Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By simmons on July 22, 2015

The haunting words of George Santayana reminds us that the lessons of history are invaluable in determining the course of the future: "Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it."

The Holocaust was the systematic annihilation of six million Jews by the Nazis during World War 2. In 1933 nine million Jews lived in the 21 countries of Europe that would be military occupied by Germany during the war. By 1945 two out of every three European Jews had been killed. 1.5 million children were murdered. This figure includes more than 1.2 million Jewish children, tens of thousands of Gypsy children and thousands of handicapped children.

The Holocaust survivor Abel Herzberg has said: "There were not six million Jews murdered; there was one murder, six million times."

The Holocaust is a history of enduring horror and sorrow. It seems as though there is no spark of human concern, no act of humanity, to lighten that dark history. Read the story of Rivka Yosselevska, the story of the children of Bullenhuser Damm or the story the children of Izieu.

You find gripping and horrifying stories of Adolf Hitler and his most ruthless henchmen - men often seen as the very personifications of evil, like Rudolf Hoess, the SS Commandant of Auschwitz, the Nazi butcher Amon Goeth at Plaszow and Josef Mengele, The Angel Of Death. You may read about Hitler's wife, Eva Braun, or Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, Chief of the German Military Intelligence who was a dedicated anti-Nazi and held Hitler in utter contempt. He tried to put a stop to the crimes of war and genocide committed by the Nazis.

Yet there were acts of courage and kindness during the Holocaust - stories to bear witness to goodness, love and compassion. Let me mention Men Of Courage, Father Kolbe, Wilm Hosenfeld and the story of Albert Goering, the younger brother of the notorious Nazi Hermann Goering.

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The Holocaust, Crimes, Heroes and Villains

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month
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