A day for remembrance - the Holocaust

It is difficult to write about such a loaded subject, there are so many strings attached to it from my own days or days leading way back to biblical times and in particular the old testament and the Torah scrolls. Anyway, it is a day to remember the horrors of the Holocaust and how humans can turn towards other humans, subjecting them to atrocities that for a normal person is unthinkable, beyond the imaginable horizons of a human mind and even more so for the young mind confronting the issue of limitless cruelty. It came to my knowledge when I was about 10 years old by my interest in books, I read everything my parents had in the house and even books they had hidden for the "young" eyes. I am 62 years old at this writing so this is nothing new to me but every time I cross myself with Nazi extermination factories I feel the same thing as when I was 10, profound sadness. 2 days ago, I visited some documentaries on Youtube, I spent more than half a day watching things I had already seen, film clips taken by the "embedded" journalists following the US and British army to document what was left to see, arriving at one death camp after the other, there were so many. The Germans did never get time enough to cover it up, there were dead bodies in all stages of decomposition all over, there were survivors still inside the facilities some not being able to get out of their bunk beds because of their dire physical condition. I was not aware that the 70th birthday of the liberation of Auschwitz was coming up, it just landed upon me and I am grateful that it happened, I need to be refreshed now and then on history and issues on the planet earth were I live.

I do not doubt this will happen again as there will always be people seeing a rationale in the extermination of another people, but are the means important making one extermination method more despicable and cruel than another one, like gassing people, poisoning, slaughter by firearms and knifes, napalm, airborne bombs, nuclear annihilation? Is the rationale of race, ethnicity or culture important factors to consider for determining the degree of cruelty when someone annihilated somebody else? I don't think so, it is the mere act of dehumanizing another one for race, religion or ethnic belonging for the benefit of oneself that should be the measure.

Seem there are fears that humanity would let the Holocaust fall into the darkness of gloom. There are voices constantly calling out, you have to do more to avoid forgetfulness, more this very day than any other day. There is a plenitude of individuals on earth, young ones and older ones that will never forget, not only what the Germans did to what they considered not wanted humans but of all atrocities inflicted on mankind through ages of human existence.

The majority of us will never forget, but with time the memory might fade when the ones growing up in the wake of WW2 are dying out. Keeping the world remembering is one thing but keeping the information recorded in those days immaculate is another issue more important than the individual human memory.

Light will always prevail over darkness even though there will be eclipses ahead for mankind. It seem like memory, remembrance is just not enough to keep us from falling down. Just imagine yourself doing a "face-off" in a group of whites, blacks, browns, yellow and reds taking note that everyone would look as ugly without the skin on top. Or a "face-off" in a ethnic group setting, a religious group setting? Just consider the dangers when our governments record such things about ourselves like ethnic belonging, religion, color and sexual preference.

I will never forget. Would you?