By LAFFINGKNOME
6 years ago

Holocaust Memorial Day: What about other genocides?

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In the UK today we remember the 6 million Jews who perished in the Nazi death camps of the 1940's. This act of barbarism has to be one of the worst atrocities ever inflicted. Let us not forget other minorities who also perished in the camps. Today there are programmes on reflecting the Nazi atrocities and that is no surprise in keeping with what happened back then.

Is it fair to blame today's German people for what happened all these years ago? The German people should never forget what a previous generation did to the Jews and others but you cannot blame today's Germans for what happened. Germany today is a multi-cultural modern nation. True the far right the AFD was elected to the Bundestag (the German parliament) but are they really Nazis or Germany's equivalent to UKIP? The AFD came about because of many German peoples concerns about the tide of people Angela Merkle let in from the Middle East. It is understandable the German people would have concerns about migrants lest they are undercover ISIS operatives. Despite the rise of the AFD many Germans on the left and far left plus thousands of ordinary Germans would not stand for another government like the Nazis or at least it is be hoped they wouldn't!

Does the Holocaust draw us away from other atrocities though that happened in the past and in recent history? Are we remembering the Holocaust at the expense of other peoples who suffered genocide? A recent example would be what ISIS did to the Yazidis or what happened in Rwanda or what the Serbs did to Muslims? Stalin, for example, exterminated far more people than Hitler ever did as did Mao. What about the Irish Potatoe famine that the British inflicted on the Irish or the Americans with Native Americans etc. I could go on but I guess you get my point.

Israel today as a Jewish state has the right to exist and hopefully always will do. However, the conflict with the Palestinians is a sore that needs healing. While atrocities happen on both sides it is Israel at the end of the day that has the firepower to inflict greater suffering on the Palestinian side. When Israel was set up in 1948 many Palestinians were forced from their homes, killed, raped, their holy places desecrated. It is a story of their own holocaust or the Nachbar as they call it. Palestinians are still suffering today on the West Bank and Gaza thanks to Israel's activities in those areas. Is this a case of the oppressed becoming the oppressor?

So today as we remember the awful Holocaust let us not forget other genocides that have happened in our world and are still happening in the world.
6 years
Violeta Great article
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soncee Beautiful artikle
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fortune I hope this kind of barbarism will never be repeated...
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Nido Nice
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tallawah When the Spanish came to Jamaica and wiped out the population, no one knew, and prob. no one would care. This was the pattern. No one knew, and those that knew didn't care.

When the Germans began genocide everyone knew and no one cared. England, America, turned a blind eye.

At the end, out of guilt they acted. Today we see other cases of genocide and those who have power to act, repeat their complicity.
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4 years
Strabunica013 Great article !
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