, one takes that to be true. In person statements said to Jews are less important than what is said about them. Eichmann was cordial and respectful to Jewish leaders, requesting that Jews report for resettlement where they were checked and categorized, many shot and others sent to death camps.
2. A cost to killing Jews Jews were quite passive during the holocaust, 1,000 could be killed without a German casualty, wealth and property were transferred providing positive reinforcement for the German people. That would change with Israel. Those engaged in terrorism would be killed. A terrorist would find his house destroyed, Retaliation would be standard.
3. Armed With military strength, Israel would be fit to respond and inflict damage on those seeking to destroy it, while Jews in the holocaust were disrarmed and cooperative.
4. United Jewish councils facilitated reporting and transfer while Israel had Jews united and ready to give their lives for country and countrymen.
5. Little trust for onlookers We worry Israeli leaders say when other countries discuss their possible destruction. Words of comfort are now ignored, knowing that France for example, readily segregated and turned over their Jewish residents.
(18) Dvora, May 25, 2018 10:02 PM
Holocaust-Shoah
Yes it is IMPERATIVE to know the Political atmosphere, what Nazi's did, how they did it but I have NEVER seen a valid explanation that defines a sociopath or psychopath. That is what Nazi's were. Also barrier crossers with an in depth criminal mind. How many of you can pick out such a person within your midst? How many of you have sided with one because, as a sociopath does, they LIED about a person. Yet you went along with that person perhaps ONLY because you are BOTH affected personalities? If one is a Jew and does it, it is MOST despicable! Such a beast should NOT be in a Government position depriving others of justice, nor do they belong in any leadership capacity SPECIFICALLY the Rabbinical. This is what we should ALL be learning. Still MOST HAVE NOT! Shoah Education IS NOT a HOW TO BECOME one! Nor should it ever be. All the things Trumpty Dumpty is doing is NOT so far off from Hitler, the Gestapo, the SS. What exactly does Never Again mean? I know what it is supposed to mean. IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN!!!!
(17) Dvora, May 25, 2018 9:57 PM
Holocaust-Shoah
Yes it is IMPERATIVE to know the Political atmosphere, what Nazi's did, how they did it but I have NEVER seen a valid explanation that defines a sociopath or psychopath. That is what Nazi's were. Also barrier crossers with an in depth criminal mind. How many of you can pick out such a person within your midst? How many of you have sided with one because, as a sociopath does, they LIED about a person. Yet you went along with that person perhaps ONLY because you are BOTH affected personalities? If one is a Jew and does it, it is MOST despicable! Such a beast should NOT be in a Government position depriving others of justice, nor do they belong in any leadership capacity SPECIFICALLY the Rabbinical. This is what we should ALL be learning. Still MOST HAVE NOT! Shoah Education IS NOT a HOW TO BECOME one! Nor should it ever be. All the things Trumpty Dumpty is doing is NOT so far off from Hitler, the Gestapo, the SS. What exactly does Never Again mean?
(16) Bobby5000, March 29, 2017 7:03 PM
lessons
1. Evil becomes worse when accommodated.
In the face of overwhelming strength and violence, the Jewish community was generally compliant. Jews turned over funds, and moved to ghettos. Eichmann or an underlying would meet with leaders explaining that relocation was needed and cooperation would minimize problems. Jews duly reported, were separated into lines, and the defenseless murdered.
A friend worked into special forces where a variety of special missions were done. With the benefit of hindsight, Jews could have acquired guns, blown up building, arranged for counterfeit identity cards, obtained gestapo clothes and provided serious resistance as was done in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. Instead casualties were minimal for German officers and 1,000 Jews could be killed without serious injury to a German officer.
Never again would Jews go willingly. The Jewish community learned its first obligation was to protect itself and not rely upon assurances from those committed to its destruction. On a far smaller note, it taught the community to be part Esau and part Jacob- that physical training and strength is needed along with intellect, with Israelis going into the military receiving training. Even children now know that physical strength is needed and that bullies should not be accommodated but one should fight.
2. Remember what we suffered.
There is no holocaust impacting Jews nor has there been one for the last 70 years. Others will experience it, the level of suffering in Sudan is equivalent, and women and children look like those at Auschwitz and the number of deaths are approaching the 100,000 of thousands. Cruelties are almost equivalent, warlords are stealing food and regarding death as a tool of combat. What should be done is tough to determine as a was for many in the 1930's and 40's, but we must recognize an obligation to help if we condemn those who failed to do before.
(15) Amanda, January 17, 2017 6:04 PM
Thank you
I teach high school English in the US. The Holocaust is one of my huge units of instruction, and my personal favorite. I came across this article today (2017), and I am so very grateful I did so. This speaks to me. Especially beautiful wording and phrasing, and exceptionally poignant in content and instruction to those of us who can reach out and make a difference. Thank you for every single word in this. Thank you.
Ron, February 9, 2019 12:00 AM
Well done Amanda
I'm close to age 70. In New Zealand the Holocaust was deleted from our education. As far as I'm aware, it still is!
Shalom.
(14) Sandra, April 19, 2016 6:36 AM
Holocaust the tragedy of mankind
The Holocaust is truly one of the mankind`s tragedies. There are many materials posted upon this and movies shot on the topic. http://bigessaywriter.com/blog/the-holocaust-essay-the-painful-tragedy-of-mankind is a link to the service where you may find an interesting article about Holocaust and many more.
