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It had taken two days- the
slaughter of 34,000 Jews. One row after another they were gunned down,
creating mounds of the dead and dying. The screams of agony of those that
were not yet dead reverberated as they struggled to free themselves of the
carnage, praying that even if they could make it out alive they would not
face the same end that befell their comrades. For those that could not,
they spent their last minutes suffocated by the dirt and weight of the
hundreds of corpses that lay on all sides. It was here, at Babi Yar, on
the 29th and 30th of September 1941 that the possibility of my meeting my
great-grandfather would be forever lost.
I had learned, of course, of the Holocaust, and listened with awe along
with my classmates as our teacher related the staggering number of
victims, but until the night my parents told me of my great-grandfather I
could never relate completely to the horrors. I found myself attempting to
see what my great-grandfather had seen before he was killed, what he felt
as he took his position in the row of people that would be his last living
image. All at once the Holocaust became a reality, and yet even knowing
what had occurred, I could not contemplate the hatred that could bring
about such destruction- the utter eradication of millions for no crime
other than being “born Jewish…doomed not because of something they had
done or proclaimed or acquired but because of who they were, sons and
daughters of Jewish people” (qtd. In Lipman, “Memorial” 4).
Alla Gerber, President of the Russian Holocaust Fund once said that “the
Holocaust was merely the tip of an arrow propelled by Anti-Semitism,”
leading to the conclusion that more than merely condemning the Holocaust,
we must seek to condemn the driving force behind it, as many of the
highest officials in worldwide government have seen fit to do. On the 60th
anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Russian President Vladimir
Putin spoke out against the Holocaust and the forces of Anti-Semitism, as
did UN Secretary General Kofi Annan at the opening of a new museum of Yad
Vashem in Jerusalem earlier this year- drawing to its opening leaders from
40 countries. And yet, despite such public denouncement of Anti-Semitism
by some of the most powerful political figures in the world, its existence
continues to grow across the globe, particularly in the Middle East,
England, France, and Russia, existing today in levels higher than at any
time since the Nazi era.
Why should we remember the Holocaust? Because as time moves on,
Anti-Semitic ideals continue to become embedded in the cultures of these
countries, and while political figures denounce Anti-Semitism, little is
actually being done. Although Vladimir Putin claimed to have been ashamed
of the continued existence of Anti-Semitism in Russia in his speech at
Auschwitz, his reaction to the letter written by twenty members of the
Russian congress blaming the Jews for Russia’s problems could be described
as light public condemnation at best. It would seem that such blatant
Anti-Semitism would warrant a greater denouncement from the President, as
the argument used by the congressmen is quite reminiscent of that used by
the Nazis before the Holocaust, blaming the Jews for Germany’s economic
depression.
Even where Anti-Semitism is not expressed directly, the connection with
Anti-Israeli sentiment is evident, as the legitimacy of the right of Jews
to have a state is being openly questioned in Europe, as well as other
parts of the world. This sentiment can be traced all the way to the UN,
where the UN Security Council holds sessions to attack Israel for its
actions, while bearing little mind to those taken by the Palestinians or
regimes in other parts of the world- including the 1994 massacres in
Rwanda in which thousands were killed.
The recent passing of Pope John Paul II marked the loss of an individual
who understood the forces of Anti-Semitism, seeking to combat them from
his position of religious prominence, labeling Anti-Semitism a “complete
contradiction to the Christian vision for human dignity” (qtd. in Lipman,
“Pope” 50) as well as a “sin against God” (qtd. in Lipman, “Critique” 48).
In addition, over the objections of some of the members of the Vatican
Hierarchy, the Pope “issued a mea culpa for putative believers’ role in
the Final Solution and asked for Jewish forgiveness in the name of
Christendom and the Catholic Church” (Lipman 48). The legacy left behind
by this great man, and his sensitivity to the plight of the Jewish people
is yet another reason to always remember the Holocaust, and the driving
force of Anti-Semitism which continues to exist, as in the words of Nobel
Peace laureate Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust was not about “man’s inhumanity
to man…it was man’s inhumanity to Jews” (qtd. in Lipman, “Memorial” 4).
As students, perhaps the best action to be taken to combat and prevent the
prejudice and discrimination in today’s world is to be informed, rather
than turn the blind eye that is all too common. If students today are
willing to seek the knowledge that is so abundant and feel strongly about
the issue, then the collective voice of these students is enough to force
action, or at the very least bring attention to the issue on a wider
scale. Students do not even have far to look to take note of the prejudice
in today’s society, as news of Anti-Semitic crime continues to be related,
where synagogues and Jewish gravesites in the United States have been
defaced with swastikas and, in some cases, even attacked. We should not
have to look far for the voices of tolerance, especially if each of us on
an individual level contributes to the collective need to combat even the
smallest examples of discrimination in casual conversation and action.
Yet, in seeking knowledge and applying it, we must not overlook the
greatest remaining resource on information from the Holocaust- the
survivors. Over the course of my own volunteering experiences with a
Holocaust survivor organization, I have discovered the willingness of
survivors to pass on their legacy of knowledge to younger generations.
Only by striving to remember the lessons of the past can we learn the
importance of seeking to prevent today’s injustices, and begin to use the
power that we, as students, have not yet tapped in order to combat them.
Works Cited
Lipman, Steve. “The Jewish Critique.” The Jewish Week 8 April 2005.: 48
Lipman, Steve. “A New Memorial To The Shoah.” The Jewish Week 18 March
2005.: 4
Lipman, Steve. “The Pope With A Jewish Heart.” The Jewish Week 8 April
2005.: 50
Sachar, Abram L. The Redemption of the Unwanted. New York: St. Martin’s/Marek,
1983.
Sharansky, Natan. Interview with Victor Topaller. In New York, with Victor
Topaller. RTVi. 15 March, 2005
Wiesel, Elie. Night. New York: Bantam Books, 1960.
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