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Holocaust Museum
This is a project created by Year 10 for Holocaust Memorial Day 2017. The museum compiles objects from the Holocaust in a 3D gallery. The objective of this project is to answer the question 'How can life go on?' for Holocaust survivors through the use of an interactive 3D platform.
When the Holocaust ended, many survivors wanted to pass on information about this dark period, so that none of it is forgotten. One of them was Elie Wiesel who wrote a well-known poem called "Never shall I forget". "Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky." (Wiesel, 1956). Through this quote he describes the enormous tragedy that was the Holocaust. The Holocaust is a period of hopelessness, when many millions of Jewish lives were destroyed. It is one of the most terrible events in human history. It occurred during World War II when Hitler was the leader of Germany. Six million Jewish people were murdered by the Nazis, including as many as 1 million Jewish children (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). Millions of other people that Hitler killed, were thought of as inferior to the German race or did not match the Nazi theory of perfect race. This included Slavs, Catholics, homosexuals, and handicapped people. It is thought that the Nazis murdered as many as 21 million innocent people across Europe. Today this gloomy part of history stands as a warning and reminder to us all in the liberal world of the 21st century of what would happen if hatred and intolerance were left to rule the world. This essay will discuss three reasons why we should remember the Holocaust, namely a moral lesson, which tells us about the tactics used to make people scapegoats; a warning to about what can ignorance and hatred lead to and as our personal history, which creates a sense of identity.
First and foremost the events of the Holocaust stand as a warning. In the words of Timothy Snyder " The history of the Holocaust is not over. Its precedent is eternal, and its lesson have not yet been learned.". Snyder makes the argument that even though people know about the Holocaust and what happened in the death camps of Auschwitz and Dachau, most do not seem to understand the implications. Hitler's political motivation was to make Jews scapegoats because according to the NSDAP (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), Germany lost World War 1 because of Jews and democracy was a Jewish invention. This was because the leaders of Germany who signed the Treaty of Versailles were Jewish. Signing the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 , led to Germany losing precious land like Alsace and Lorraine and forced the German nation to accept complete responsibility for initiating World War I. As such Germany was liable for all material damages, and France's premier Georges Clemenceau particularly insisted on imposing enormous reparation payments. In addition, blaming Jews would help convince Muslims and Christians to join Hitler's case. This is because Muslims, Christians and Jews were once fighting against each other and were old enemies. In the modern world we can see the same tactics being applied by populists like Donald Trump who cast some doubt on all citizens who do not support them and who do not go along with their understanding of the supposedly real and authentic people. For example in May 2015, Donald Trump said "The important thing is the unification of the people, and all the other people don’t matter.”(Trump, 2015) This was a way of saying that the populist decrees who the real people are and supposedly unifies them, but that all the other people - even though they might have an American passport, even though legally they might be part of the people - somehow do not count, can be excluded, can be cast aside. Further we can observe this in the media as well. For example the ISIS claim to be Muslims and hence people think all Muslims are terrorists. Modern community does not realise that the tactics used by ISIS, who create an illusion that all the Muslims are murderers, are using the same tactics Hitler used to make Jews scapegoats. Just like the Jews during World War 2, Muslims are currently experiencing a lot of racism directed through verbal comments and social media, as well as actions such as writing nasty comments about them on their walls (Mohamad, 2001). For example, the National Front runs on a harshly anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim platform. Le Pen, who vociferously opposes France providing asylum to Middle Eastern refugees, wants to reduce immigration by 2,000 percent and make it much more difficult for migrants already in the country to attain citizenship. The FN says it has zero tolerance for undocumented immigrants, and hopes to ban dual nationality for non-Europeans. Since the public inherently trusts the media and has a lack of knowledge about history, we may create another human tragedy, therefore making history repeat itself. To ensure that a horrific event like Holocaust will never happen again, we need to remember and reflect on the reasons and consequences of Holocaust as Muslims in modern society are being used in the same way the Jews were used.
