Due Respect

I have seen a fair amount of memorials and monuments in my life. As a history teacher this is something we do. Some of these structures will accomplish the artist’s desired effect. They will cause you to stop and reflect. They may even inspire you to learn about those for whom the memorial was constructed. Some, however, will not. Their failure is usually due to two factors above all: a lack of knowledge of the tragedy or a disconnect from the oppressed.

That said, I came across a memorial on a tour in Amsterdam that was particularly moving. It was a memorial to victims of the Holocaust. I have seen a great deal of Holocaust memorials, and I have never come across one that wasn’t moving, but some leave a stronger impression than others.

Before I tell you about this memorial. Let me say that I am constantly amazed by the lack of knowledge that people have about this tragedy. It has slipped further and further away from relevance in the public mind. There is something to be said for looking toward the future and healing from our past, but there is a difference between healing and indifference and ignorance. I have heard those who say we need to learn from our past and move toward the future. I agree with them, but only after we learn. Many Holocaust memorials have the words “Never Again” inscribed on them. This was the promise that the world made following the genocide. Never again would the world turn a blind eye to the mass murder of people due to race or creed. Since then, we have seen multiple genocides. And as the south of Sudan elects to be an independent nation, we should be reminded of the genocide that has been taking place in Darfur for more than 7 years while the world chose not to notice.

As I said earlier, the lack of knowledge about the facts of the Holocaust is concerning. Most people know that 6,000,000 Jewish people lost their lives, and some know that the total number of victims is 11,000,000, but fewer people know who made up the other 5,000,000 victims. This is one of the great injustices of our remembrance of the Holocaust. We neglect to remember the many other groups of people who were targeted and murdered. These include the Roma, the physically and mentally disabled, those with hereditary diseases, political enemies, prisoners of war, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the individuals and groups of the resistance. I mentioned earlier that I came across a memorial this past week that stood out for me. This structure was dedicated to another group of victims that too often gets overlooked. This memorial was built in honor of the homosexuals who were murdered during the Holocaust.

I mentioned at the beginning of this entry that I have a theory that the primary factors contributing to a memorial’s failed effect is a lack of knowledge, whether naïveté or ignorance, and a disconnect from the oppressed. These are shortcomings that are completely in our control.

We can also begin to correct one of the other injustices of the Holocaust. I quoted two numbers for you earlier: 6,000,000 and 11,000,000. These are the numbers widely used to represent the victims of the Holocaust. Please think about the fact that these numbers represent people. After you have done this, think about the injustice we commit by rounding these numbers to nice easy to remember, easy to quote figures.

“History counts its skeletons in round numbers. A thousand and one remains a thousand,
as though the one had never existed:
an imaginary embryo, an empty cradle”

-Wislawa Szymborska