I regret that I did not have a chance to write this blog yesterday, but today will have to do. Seventy years ago, the first major event of the Holocaust took place: Krystallnacht, the night of the broken glass. On the night of November 9-10, 1938, thousands of Jewish businesses, places of worship, and homes throughout the Reich were rampaged. Windows were shattered, and Jews were rounded up and sent to prison or deported, and some were even killed during the course of the night.
The world did nothing. Sure, newspapers across the world reported the incidents of Krystallnacht, but no steps to end the blatant Nazi antisemitism were taken.
In the years following Krystallnacht, Jews would be rounded up and forced into substandard living conditions in the ghettos of Europe. They would be loaded up into cattle cars and sent to concentration camps and gas chambers. Millions of Jews, gypsies, communists, homosexuals, mentally ill, and other individuals would be killed, but the largest group was most certainly the Jews.
Since that horrid time, it has been said again and again that we cannot allow anything like this to ever happen again. The current German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, even said as much on the anniversary, as did Pope Benedict.
And yet, has antisemitism stopped since then? Has genocide stopped since then?
In fact, Romania, which killed several thousand Jews during the Holocaust without support from the Nazi regime, is still a hotbed for antisemitism, with desecration and destruction of graves taking place. The Holocaust was not even taught in Romanian school until 2004, a mere 4 years ago. Even in the US, there are still accounts of hate crimes against Jews. Similar instances also occur in Austria, and in Hungary.
But the lack of progress doesn't only show in the form of antisemitism. Since the Holocaust, what Western countries identify as one of the worst genocides in history, several genocides have taken place, often without response from the world community until it is too late. Cambodia had a genocide directed by Pol Pot, which took the lives of some 2 million Cambodians. This took place in partial response to the US involvement in the Vietnam War, in the late 70's.
More commonly known among Americans now is the genocide in Rwanda in the early 90's, in which 800,000 Tutsis were killed. There was also the genocide of Muslims in Bosnia, which took place between 1992 and 1995 and resulted in about 200,000 deaths. And, of course, there is the current genocide occurring in Dafur as we speak, the total killed estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands, with millions of people displaced from their homes. Many people did not know about this genocide until a few years into the conflict.
How long will we allow such discrimination to take place? How many must die for us to recognize it as a genocide and take appropriate action? Will we allow another Holocaust, despite our claims to never forget it?
Thanks for writing this blog. I don't understand why the world continues to commit genocide? Is it really just rooted in economic gain? Well, I imagine it has to do more with fear and anger, enthnocentrism?
But what will it take to stop it ?
I took a long pause yesterday after reading an article my professor asked us to read:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/09/germany.commemorate.ap/?iref=...
One thing I know for certain, the whole world is guilty for the Holocaust. The fact that the entire world let Hitler get to the point of power that he did is evidence of a sleeping planet. We have an obligation to fight genocide across the world.
I want to ask you, what do you think we can do? What can our government do, and what can we individuals do?
For myself, I try to stay informed, and to think critically about personalities in power. Sadly, I don't know how our country can help fight genocide in the world while we are occupying other countries ourselves.
"Consistency is not a human trait" - Maude, from Harold and Maude
Yeah, I follow two Israeli newspapers for the cultural aspect of it, and both had a ton of articles over the past couple days regarding Krystallnacht. I was more than a little surprised to see that no one actually reacted to it around the world, though. I mean, they ran newspaper articles, but no one was really trying to change things.
With the advances in technology that we have now, I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the concept that genocide is still happening. I mean, we have access to almost instant and unlimited information; surely a few people could get word out about something fairly quickly, and yet I hadn't heard of anything happening in Darfur until years into the conflict. That's not right.
As individuals, I think we are responsible for keeping informed, and keeping others informed, much as you did when you posted your "An Ethical Dilemma" blog. Once we are informed, it is much easier to stay on the lookout for instances of any sort of discrimination, and fight against them, at least in our own countries. In other countries, we can condemn a situation when we hear of it, and do our best to help pick up the pieces after an incident. So, if Krystallnacht happened tonight, tomorrow we had better be sending out relief organizations to help with the cleanup, and helping the store owners get back on their feet. If that means removing them someplace safer, so be it.
The world's policemen, whether it comes in the form of Amnesty International, or the UN, needs to be punishing the nations that continue acts of genocide in some way, without punishing the people who do not participate in such acts, or who are affected by such acts. Easier said than done, I know, but establishing a system now (whether it be economic sanctions, or a removal from power) can help us prevent genocide in the future, so these thousands and millions of people aren't hurt in the future.
~C
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He has identified himself to us as a Mennonite. He told us he is going to Israel in December for a month. He said he and his wife were going to spend time with Palestinian Christians, Orthodox Jews and Muslims.
