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I can offer no comment more powerful than what my friend, Jodi Halkin Furman, posted as her Facebook status today. She has been kind enough to allow me to share it with you:
"Today is Yom Hashoah -- Holocaust Remembrance Day. My grandfather (Zaide Jack for those of you who knew him) was in Auschwitz and experienced unspeakable horror -- his wife and child were murdered in the gas chamber-- he lost both of his parents and ALL of his siblings except one, he left the camp weighing under 80 pounds. My grandmother was in a work camp, forced to toil for free -- she lost both of her parents, her two sisters and her brother. Yet from that horror, sprung joy and hope -- they married, had two children, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren -- they built a beautiful life, a wonderful home and a loving family. Their stories are but two of the millions out there-- I will NEVER forget the Holocaust, I hope you won't either."
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I am not Jewish, but grew up in the 1950's in an area of Los Angeles where there were many Jewish families. As a child, my nose was usually larger than normal, and I was called "jewboy" probably for that reason. The Holocaust always caught my attention. I read a lot about the Holocaust in school as well as books on Hitler and the Third Reich. Hanna Arendt and George Orwell were a couple of my favorite authors. This interest in totalitarianism continued throughout my life and, at 61, it is still a subject that I get emotional over. I will never forget my first visit to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. It was around 1993 just after the opening. I was on Army Reserve duty in D.C. and I put off my visit for a couple of weeks. I had to be ready. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life. There was a similar display of photos as you make your way through the museum. All those faces, displaced persons, ruined lives. At the end of the tour, you end up on the ground floor in a large open area. I will never forget the young girl, about 12, being comforted by her mother. They had just finished the tour. The little girl was sobbing uncontrollably and saying, "I can't believe it, I can't believe it"! I pray to God people will remember. The Holocaust Museum is there for that purpose - remembrance. I would like to visit Yad Vashem, as well as Auschwitz and other Holocaust sites someday. My hope is that the Holocaust will be remembered, and that Americans will never surrender their civil liberties for the promise of security.