DARK MOMENTS IN HUMAN HISTORY

I have just returned from the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. Its proper title is the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

 

I toured the three floors of the permanent exhibit. The exhibit methodically traces the Holocaust from the rise of Hitler to those who were lucky to survive. In between were evil acts of inhumanity committed on a massive scale.

 

Six million Jews murdered.

 

There is little I did not know of the Holocaust. I am and have been a student of history all my life. One thing I did learn today makes the six million number appear even larger. If it can. In all of Europe when Hitler commenced his mass extermination, there were only nine million Jews. Hitler effectively eliminated two thirds of a people.

 

For years, I have heard ".....never forget!" One cannot.

 

What bothers me is that Hitler's intentional extermination of the Jews was not the last such occurrence.  There have been many more since the end of World War II.

 

All over the world. Places such as Armenia, Bosnia, Darfur, the Congo, Cambodia, Sudan and Iraq. It is thought by some that Syria may be ripe for mass killings.

 

There is one mass killing I would be remiss if not mentioned.  Though not since World War II. I refer specifically to the American Indian. Native Americans to use the correct terminology. Subjected to annihilation because of the United States' Manifest Destiny concept at the time..

 

There was a bit of a quirk that I had to figure out. The Jewish extermination is referred to as a holocaust. All the others mentioned, genocides. What is the difference? Is there a difference?

 

Both terms are very close In meaning. A holocaust involves fire. Perhaps the cremations following the gassing gave rise to the term. Genocide is simply mass killing in any form. From my perspective, both are the same.

 

The purpose of today's column is not merely to recite my trip to the Holocaust Museum and how terrible the Nazis were to persons of the Jewish faith. I have a broader and deeper thought to convey.

 

Six million Jews killed during World War II. Millions more in the genocides set forth earlier. I believe man likes to kill. It is inherent in his nature. Some where, some time, there will be another holocaust/genocide going on. Man's inhumanity to man prevails. It never ends.

 

I apologize if I offend some. The record is clear, however. Man keeps doing it. Killing his fellow humans on a mass scale.

 

Think back in history. Recall Roman days when Christians and others were killed in the Coliseum by lions. The only difference between now and then is that man no longer uses lions. He does it himself.