What was the Holocaust, and why is it important to remember

By Rodney Mazinter

Several unrelated events in the latter half of the 19th Century in France and throughout the 20th Century brought about a conflagration that killed 60 million people and engulfed Europe before spreading to the rest of the world. In many minds this was the precursor to Armageddon. many believed that they were experiencing and witnessing the last battle between good and evil before the Day of Judgment arrived. 

The dramatic and catastrophic conflict, that was World War II underpinned this belief. A conflict that was seen as likely to destroy the world or the human race. The German people, who were bludgeoned by the brutalities of World War I, and who were conditioned and ready to fall under the spell of a monster such as Hitler awakened too late to stop what had been thrust upon them. 

Unscrupulous dictators bent on world conquest needed a scapegoat onto whose shoulders they could transfer the blame. A heady mix of antisemitism and economic collapse played into the hands of the Nazis.

A number of events congruently came together in a perfect storm of hatred and murder that unerringly gave rise to war and the mass murder of Jews under the German Nazi regime.

During the period 1940–45. More than 6 million European Jews, as well as members of other persecuted groups, such as gypsies and homosexuals, were murdered in concentration camps such as Auschwitz. 

Useful Resources:

 The Auschwitz Album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATQp8rFXRkg

Holocaust- one of countless similar stories in video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u5uVPd1Yvc&feature=emb_rel_end