lisa@phs.UUCP (Jeffrey William Gillette) (04/16/85)
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40 years ago this week the definition of the word 'inhumanity' grew
exponentially. Lest we forget that revelation of Nazi concentration
camps, six million of our brothers and sisters ruthlessly murdered, mad
scientists experimenting with living people, military entertainment
consisting of all sorts of diabolical means of torture, President Regan
has designated this week as Holocaust Remembrance Week.
Let me suggest two propositions. First, we are all victims of the
Holocaust. True, Jews were the immediate victims of Hitler's madness
(and thus fate has laid upon them the unenviable task of reminding us
continually of humankind's worst hour - the depths to which even the best
society can sink if not constantly vigilant). Yet all of us are the
victims of fear: could blacks be hauled off in the middle of the night to
prison camps without trial? Could old people watch their few possessions
confiscated or destroyed because their children (or grandchildren) were
members of the political opposition? Could university students become
the objects of spontaneous harrassment and detention by police for no
apparent reason? Not only could these things happen in America (indeed,
some already have), all these and more are happening right now in South
Africa, Lebanon, Chilie, the Philippines, Nicaragua, just to name a few
countries. The Holocaust did not stop in 1945 (just like it did not
begin in 1939). The names have changed but the story goes on in 1985 as
in 1945.
But we can not identify with the victims of the Holocaust alone. All of
us must also idenfify ourselves as the captors. I suggest that the
German people are not the most inhumane people on earth. Indeed,
"Americans" were perfectly capable of exterminating many thousands of our
native forerunners. Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese have all had their
turn at devising spinechilling methods of torture. Even Jews have been
granted the opportunity to display ample inhumanity to palestinians,
consigning them to refugee camps hardly better than prison camps. The
danger is not that all of us have a little Hitler inside waiting to get
out. The Holocaust only needed one Hitler. The danger is that we, like
the millions of "innocent" German bystanders will continue to close our
eyes to the unplesant suffering of "others."
How can we remember the Holocaust? Certainly by reminding ourselves of
its victims and honoring their suffering. Likewise we can reminding
ourselves that this could be us if we are not ever vigilant. But perhaps
the best way to remember the Holocaust is to recognize its ugly face
today in 1985, to see its victims among our kin and friends around the
world, and to become involved in one (or more) of the many efforts to
stop the torture, violation, and murder of whole classes and races of
people.
Our beloved president decided not to visit a concentration camp during
his coming stay in Germany. Some have condemned him for that. I do not
criticize him. The reason is, with the givernment of American supporting
the Holocaust in South Africa, Chilie, the Philippines, Guatemala, and
(until last week) the Sudan, to pay lip service to America's "humanity"
by visiting the scene of a death camp would be a supreme act of
hypocrisy. What have we learned from the Holocaust? For too many of us
the answer is nothing.
Jeffrey William Gillette duke!phs!lisa
The Divinity School
Duke University