Remembering the Holocaust: 6 Key Lessons
by Irwin Cotler
Indifference in the face of evil is complicity with evil.
From the keynote address by Professor Irwin Cotler, delivered January 29th at the Holocaust commemoration ceremony in the historic Salle des Assemblées of the European Headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva.
Whenever I speak on the Holocaust I do so with a certain degree of humility, and not without a deep sense of pain.
For I am reminded of what my parents taught me while still a young boy - the profundity and pain of which I realized only years later -- that there are things in Jewish history that are too terrible to be believed, but not too terrible to have happened; that Oswiencim, Majdanek, Dachau, Treblinka -- these are beyond vocabulary. Words may ease the pain, but they may also dwarf the tragedy. For the Holocaust was uniquely evil in its genocidal singularity, where biology was inescapably destiny, a war against the Jews in which, as Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Elie Wiesel put it, "not all victims were Jews, but all Jews were victims".
Lesson 1: The Importance of Holocaust Remembrance
The first lesson is the importance of Zachor, of remembrance itself. For as we remember the six million Jewish victims of the Shoah -- defamed, demonized and dehumanized, as prologue or justification for genocide -- we have to understand that the mass murder of six million Jews and millions of non-Jews is not a matter of abstract statistics.
For unto each person there is a name -- unto each person, there is an identity. Each person is a universe. As our sages tell us: "whoever saves a single life, it is as if he or she has saved an entire universe." Just as whoever has killed a single person, it is as if they have killed an entire universe. And so the abiding imperative -- that we are each, wherever we are, the guarantors of each other's destiny.
Lesson 2: The Danger of State-Sanctioned Incitement to Hatred and Genocide -- The Responsibility to Prevent
The enduring lesson of the Holocaust is that the genocide of European Jewry succeeded not only because of the industry of death and the technology of terror, but because of the state-sanctioned ideology of hate. This teaching of contempt, this demonizing of the other, this is where it all began. As the Canadian courts affirmed in upholding the constitutionality of anti-hate legislation, "the Holocaust did not begin in the gas chambers -- it began with words". These, as the Courts put it, are the chilling facts of history. These are the catastrophic effects of racism.
Forty years later, in the Nineties, these lessons not only remained unlearned, but the tragedy was repeated. For we witnessed, yet again, a growing trafficking in state-sanctioned hate and incitement, which in the Balkans and in Rwanda took us down the road to genocide.
And as we meet, we are witnessing yet again, a state-sanctioned incitement to hate and genocide, whose epicenter is Ahmadinejad's Iran -- and I distinguish President Ahmadinejad from the people of Iran, many of whom have themselves repudiated his remarks. For President Ahmadinejad denies the Nazi Holocaust as he incites to a Middle Eastern one -- an assault on Jewish memory and truth in its denial of the Holocaust, which the U.N. General Assembly rebuked several days ago; and a violation of the prohibition against the "direct and public incitement to genocide" in the Genocide Convention, which U.N. Secretaries-General Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-Moon respectively called "shocking" and "unacceptable", indeed, an assault on the very U.N. charter, which prohibits such incitement and threat.
Lesson 3: The Danger of Silence, the Consequences of Indifference -- The Duty to Protect
The genocide of European Jewry succeeded not only because of the state-sanctioned culture of hate and industry of death, but because of crimes of indifference, because of conspiracies of silence.
We meet today in the majestic Salle des Assemblées of the former League of Nations. It was here that Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie pleaded in vain for protection from Mussolini's 1935 aggression. Fascism marched ahead, winning one victory after another. It was here that while the gathering storm of war advanced, with Czechoslovakia surrendering to Hitler in 1938, further appeals for protection went unheeded. The response was international indifference, a failure of moral resolve, and the result was world war and genocide.
We are assembled here on the banks of Lake Geneva, on the other side of which lies Evian-des-Bains. It was here in 1938 that the international community considered the plight of hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees desperate to flee worsening persecutions in Nazi Germany and Austria. But the nations looked away. As it was said at the time, the world was divided into those places where the Jews could not live, and those places where they could not enter. Hitler drew his lessons.
As we gather here today to commemorate the Holocaust in this historic Assembly Hall, with the representatives of the international community and civil society, let us pledge that never again will we be indifferent to aggression, hatred and incitement.
And indeed we have witnessed an appalling indifference and inaction in our own day which took us down the road to the unthinkable -- ethnic cleansing in the Balkans -- and down the road to the unspeakable -- the genocide in Rwanda -- unspeakable because this genocide was preventable. No one can say that we did not know. We knew, but we did not act, just as we know and have yet to act to stop the genocide by attrition in Darfur, ignoring the lessons of history, betraying the people of Darfur, and mocking the Responsibility to Protect doctrine.
