I just happened to come across this short film and knew immediately that I had to talk about it.
Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) is a difficult subject for me to speak about. As a newcomer to the Yahudim, I oftentimes feel guilty for not having had to endure the constant pain and suffering that the others before me have felt. I wonder, even now, am I qualified to raise my voice? I cannot remain silent. In fact, I will not remain silent. Over six million men, women, and children were helplessly slaughtered while the world stood by and did nothing!
Tragically, even now as the last of the survivors pass away there are people denying what happened. I find it interesting that General Eisenhower spoke about just such a thing when he communicated the following to General Marshall:
The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering as to leave me a bit sick. In one room, where they [there] were piled up twenty or thirty naked men, killed by starvation, George Patton would not even enter. He said that he would get sick if he did so. I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to “propaganda.”
As painful as it is to watch and speak about we must not remain silent. We must teach our children, family, friends, everyone. This must never happen again and with YHWH’s protection this never will happen again.
Sh’ma kolenu, hear our voice…
August 12, 2009 at 7:19 am
I might add, there were more than just six million Jews that tragically lost their lives, 4 million gay and lesbians, gypsies, and Jehovah Witnesses tragically lost their lives also. Yes, we must never forget what happened and strive to remedy such outrageous intolerance from happening again.
Thanks for the post Lou.
August 12, 2009 at 8:12 am
I believe the total loss of life amounted to over 11 million people. Truly horrific when you try to get your head around just how many innocent lives that really is.
August 13, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Forgetting would mean we are indifferent to the entire situation. We must never forget, and must hold all those lives that were lost, dear, in our minds and hearts, whether we knew them or not. The loss of one person, is a loss of each one of us.