Holocaust Remembrance Day Continues

After being introduced by Professor Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, the President spoke of the importance of telling our children—and all future generations—about that dark and evil time in human history when six million innocent men, women, and children were murdered just because they were Jewish or Polish.

President Obama has made it clear that “preventing mass atrocities and genocide is a core national security interest and a core moral responsibility of the United States of America.” Last year he issued a Presidential Directive to make sure that the U.S. has the necessary structures and mechanisms in place to prevent and respond to mass atrocities. He also established an Atrocities Prevention Board to bring together senior officials from across our government to focus on this critical mission.

Every day there are reminders at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Holocaust Museum near Oświęcim, Poland.  The modern oversized busses bring a constant flow of tourists from nearby Kraków.  The busses pass by Oświęcim, the medium sized town of 40,000 which still bears the memory of the Holocaust.  It was here at the Nazi concentration camp which was Auschwitz-Birkenau (Konzentrationslager Auschwitz), that the German-SS developed their killing factories.

Tourists become bewilldered at how large of an operation the Nazi’s had in Poland.  At this site there were three main and 45 satellite camps.

On the eve of World War II there were about 16,000 residents of Oświęcim and over half were Jews.  There is an unkind historical fate lingering on the city today.  No one can deny what happened at Auschwitz, everyone knew.  But what could they do?   The villagers were not at fault.  They, and residents of four other nearby areas, were routed from their homes when the Nazis created a secure zone around the camps.  History has dealt the location with a blight that will be focused on with future generations.

Last week memorialized throughout the world was Holocaust Remembrance Day.  Remembering, but remembering for the future is the watchwords to stress.  No one can say, “It can’t happen again.”  Remember, what horrors transpired in Cambodia in the early 70’s or how there was mass genocide in modern day Yugoslovia and the terrors currently transpiring in present day Sudan. 

The vilification of the Nazi’s is not what the current Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum highlights. Besides preservation and conservation of the site, the mission statement is about education.

It is roughly a mile’s walk from the Oświęcim train station to the entrance to Auschwitz.  It is then across a busy parking lot to the reception center.  The journey carries over worldwide, even if one is not actually visiting Auschwitz.  

After the first wave of Nuremburg War Crime Tribunals and four days before he was executed, Auschwitz camp commandant Rudolph Höss sent a message to the state prosecutor, including these comments: “My conscience compels me to make the following declaration.  In the solitude of my prison cell I have come to the bitter recognition that I have sinned gravely against humanity.  As Commandant of Auschwitz I was responsible for carrying out part of the cruel plans of the ‘Third Reich’ for human destruction.  In so doing I have inflicted terrible wounds on humanity.  I caused unspeakable suffering for the Polish people in particular.  I am to pay for this with my life.  May the Lord God forgive one day what I have done?”

Holocaust Remembrance Day doesn’t stop with a one day or one week of memorial events.  People of goodwill have to make it part of their lifestyle.  This year the theme designated by the Holocaust Museum for the 2012 observance was “Choosing to Act: Stories of Rescue.”