The horrors of the Holocaust were exposed to the world when the Third Reich collapsed marking the end of WW II in Europe. But the process of extermination of European Jews had been carried on for six years. The Final Solution established a system whereby thousands of Jews were killed in a matter of an hour – at industrial rate.
Ultimately, six million Jews – equivalent to two-thirds of all Jews in Europe – had perished by the gas chambers, along with others deemed undesirable by the Nazis: Roma – or Gypsies, Slavs, the handicapped, gays and lesbians, political and religious dissidents.
Why and how could one group of human beings turn against another group and commit such horrors for so long? How did the Nazis succeed to carry out their plan without detection? Did the world abandon the Jews and the “undesirables” of the Nazis to their fate? Could this horror have been prevented, and can a similar atrocity be prevented from happening again?
Those are some of the questions that the world must never forget to ask and to find answers.
The Holocaust Remembrance Day being observed today is a time to reflect on those questions. In addition, it a time to remember the victims, to hear stories from survivors – so that we never forget – and to honor those who acted, in whatever capacity, on behalf of the victims.
Locally, the Mayerson JCC is sponsoring events for this occasion and synagogues will have special services. There is still more to come.
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