(13) Anonymous, March 7, 2014 2:38 PM
Silence on Ukraine, Georgia
When Putins Russia invades Georgia, Azerbadjan and now Ukraine, we are silent or where do I see the demonstrations? Putin also by the way supports Assad and Iran, so closer to Jewish interests than on first glance.
(12) Isahiah62, February 27, 2011 9:15 PM
Never Again?
sorry I meant 1-6 in my previous comment- and just one more example of THEFT: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/never-again-for-anyone-the-latest-anti-semitic-campaign/
(11) Claire, February 27, 2011 7:43 PM
Questions?
I was told once that the Jewish people had experienced many holocausts due to their disobedience to God. There were and there are millions of Jews that considered themselves Jewish/Atheists. Karl Marx was the founder of Marxist Communism, an Atheist. What is to be a Jew? is it about believing in the existence of a one God? Judaism is a religion, you are a Jew regardless of your beliefs?
(10) Isahiah62, February 27, 2011 7:41 PM
Plus ca change Plus c'est la meme chose
the present time shows that 1-7 we have totally failed- instead of never again it's here again- the Myth is alive- the truth is dead- the newest Nazis have co-opted the language and history as their own- and the worst part is, USA and Israeli Left think exactly like German Jews- oh it can;t happen here-onh I'm not religious, oh that won't ever happen again- look around read any newspaper about Israel- look at UN- look at Obama admin-look at boyvcotts, deligitimization- look at how Jews are being portrayed in media- see your fellow Jews ignore or appease or deny- worse defending the newest Nazis- history repeats- it's 1933 all over again
Anonymous, April 11, 2011 9:56 AM
A Mammoth Force Against Israel
Samantha Power, the female top advisor for Obama's Middle East policies, called for what she termed as " a mammoth force against Israel". How mammoth could that be? A US nuke to destroy Israel??
(9) francisco fialho, February 27, 2011 7:06 PM
every one who is in condition and the mood to fight antisimetism should concentrate on psychological and behavioral fundamental that forces people to act so terribly awesome and still believing they are right, doing well!!!!!
There must exist some cerebral dysfunction trigerred by well structured and sufficiently powerful words so as to force thousands even million of people to act in wrong directions, even if they are aware of the bad nature of their acts. i am not referring of the convincing speeches used but the reaction of inside the people's brain. maybe some kind of enzyme contributes to disrail someone's ideas, provoking mental disorder. If it is possible to discover the inner and profound causes of all these terrible actions it may give us the hope and the allowance to dream for peace & love all over the human king in this poor planet!!!! I am mentioning that all because it's not the only catastrophic incident in human history.
(8) Anonymous, February 27, 2011 3:48 PM
The most imprtant of all is to behave and not to show off with your money or anything. "Lomo Tisrui"
(7) B Sloan, February 1, 2011 8:15 PM
Shoah was more than concentration camps
As horrid as the death camps were, we must remember that millions more suffered due to anti-Semitism and displacement before and during WWII. I have seen it in the personalities and concerns of dear friends who managed to leave Austria just before the German take-over. Thank for the sensitivity shown here.
(6) Eugene Blank, January 31, 2011 3:10 PM
Shoah Returns
Who are the vulnerable? The poor, everywhere, always-- the poor in the USA, the poor anywhere in the world-- they are voiceless and vulnerable. Who speaks for them? Barack Obama has the opportunity now. Will he seize it?
(5) Anonymous, January 31, 2011 7:03 AM
Strength initiates respect and accepatnce
. My immigrant parents form Europe were sensnitive to anti semitism and told stories of how jews were victimized by progroms organized by their neighbors who were aided and abbete sometimes by local police. The war of hatred began long before 1939, If Jews retaliated they were met with increased harrasment so they were submissive. It was impossible to feel secure. .It would apperar if history is a lesson i that Jews should immediately respond to negative conduct .and thanks to Bnai Brith and other such Jewish organization there is a voice. If words or dipllomacy are not sufficient possibly there should be an organized jewish underground to be called in,in order to assist local police who might feel more secure with jewish assistance. if you display a strength to deal with cowards it is my opinion they wil respect you and back off..
(4) , January 31, 2011 6:25 AM
If the holocaust started with words, words can also be used to unite Christians around the world to support the Jews and that's what I am doing.
This articel was very enlightening. Thanks
(3) ruth housman, January 30, 2011 11:34 PM
lessons from a time of terror, injustice, inhumanity
Everything you say is so right. There is nothing to add to this, really, except to feel, we need to do something very different in the next decade, moving towards 2020, which does mean, in English, "perfect vision". For me, it's about our environment, meaning how we act towards each other around the world, about humanity, about the land, the birds, the trees, what grows, the animals. It seems if there is a lesson within all this sadness, that bows us, as a branch bends, and turns toward the ground, humble in its burdens, it is, we cannot let the Holocaust, remain a "hollow cost", meaning the substance of what happened needs to be the fire, the fuel that passions never again and a new ethos towards the entire world.
(2) Reg, January 30, 2011 10:58 PM
Important lessons of an unbelievable horror
A wonderful article, containing important lessons. Although I am a Gentile, I am horrified (as people of all races and religions should be), at man's inhumanity to man. I still find the Holocaust almost unbelievable in its horror.
(1) jgarbuz, January 30, 2011 9:37 PM
There is only one lesson from the Holocaust
Every people needs a homeland and its own land and army to defend themselves with and from. No minority group can count on the majority of citizens to defend them. Going by all I have seen in the last 64 years of my own life, nothing much has changed.