And so, it is our responsibility to break down these walls of indifference, to shatter these conspiracies of silence and inaction -- to stand up and be counted and not look around to see whoever else is standing before we make a judgment to do so; because in the world in which we live, there are few enough people prepared to stand, let alone be counted, reminding us of the words of Edmund Burke, "the surest way to ensure that evil will triumph in the world is for enough good people to do nothing".
Indifference and inaction always mean coming down on the side of the victimizer, never on the side of the victim. Let there be no mistake about it -- indifference in the face of evil is acquiescence with evil itself -- it is complicity with evil.
Lesson 4: Combating Mass Atrocity and the Culture of Impunity -- The Responsibility to Bring War Criminals to Justice
If the 20th Century -- symbolized by the Holocaust -- was the age of atrocity, it was also the age of impunity. Few of the perpetrators were brought to justice; and so, just as there must be no sanctuary for hate, no refuge for bigotry, there must there be no base or sanctuary for these enemies of humankind. In this context, the establishment of the International Criminal Court must be seen as the most dramatic development in international criminal law since Nuremberg -- to deter mass atrocity, to protect the victims, and to prosecute the perpetrators.
Lesson 5: The Responsibility to Talk Truth to Power
The Holocaust was made possible, not only because of the "bureaucratization of genocide", as Robert Lifton put it, but because of the trahison des clercs -- the complicity of the elites -- physicians, church leaders, judges, lawyers, engineers, architects, educators, and the like. Indeed, one only has to read Gerhard Muller's book on "Hitler's Justice" to appreciate the complicity and criminality of judges and lawyers; or to read Robert-Jan van Pelt's book on the architecture of Auschwitz, to be appalled by the minute involvement of engineers and architects in the design of death camps, and so on. Holocaust crimes, then, were also the crimes of the Nuremberg elites. As Elie Wiesel put it, "Cold-blooded murder and culture did not exclude each other. If the Holocaust proved anything, it is that a person can both love poems and kill children".
And so it is our responsibility to speak truth to power, and to hold power accountable to truth. And those entrusted with the education and training of the elites should ensure that Elie Wiesel is studied in schools of law and not just in classes of literature; that the double entendre of Nuremberg -- of Nuremberg racism as well as the Nuremberg Principles -- is part of our learning as it is part of our legacy; that Holocaust education underpin our perspective as it informs our principles -- on justice and injustice.
Lesson 6: The Vulnerability of the Powerless -- The Protection of the Vulnerable as the Test of a Just Society
The genocide of European Jewry occurred not only because of the vulnerability of the powerless, but also because of the powerlessness of the vulnerable. It is not surprising that the triage of Nazi racial hygiene -- the Sterilization Laws, the Nuremberg Race Laws, the Euthanasia Program -- targeted those "whose lives were not worth living"; and it is not unrevealing, as Professor Henry Friedlander points out in his work on "The Origins of Genocide", that the first group targeted for killing were the Jewish disabled -- the whole anchored in the science of death, the medicalization of ethnic cleansing, the sanitizing even of the vocabulary of destruction.
And so it is our responsibility as government representatives -- and, morally, as citizens of the world -- to give voice to the voiceless, as we seek to empower the powerless -- be they the disabled, the poor, the refugee, the elderly, the women victims of violence, the vulnerable child -- the most vulnerable of the vulnerable.
Indeed, perhaps the most important human rights lesson I learned was taught to me by my daughter, now 27, when she was 15 years of age, when she said: "Daddy, if you want to know the real test of human rights, always ask yourself, at any time, in any situation, in any part of the world, 'is it good for children? Is what is happening good for children?' That's the real test of human rights, Daddy."
Conclusion
May I close with a word to the survivors of the Holocaust -- for you are the true heroes of humanity. You witnessed and endured the worst of inhumanity, but somehow you found in the depths of your own humanity the courage to go on, to rebuild your lives as you have built your communities. And so it is with you, and because of you, and because of the righteous among the nations -- like Raoul Wallenberg -- that we remember that each person has a name and an identity -- that each person is a universe -- that in saving one life we save an entire universe.
We remember -- and we pledge -- and this must not be a matter of rhetoric but must be a commitment to action -- that never again will we be indifferent to incitement and hate; that never again will we be silent in the face of evil; that never again will we indulge racism and anti-Semitism; that never again will we ignore the plight of the vulnerable; that never again will we be indifferent in the face of mass atrocity and impunity.
We will speak and we will act against racism, against hate, against anti-Semitism, against mass atrocity, against injustice -- and against the crime of crimes whose name we should even shudder to mention -- genocide.
