Showing posts with label #Holocaust Memorial Day 2023 # Ordinary People# Genocide# Remembrance #' History #Never Forget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #Holocaust Memorial Day 2023 # Ordinary People# Genocide# Remembrance #' History #Never Forget. Show all posts

Friday 27 January 2023

Holocaust Memorial Day 2023: "Ordinary People"


 27 January is Holocaust Memorial Day, marking the anniversary of the liberation  of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz Birkenau,the largest Nazi death camp in occupied Poland. where 1.6 million men, women children were killed in the holocaust The day aims to remind people of the crimes and loss of life and encourage remembrance in a world scarred by genocide  and prevent it ever being forgotten
 
“For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.” 
 
These are the words of Elie Wiesel, a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He, along with 1.3 million other Jews, was held prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II, and he was also one of only 200,000 (approx) Jews who survived it.
Elie went on to write a number of books about his own personal story and that of the Holocaust (also known as 'the Shoah’ in Hebrew) in general, and his works — along with the likes of Primo Levi (author of If This Is A Man) and Anne Frank, whose diary is famous across the world — are some of the most defining stories of that era. They are books I would implore everyone to read, especially as a 2021 study found that over half of Britons did not know that six million Jewish people were murdered during the Holocaust, and less than a quarter thought that two million or fewer were killed.
And though it is easy to leave history in the past, events like The Holocaust must be remembered — they must be remembered out of respect for those who lost their lives, for those who overcame the most severe form of persecution and went on to become productive members of the communities in which they settled and for those who are yet to even step foot on this planet. We must, as Elie Wiesel says, “bear witness” to these events, and pass their stories and their lessons onto the next generation, so that we can avoid such horrors happening again.
There is no doubt in my mind that the Holocaust was the greatest crime of the 20th century because of the sheer scale of the premeditated and industrialized murder of six million Jews alongside hundreds of thousands of others were targeted by Hitler's regime - including trade unionists, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transpeople, (LGBT) gypsies, disabled people and the mentally ill, and others attacked for their race or simply being different. 
Survivors recount horrific examples of ethnic cleansing, torture, cruelty and savagery, often corroborated by the Nazi hierarchy’s meticulous recording of the whole truly awful scenario.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day is a stark reminder of where hate and antisemitism can lead if not countered. Worryingly, this year’s commemoration efforts  will take place against a backdrop of rising antisemitism. racism and Holocaust distortion all over the world.
This year’s theme for Holocaust Memorial Day is Ordinary People. Ordinary People were involved in all aspects of the Holocaust, Nazi persecution of other groups, and in genocides that took place in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Ordinary People were perpetrators, bystanders, rescuers, witnesses - and Ordinary People were victims.The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) 2023, set by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT) highlights the humanity of the Holocaust victims and survivors, who had their home and sense of belonging ripped from them by the perpetrators of the Holocaust. 
Let's not forget that the Holocaust  could never have taken place without the willing participation of many millions of ‘ordinary people’. In the years leading up to the Holocaust, Nazi policies and propaganda deliberately encouraged divisions within German society – urging ‘Aryan’ Germans to keep themselves separate from their Jewish neighbours. The Holocaust, Nazi Persecution of other groups and each subsequent genocide, was enabled by ordinary citizens not standing with their targeted neighbours.
In Germany, many individuals who were not ardent Nazis nonetheless participated in varying degrees in the persecution and murder of Jews, the Roma, the disabled, homosexuals and political prisoners.
There is no better example than the ordinary men of the Reserve Police Battalion 101. Five hundred policemen, most from Hamburg, most in their 30s and 40s - too old for conscription into the army.
Men who, before the war, had been professional policemen, as well as businessmen, dockworkers, truck drivers, construction workers, machine operators, waiters, pharmacists, and teachers. Only a minority were members of the Nazi Party and only a few belonged to the SS.
During their stay in Poland, these ordinary men participated in the shootings, or the transport to the Treblinka gas chambers, of at least 83,000 Jews.
Ordinary people were witnesses; many cheered on the active participants in persecution and violence.
Sadly, most, ordinary people remained silent.
It may be another day in our calendar but we  must commit every day to create a better future so that one day, all people are free from oppression and persecution. Increasing levels of denial, division and misinformation in today’s world means we must remain ever vigilant against hatred and identity-based hostility. 
The utterly unprecedented times through which we are living currently are showing thankfully the very best of which humanity is capable but also - in some of the abuse and conspiracy theories being spread on social media - the much darker side of our world as well.
We must remember that genocidal regimes throughout history that have deliberately fractured societies by marginalising certain groups, and how these tactics can be challenged by individuals standing together with their neighbours, and speaking out against oppression and all forms of racism and discrimination. The Holocaust is not just a Jewish tragedy, but it is a lesson to all of us, of all faiths in all times and a continuing reminder to stand with “others” when their rights and freedoms face attack.
Let 's not forget  that the Holocaust did not appear out of thin air, it was built on hatred for "the other," politically weaponized by those seeking ever more power. As politicians today say' never again 'some are walking down that same path. Today there are still those that are stoking up increasing division in communities across the UK and the world. We must oppose all attempts to divide us along the lines of race, religion or ethnicity.
In recent years, Muslims. Roma and refugees have all faced fascist hate,and communities are victimised by the far right. As openly nazis appallingly revel in the crimes of the Holocaust, now more than ever, we need to stand together with others in our communities in order to stop division and the spread of identity-based hostility in our society.
Shockingly Michael Gove has defended his Cabinet colleague Suella Braverman over her interaction with a Holocaust survivor in which she refused to apologise for describing migrants crossing the Channel as an “invasion”.
When asked at a Holocaust Memorial Day event about the encounter, the Levelling Up Secretary said he had not seen the full exchange, which was caught on video, but was a “big admirer” of Ms Braverman’s policies.
Survivor Joan Salter, 83, was seen in a four-minute clip confronting Ms Braverman and likening her language on migrants attempting to cross the English Channel to that used by the Nazis.
Somehow human beings around the world are still capable of so much hate, but we should work together to prevent this. Remember those who have resisted, shown bravery and courage and question those that use hostile language which only serves to sow division and harm.
Let us also today  think about those people who are also facing genocide today; The Uighur Muslims in China, The Rohingya in Myanmar and the Palestinian people .
We should never forget where hatred and bigotry can lead. There can never be anytime for passivity, and we must  stand strong against the dark forces  of intolerance, bigotry, racism and division and all that create them.When we remember the Holocaust, the words  “never again” must mean exactly that.
On Holocaust Memorial Day, Here is a list of some other  places  and people that the world sometimes forgets.

Cambodia,

Darfur,

Siebrenica,

Karabakh, 

Liberia,

Sudan,

Holodonor,

Armenia, 
                                 
the ethnic cleansing of indigeneous Palestinians,

The Indigeneous Peoples of  America,

Checknya,

Congo,

India

and the genocide of slavery

and on and on and on.

Sadly  there will always be individuals, organisations and regimes who want to exploit differences for their own ends and we must have the courage to speak out  against hatred and intolerance where we see this happening. In a world which is increasingly fractured, where we have some leaders that are more interested in promoting division than harmony, it is vital we remember that there is far more that unites than divides the human race, to prevent a repeat of the horrors of the past, lets strive to work for equality , peace and justice for the whole of mankind. Be the light in the darkness.