Jews were the largest group targeted by the Nazis with their "Final Solution" -- genocide of the entire race. In fact, at least one-third of Europe's Jews, more than 6 million, were exterminated.

So we have taken up the rallying cry for the Holocaust, written in the blood of those millions: Never Again.

But it's not ours alone. 5 million more from other "non-Aryan" groups were marked by the Nazis for abuse and destruction. Russians, Poles, Catholics, Gypsies, the Disabled. Plus ...not enough people know this... Blacks and Homosexuals.

It's true there wasn't a large African population in Europe, but those who lived there were clearly antithetical to the Aryan ideal and were sent to camps and put to death like all the others.

The Nazis similarly persecuted homosexuals as part of their 'moral crusade' for racial and cultural purity. They believed gay men were weak, unfit soldiers, unlikely to have children and thus perpetuate the goal of Aryan dominance.  (Online Exhibitions)

Sick, twisted reasoning for the most heinous behavior known to mankind. It was barbaric insanity. Call yourself The Master Race. Dehumanize and conquer. Turn entire populations to crime, neighbor against neighbor, through fear and corruption.

Barracks

Create camps to house those you tag unfit, human animals. Transport them by rail, packed densely into closed cattle cars, no food, no water, no sanitation, little air for weeks. Majority dead on arrival.

Those still alive deemed strong enough to work. Burying the bodies. Gathering personal belongings. Servicing their captors. Starved, beaten, raped, tortured, ravaged by disease and exposure and deplorable, execrable housing conditions.

(The next time you see a local news story about a cruel puppy mill with pictures of abused animals and your eyes fill with tears and your heart fills with indignation, remind yourself: the Nazis did much, much worse ... to people).

Medical Experiments

Gruesome medical experiments (especially on young women), injections of acid and lye, operations without anesthesia. Children torn from parents, families separated and destroyed. Babies swung by their feet, heads smashed against walls. Homes and bodies looted for valuables.

Forced labor. Forced prostitution. Forced betrayal. Mass graves dug by those who were then gunned down and shoved into them. Gas chambers disguised as showers.

Ovens. Ovens. For. People.

 

And the world let it happen. People let it happen. Nobody, nobody tried to stop it.

Mass Grave, Bergen-Belsen

 

Memories? NIghtmares...
"And then we got out of the train. And everything went so fast: left, right, right, left. Men separated from women. Children torn from the arms of mothers. The elderly chased like cattle. The sick, the disabled handled like packs of garbage. They were thrown in a side together with broken suitcases, with boxes. My mother ran over to me and grabbed me by the shoulders, and she told me 'Leibele, I'm not going to see you no more. Take care of your brother.' " Leo Schneiderman, Auschwitz survivor

"The minute the gates opened up, we heard screams, barking of dogs. Bergen-Belsen was hell on earth. Nothing ever in literature could compare to anything what Bergen-Belsen was. When we arrived, the dead were not carried away any more, you stepped over them, you fell over them if you couldn't walk. There were agonizing...people begging for water. They were crying, they were begging. It was, it was hell. It was hell. Day and night. You couldn't escape the crying, you couldn't have escaped the praying, you couldn't escape the [cries of] 'Mercy,' the, it was a chant, the chant of the dead. It was hell." Alice Lok Cahana, Bergen-Belsen survivor

You read their words and your heart pounds. You look at the pictures and your blood freezes. You say to yourself, How is it possible that human beings did this to other human beings? And then, over the huge lump of rage and sorrow in your throat, you have to say, Never Again.

We have an obligation as human beings to honor the memory and the sacrifice of all those innocent victims, our fellow human beings. To wrap our brains around the mind-boggling horror of the Holocaust, and to pass the torch of Never Again to our children.

For 64 years, since the war in Europe officially ended May 8, 1945 --and the enormity of the Holocaust became public-- Never Again has been a reminder, a warning and a promise.

And now, especially as the first generation of Holocaust survivors is aging and dying, it must become a universal shibboleth -- to preserve their legacy of suffering, and avenge the deaths of millions, for present and future generations.

We have to try. We. Must. Remember.

 

This year marks two historic milestones, one born of hatred, the other of tolerance. 2009 is the 70th anniversary of the beginning of World War II and the 60th anniversary of the ratification of the International Human Rights Declaration.

So let's review with some more perspective: as bad as things are in America and the world today, things have been much, much worse. The pure evil of the Nazi's despicable crimes against humanity is so huge it is still difficult to process, even from a distance of so many years -- but we must try, and we must succeed.

"I decided to devote my life to telling the story because I felt that having survived I owe something to the dead. And anyone who does not remember betrays them again." Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Laureate, Holocaust Survivor

We must not betray them again. We must not betray each other and our children by forgetting their massive sacrifice. We must remember what human beings can do to each other when hatred is permitted to thrive, to spread and worst of all, to rule.

Today's Germany

 In

 

"Our motto must be, In spite of despair, hope must exist. In spite of suffering, humanity must prevail. And in spite of all the differences in the world, the worst enemy, the worst peril, is indifference." Elie Wiesel

Thousands of Jews from around the world will join in a March of the Living from Auschwitz to Birkenau to symbolize the last desperate Nazi "death marches" in advance of approaching Allied forces. Then at Birkenau, a huge screen will display pictures of prisoners, gas chambers, crematoriums, and survivors will tell their unimaginable stories.

There will be an enormous banner reading Never Again.

Those who join the Walk of Remembrance take a solemn pledge. It can't be any clearer than this:

"We pledge to keep alive and honor the legacy of the multitudes of our people who perished in the Holocaust.

We pledge to fight anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, Holocaust denial and all other forms of hatred directed towards the Jewish people and Israel.

We pledge to fight every form of discrimination manifested against any religion, nationality or ethnic group.

We pledge to actively participate in the strengthening of Jewish life in the Diaspora and Israel.

We pledge to increase our knowledge of our Jewish heritage and to pass on a love of Jewish life and learning to the next generation.

We pledge to give 'tzedaka,' to assist in helping the Jewish needy, wherever they may live in the world.

We pledge to involve ourselves in 'tikkun olam,' to build a better world for all member of the human family.

After the Shoah the promise of 'Never Again' was proclaimed. We pledge to create a world where 'Never Again' will become a reality for the Jewish people and, indeed, for all people.

This is our solemn pledge to the Jewish people, to those who came before us, to those of our generation, and to those who will follow in future generations."

That's our future and the future of humanity, along with these special words: Never Again.