And yes, always, against indifference, against being bystanders to injustice. For in what we say, or more importantly in what we do, we will be making a statement about ourselves as a people, we will be making a statement about ourselves as people. For in our day, more than ever, whoever remains indifferent indicts themselves.
May this day be not only an act of remembrance, which it is, but let it be a remembrance to act, which it must be.
Author Biography:
Professor Cotler is a member of Canada’s parliament and its former Minister of Justice. He is a distinguished academic and a prominent human rights lawyer, whose dedication to humanitarian causes has earned him the Order of Canada and many other awards
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please, encourage your friends to sign up at www.onejerusalem.org so that they too, can receive up to date coverage of news and events ignored by the mainstream media.
● Audio Exclusive: The Fight For Jerusalem: Listen to One Jerusalem’s exclusive and exciting bloggers conference call with Ambassador Dore Gold as he discusses his recently released book The Fight For Jerusalem.Ambassador Gold shares with us his analysis of the importance of Jerusalem in radical Islam’s fight...(read more)
● Join The American Jewish Committee Campaign To Free Choudhury: One Jerusalem has helped bring to the attention of the public Shoaib Chouhury's battle against radical Islam. Listen to our bloggers conference call on this important issue.Now we are urging you to send a letter to your elected Federal Representatives...(read more)
● Young British Muslims Getting More Radical: This headline describes the results of a public opinion survey produced by the respected London think-tank Policy Exchange.Forty percent of Muslims between the ages of 16 and 24 said they would rather live under Sharia law in Britain. One in...(read more)
Together we can win the fight to maintain a united Jerusalem!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Financing the Enemy is Treason.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressured Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert into giving up to US$100 million to PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Now, however, PA Minister of Planning Samir Abu Aisha has stated that the Hamas organization will be fully involved in handing out the cash. Doing so makes a mockery of Olmert's assurances and will help bolster Hamas popularity.
Until now, Arabs never kept their word or honoured any agreement they had signed with Israel. In spite of this, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has reportedly been secretly bargaining away the final and irreversible surrender of most of Judea and Samaria to murderous 'Palestinians'! This mentally tormented and disabled person is in charge of Israel and nothing is being done to remove him from office. Olmert has no self-respect nor respect for the right of the Jews to their ancestral land!
Food for Thought. by Steven Shamrak
Exposing the ugliness of current reality and calling for directional change toward the achievement of original Zionist goals is not disloyalty to Israel . Perpetuation of apathy, not exposing the stupidity of the current Israeli government and not helping some Israeli voters realize their mistake is.
Outcry of a Rabbi. Chief rabbi of Tzfat and son of Israel's former chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, has issued a serious call for 100 "brave volunteers" to lead Israel 's return to Gaza . "We need to take the initiative, we need to return to Gush Katif," Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu wrote. "It's time to save the country from the corrupt ones, the followers of Ariel Sharon."
Protection of 'Palestinians' in Iraq . The UN refugee agency has asked the Iraqi government and the US-led coalition forces to provide protection to about 20,000 Sunni Muslims who claim Israel as their homeland in Iraq. Shi'ite Muslims have killed more than 600 Sunnis. Iraqi police said many of the victims were tortured with electric drills.
PM calls for Katsav's Resignation. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday evening called for the resignation of President Moshe Katsav, who is facing possible indictment of rape. Olmert made the call at the Herzliya Conference (Why, with so many pending corruption accusations, does not Olmert follow the same advice?)
Proposal from Asylum . Member of the Israeli Knesset Parliament, Prof. Shlomo Breznitz of the Kadima Party, a close associate of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, has offered a plan that would hand over the administration of Judea, Samaria and Gaza to a European task force until the establishment of a Palestinian state. The plan would involve destroying most of the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, as Jewish communities were destroyed in the Katif sector of Gaza. (When has Israel relinquished her independence? When have the Europeans done anything good for Jews?)
Quote of the Week:
"IDF - which buried its soul in the sands of Gush Katif... In the sands of Gush Katif, Israel completely lost its goal. Without a goal, it is impossible to win." - by Moshe Feiglin.
The High Level of Government Corruption. Globes business news editor Hagai Golan said at the Herzliya Conference that 86 percent of the country believes that wealthy businessmen control the government. He stated that this "leaves no room for doubt – we live in a corrupt country." He said that although the wealthy elite in Israel are important for the country's national strength, "they should not be above the national enforcement bodies – this is the root of much of the problem." "What went wrong is Israel's leadership echelon. The Israeli public is an extraordinary one, but the Israeli elites have lost their way through the decades. Our political elite has become unfit…"
Two-state Solution no Solution. Former IDF Chief of Staff Major-General Moshe Ya'alon said that "two-state solution" championed by the Bush administration is "irrelevant" and will not bring peace and stability to the Middle East . Dr. Dan Schueftan, of Haifa University 's, described as "a senior Israeli academic," said that Israeli-Arab leaders recently released a document calling for "nothing short of the destruction of Jewish national state."