Another reason why reflecting about the Holocaust is important is because it is a way of keeping the conversation about tolerance and respect for other races going forwards. 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” (Canadian court, 2015). These, as the Courts put it, are the chilling facts of history. These are the catastrophic effects of racism. Historians all agree that Hitler was an evil person who discriminating and systematically destroyed millions of Jews, and yet today we risk history repeating itself,as we are repeating the things he did. The statistics of hates crime in Britain had increased by 41% since July 2016 (Forster, 2016). This echoes what happened over 70 years ago, when Hitler came to power for the first time in Germany. The Nazi Anti-Jewish policy stripped the Jews from the right to vote and work. Jews, along with Slavs, handicapped people, gypsies and homosexuals, were seen as inferior to the perfect German Aryan race. Some people, like the Ku Klux Klan, nowadays still follow the same principles, even if they do not agree with what Hitler was doing. They think their nations is the most significant and deserves to be richer and more powerful from other nations, just like Kim Jong-Un, who wants to connect the two Koreas as long as he will be the ruler (Kim Jong-Un, 2015) . If we will allow that ideology to prosper, then we risk another nationalist to take over and cause massive destruction, yet again repeating history and failing to learn from our mistakes. If people knew about the Holocaust and why it happened, maybe they would stop and realise that hatred and intolerance could lead to many innocent lives being destroyed and another Holocaust taking place. Historians have seen the damage our technologically advanced industrial civilisation can do to minorities if lead by an ideology of hate. If people do not continue to tell the story of Holocaust, it is possible that the next time it happens it will destroy a whole race, religion or nation.
The second aspect I am going to consider is remembering the Holocaust as a part of our own personal history. As Gene Simmons reflected "It happened to my mother. I never knew my grandmother's or my grandfathers. They were all wiped up in the gas chambers of Nazi Germany." (Simmons, 2016). Simmons makes the case that the Holocaust can be related to a lot of people. There is probably thousands or millions of people, whose ancestors experienced the Holocaust and most of them do not even realise it. It is very important to know our history because it helps us realise who we are and create a sense of identity and moral compass. Knowing your history may give you a sense belonging, as well as keep the memories of those who died alive. As Elie Wiesel said, "To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time" (Wiesel, 1956) . To make sure the lesson of the Holocaust is kept alive throughout the generations, so that the people and their stories will never be forgotten, survivors should be encouraged to share their stories and the story of Holocaust so that the information can be passed on.
Furthermore, by knowing your personal history you can make sure you will not repeat the mistakes of the past. For example the new generation of German people who have had the opportunity to reflect on their story, have in fact demonstrated to be one of the most liberal and tolerant societies in modern Europe. Therefore, there is significant opportunity to realise the difference between moral and immoral actions, unlike the female guards of Auschwitz who seem to be enjoying themselves while eating yogurt, when many Jews were starving to death - as countless people are being murdered and cremated at the Auschwitz (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1944) Additionally, you would have the information of what your family have done therefore you could share it, which would lead to historians knowing more about the Holocaust and how to prevent that from happening again. Moreover, you could then pass this information to further generations, to carry on the message of tolerance and multiculturalism. The Holocaust, even though a horrific human tragedy can still serve as a moment of pause and reflection that could provide guidance for new better future.If the millennial generation of Europeans learnt and reflected on their personal history and contributed in keeping the memories of survivors as well as the dead alive, it would be easier to prevent them from repeating the mistakes.
Finally I would like to consider why the Holocaust is important to remember as a moral lesson. Living in the aftermath of the Holocaust for over seventy years, we all can learn several lessons from what happened so that it does not occur again. Hitler’s basic strategy consisted of creating scapegoats, sub-humans or perpetual enemies, then escalating the discrimination to murder. For the past two millenniums, when Christian nations and Muslim empires were not at war with each other, they took turns in killing their Jewish neighbours, mostly in the name of their religion. For example the 1,400 years of Christian/Islam struggle. Jews have been the scapegoat of choice throughout western civilization. However the Nazis perfected the art of scapegoating into a science by disseminating vicious propaganda; passing discriminatory laws; stripping down freedoms. The Nazis succeeded in turning a civilized democratic German state into a mass killing machine. Therefore, if we remember the Holocaust and the lesson it taught us, so that we can prevent another nation into changing into intolerant and killing machine, as well as preventing religious conflicts like the wars between Jews, Christians and Muslims.
Another lesson we can learn from the Holocaust is about the hate crimes, which are crimes motivated by prejudice or intolerance towards an individual’s race, nationality, colour or gender. What we now call “Hate Crimes” are basically the tools that the Nazis used in the early years to intimidate entire groups of people. For example, Germany used propaganda to turn people against other people and ignite a spark of hatred inside them. These are not like most criminal acts where the perpetrator either knows the victim or wants to do harm, or is seeking material gain and wants to rob to obtain it. Hate Crimes are designed to spread fear and terror into a certain part of society where the perpetrator doesn’t know the victim and is not seeking any material gain. This is exactly what the ISIS are doing now. They claim to be Muslims, and then they make unprovoked attacks against innocent people .This creates fear and conflict between people, making them paranoid, just like Hitler once did with the Holocaust.