I asked him about America's obligation to Israel, "What obligation will remain to Israel once the war in Iraq is over?"
He replied,
"Oh to muddy the waters even more, what is the entire world's obligation to both Israel and Palestine?"
"Consistency is not a human trait" - Maude, from Harold and Maude
Power controls people's minds, and through this power people use fear as cause to do what is "right." It completely sad that people still are grounded by this undefined fear of cultures. I don't know if it will ever end, it just may sadly be in human nature.
Thank you for this post,
I don't think enough people speak up about things like this whether it be out of fear, ignorance, or what but I'm glad someone has.
I appreciate it.
a fellow student posted a comment on our forum that really bothered me. She said,
I am still learning about "netiquette." mvenus929 has been a good teacher, whether or not she knows it.
I know it is responsible to give credit when citing someone else, but I don't want to do that in this case because i feel it is incriminating.
Also, i am not sure what the ethical consensus is in regards to quoting someone who posts something online. Is it still considered their own personal property? Does a person need their permission to quote it?
Any feedback to these questions is greatly appreciated.
I have decided to post her comment anyway, and if I learn I am crossing the line, I will gladly delete it.
However, this post really bothered me.
Here is my response, which I posted as a reply to her comment:
"I did have a similar train of thought when I was reading from the book of Isaiah last night in order to try to understand the idea of the Messiah according to the Jews. The Old Testament is filled with warnings of God's wrath and warnings to the Israelites who had turned away from him.
If the Old Testament truly does reflect the will of God, it would be difficult to not think that perhaps the Holocaust was the latest smiting of the Jewish people by an angry and jealous God.
Personally, I don't believe that. What I find significant about it is the fact that the entire world looked on, continuing their daily life, while a man so evil was allowed to come to such great power.
Even if you are right, and it was God's doing, I still think that what is more important for the world to understand is that the blood of the Holocaust is on the hands of the entire world. Humanity must now redeem itself, and fight racism across the world. Part of that fight is what we are doing here, learning about different belief systems throughout history. Whether or not it was God's will, man is not God, and does not have permission to commit and condone genocide."
"Consistency is not a human trait" - Maude, from Harold and Maude
The creative commons license for this site says that people are free to share and adapt the work, providing they "You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work)."
Personally, I'd say it's ok to quote the person without using their name, provided you state where you got the quote from. Other people may have slightly different opinions than me, but you're clearly not claiming the comment as your own.
In terms of her... hypothesis, I'd respond that if Jews were meant to disappear, they would not be so resistant to termination, as they have been time and time again throughout the ages. I mean, the Holocaust was not the only instance where people tried to get rid of them, and they've always survived, both as a people and as a religion, to these persecutions.
~C
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http://www.israel-catalog.com/product.asp?Product=11351
Everything one needs to know in order to understand what’s happening around.
There is no disturbance to be seen in a graphical way, but to slowly understand the truth involved makes one to realize, the why NEVER again…
Night and in it Wiesel says something along the lines of "the world doesn't care about us." The line is one of the most heartbreaking in the book. To think, there are still people for whom the world no longer cares.
"How can we win where fools can be kings" Muse
Be reminded that although the US didn't commit a crime so violent or that took as many lives, but after Pearl Harbor was bombed, Japaneese living in America, and even Japaneese-Americans, people who were just as much Americans as you and I were put into concentration camps here in America and treated creully. They had everything taken from them, and all for no reason, just because someone who looked like them bombed us. How many of your grandparents stepped up against that? How many of you even knew about that?
Insead of criticising the outside world, we should take a good look at ourselves.
I knew about the concentration camps in the US. In fact, I wrote a long paper about them in high school as one of my history projects. But that wasn't a genocide (and thus not the subject of this blog). While we did take the rights of the Japanese and Japanese Americans away, and subjected them to horrible conditions, we did not kill them, and our concentration camps were nothing like those in Poland.
~C
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I knew alot about the internment camps already. One was built near my town (it was never used though)
and you are right. Our country does have a long history of sins -both of ommission and commission.
"How can we win where fools can be kings" Muse
It's wonderful that someone has the guts enough to write about this. I see alot of hate crimes among the students at my kids school and it's disturbing considering we are a small town.
How sad
yes, thank you for posting this.
things like this always make me emotional about man's inhumanity to man.
Susan
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A life not examined is a life not worth living.....plato
Rest in peace
yourfuneralguy
http://www.yourfuneralguy.com
Your post is most appreciated. After studying your post I am amazed at how my difficulties are in the light of genocide done to others. You have touched my deep emotions.
RestinPeace