Persecution of Jews in Yemen . Yemenite Muslims have terrorised around 45 local Jews into fleeing their homes. A Saudi Arabian newspaper reported that the Jews were accused of "serving global Zionism" and given 10 days to abandon their property or face abductions and theft. (Business as usual - No international outcry!)
Hiding Political Stupidity. The State Prosecutor said that opening the Winograd Commission, which was established to investigate mistakes made in last summer's war with Hezbollah, findings to the public could create a security risk. (Deportation of 8500 Jews from Gaza was not "a security risk"? Great democracy!)
How Many Goverments does Israel Have? Israel's defense minister, Amir Peretz - leader of Labor, unveiled his own 3 steps plan for peace with the Arab Palestinians. 1. The sides would declare a comprehensive cease-fire. 2. Abbas would dismantle Palestinian terrorist groups and the sides would move toward an agreement on a Arab Palestinian state within temporary borders. 3. A new permanent Arab state to be established alongside Israel. (Once again, he has shown how delusional and power hungry he is!)
Jewish Contribution to Humanity.
Arno Allan Penzias (born April, 1933) is an German born American physicist and a co-winner of the 1978 Nobel Prize in physics for identifying the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMB), the radio remnant of the Big Bang. At age six he fled to Britain as part of the Kindertransport (the rescue mission that took in nearly 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from Nazi Germany, and the occupied territories. The children were placed in British foster homes, hostels, and farms.)
What is in a Name? Jenin central square is renamed "Saddam Hussein" square. The residents have begun collecting donations for the construction of a special monument in memory of Saddam.
Arab Convert Arrested. An Arab who converted to Judaism and moved from the PA to Haifa was indicted for conspiring with the enemy and contacting a foreign agent - an Islamic Jihad terrorist. Assaf Ben-David, born Hussam Hafez Mahmoud Suafta, converted to Judaism and left the PA-controlled village of Tubas , near Shechem once he received Israeli citizenship. He recently returned to Islam after living for years as a Hareidi-religious Jew and is accused of trying to pass materials for manufacturing explosives. (Not many "Righteous Coverts" are around! Marriage, Israeli citizenship is not the legitimate reasons for Conversion.)
Brotherly Love. Arabs, who the UNHCR refers to as Palestinian - though most are far younger than the State of Israel, forcibly expelled from their homes in Iraq are stranded in a no-mans land as both Syria and Jordan refuse to accept them.
New Anti-Missile Drone. Israel soon to launch new anti-missile drone, which will be able to identify, intercept and destroy ballistic missiles as they are launched from the ground. (Would it be easier to destroy those sites with ballistic missiles on the ground, instead of creating the feeling of false security?)
NATO in Gaza ? Strategic Planning Minister Avigdor Lieberman raised the idea of deployment of 30,000 NATO peacekeepers in Gaza , during talks with Condoleeza Rice. (As a sovereign country, Israel has long resisted calls for foreign troops to be posted in Gaza and the West Bank, Jewish Land! When Will Idiocy Stop?)
Legacy of 'Useless Nothing'. United Nations peacekeepers in Sudan have been accused of raping children as young as 12. Following an investigation, Britain's " Daily Telegraph" claims to have gathered accounts of 20 cases of sexual abuse by UN personnel in southern Sudan. It says hundreds of children may have been abused. (Add to it: the undwilliness to prevent genocide in Ruanda, rapes and abuse of civilians in the Congo and the spread of AIDS by UN personal.)
Abolish PA in West Bank as the First Step...
The Hamas-led Palestinian Authority and its prime minister is openly calling for the destruction of Israel, and therefore Israel should dissolve the P.A . and ship its leaders off to the Gaza Strip, an Israeli lawmaker is recommending. "After 13 years of incitement and violence and terrorism and agreement violations, one should say that enough is enough. It is high time [that Israel] should abolish the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria [ West Bank] and transfer the leadership (and Arab population) to Gaza ," said Israeli lawmaker Yuval Steinitz. Steinitz said that entire West Bank should be under Israeli security control... (…and let them kill each other in Gaza for a while!)
NOTE: Dear readers, you may visit http://www.shamrak.com/ and view the log of my recent editorial letters, archive of my articles.
This publication needs your support. Please, donate "LIFE" PayPal - $18 or visit http://www.shamrak.com/donations.html.
Please, let me know at StevenShamrak@gmail.com if you would like to:
- Subscribe your friends or Change your mail address.
- Unsubscribe, type "unsubscribe" and your email address on Subject line.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
