Remembering the Holocaust

Tania Chen Barbachano
Foto: Reuters
La Jornada Maya

Thursday, May 9, 2019

Some events in human history are so horrific they leave deep imprints behind regardless of the time that has passed. They are cautionary tales, to remind people of their capacity for evil, but also to remember those who stood against the law to do what was morally right.

Holocaust Remembrance Day or Yom HaShoah as is colloquially known in Israel, took place on May 1st. During this time, a state ceremony was held in Warsaw Ghetto Square at Yad Vashem where speeches were delivered, the national flag lowered at half-mast and Holocaust survivors lit six torches to symbolise the six million Jewish people who were senselessly slaughtered during Hitler’s Final Solution. Finally, sirens blared announcing the start of two minutes of silence, in which almost everyone stopped what they were doing, including drivers stepping out of their cars to observe the two minutes. Anti-Semitism has been present in Europe since the middle ages with various pogroms taking place throughout the centuries, fuelled always by an increasing sinister political agenda from those in power. Jewish people served as the scapegoats during times of crisis, the ‘other’ that the majority of the people could blame for a variety of issues: economic slumps, famine, natural disasters, and perceived supernatural occurrences. While genocides had occurred before the Holocaust, none had the systematic planning and technological methods of the Nazis. They left behind an undeniable record of the atrocities committed, and, whether the perpetrators believed the Anti-Semitic propaganda, or whether they felt compelled to follow orders, their actions were inexcusable.

Under the pretext of following orders, atrocities are often committed, and while handing over moral responsibility to an authority is easy, it does not absolve the individual of culpability. Gregory Stanton, president of Genocide Watch, who after Rwanda’s massacre wanted to analyse the reasons why it occurred, presented a study on the eight stages of genocide. These show how certain preconditions need to be present in order for a genocide to take place. By this logic, a country that leans towards totalitarianism is more likely to take the path towards genocide due to its intolerance of any form of opposition. In a time where liberal democracy seems to be decreasing in favour of populist authoritarianism, the potential for genocide conditions to manifest themselves increases significantly.

The idea of the ‘other’, a foreign element working insidiously to bring down the good majority, is now a prevalent feature of modern populism. It is also the first stage described by Stanton: classification, where people are divided into an ‘us and them’. Furthermore, despite condemnation for the Holocaust, genocides have occurred since while the world watched.

Some significant genocides have taken place in Rwanda, Cambodia, Guatemala and, most recently, in Myanmar, where the United Nations has declared that country’s military guilty of systematic extermination of the Rohingya (a Muslim minority originally from Bangladesh). The list of genocides committed post-Holocaust is, unfortunately, too long to properly summarize in so few words.

More alarmingly, the rise of white nationalism is being exacerbated by escalating violence, such as the recent attack on Chabad of Poway synagogue in California, as well as the mosque attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand. The implementation of the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy for immigration has led to a humanitarian crisis in which children have been separated from their parents and may not be reunited for years while they go through the deportation system. Since the election of Trump, hate crime has been on the rise. Together, populism and white nationalism have allowed for the emergence of conditions that could eventually lead to possible genocidal tendencies in that society if left unchecked.

This year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day came on the heels of a very bleak international outlook, filled with increasingly complex challenges liberal democracy needs to address and overcome. The call to hatred and violence is one that must be countered through open dialogue and zero tolerance for xenophobia, racism, and misogyny.

In 2020, Holocaust Remembrance Day will take place on April 21st, and will hopefully be met with a more positive international climate, in which people are taking a firm stand against violence and hatred, and where individuals will stop to observe not what the law dictates to be right but what their conscience deems moral righteousness to be.

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