Overall,the significance of Holocaust lays in the fact that it serves Historians as a reminder that intolerance and hatred can lead to massive life destructions. Therefore, people should be encouraged to learn about the causes of the Holocaust and about their personal history, to help them find a sense of belonging. Especially, students should be encouraged by their parents, as well as schools, to know and reflect on the story of the Holocaust, so that the memory of the victims will never be forgotten. Moreover, parents should tell the story and the moral lesson of the Holocaust, so that the new generation can be raised, based on the mistakes committed, so that they will not repeat them because like Elie Wiesel stated “My greatest disappointment is that I believe that those of us who went through the war and tried to write about it, about their experience, became messengers. We have given the message, and nothing changed.”
First and foremost the events of the Holocaust stand as a warning. In the words of Timothy Snyder " The history of the Holocaust is not over. Its precedent is eternal, and its lesson have not yet been learned.". Snyder makes the argument that even though people know about the Holocaust and what happened in the death camps of Auschwitz and Dachau, most do not seem to understand the implications. Hitler's political motivation was to make Jews scapegoats because according to the NSDAP (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), Germany lost World War 1 because of Jews and democracy was a Jewish invention. This was because the leaders of Germany who signed the Treaty of Versailles were Jewish. Signing the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 , led to Germany losing precious land like Alsace and Lorraine and forced the German nation to accept complete responsibility for initiating World War I. As such Germany was liable for all material damages, and France's premier Georges Clemenceau particularly insisted on imposing enormous reparation payments. In addition, blaming Jews would help convince Muslims and Christians to join Hitler's case. This is because Muslims, Christians and Jews were once fighting against each other and were old enemies. In the modern world we can see the same tactics being applied by populists like Donald Trump who cast some doubt on all citizens who do not support them and who do not go along with their understanding of the supposedly real and authentic people. For example in May 2015, Donald Trump said "The important thing is the unification of the people, and all the other people don’t matter.”(Trump, 2015) This was a way of saying that the populist decrees who the real people are and supposedly unifies them, but that all the other people - even though they might have an American passport, even though legally they might be part of the people - somehow do not count, can be excluded, can be cast aside. Further we can observe this in the media as well. For example the ISIS claim to be Muslims and hence people think all Muslims are terrorists. Modern community does not realise that the tactics used by ISIS, who create an illusion that all the Muslims are murderers, are using the same tactics Hitler used to make Jews scapegoats. Just like the Jews during World War 2, Muslims are currently experiencing a lot of racism directed through verbal comments and social media, as well as actions such as writing nasty comments about them on their walls (Mohamad, 2001). For example, the National Front runs on a harshly anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim platform. Le Pen, who vociferously opposes France providing asylum to Middle Eastern refugees, wants to reduce immigration by 2,000 percent and make it much more difficult for migrants already in the country to attain citizenship. The FN says it has zero tolerance for undocumented immigrants, and hopes to ban dual nationality for non-Europeans. Since the public inherently trusts the media and has a lack of knowledge about history, we may create another human tragedy, therefore making history repeat itself. To ensure that a horrific event like Holocaust will never happen again, we need to remember and reflect on the reasons and consequences of Holocaust as Muslims in modern society are being used in the same way the Jews were used.
Another reason why reflecting about the Holocaust is important is because it is a way of keeping the conversation about tolerance and respect for other races going forwards. 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” (Canadian court, 2015). These, as the Courts put it, are the chilling facts of history. These are the catastrophic effects of racism. Historians all agree that Hitler was an evil person who discriminating and systematically destroyed millions of Jews, and yet today we risk history repeating itself,as we are repeating the things he did. The statistics of hates crime in Britain had increased by 41% since July 2016 (Forster, 2016). This echoes what happened over 70 years ago, when Hitler came to power for the first time in Germany. The Nazi Anti-Jewish policy stripped the Jews from the right to vote and work. Jews, along with Slavs, handicapped people, gypsies and homosexuals, were seen as inferior to the perfect German Aryan race. Some people, like the Ku Klux Klan, nowadays still follow the same principles, even if they do not agree with what Hitler was doing. They think their nations is the most significant and deserves to be richer and more powerful from other nations, just like Kim Jong-Un, who wants to connect the two Koreas as long as he will be the ruler (Kim Jong-Un, 2015) . If we will allow that ideology to prosper, then we risk another nationalist to take over and cause massive destruction, yet again repeating history and failing to learn from our mistakes. If people knew about the Holocaust and why it happened, maybe they would stop and realise that hatred and intolerance could lead to many innocent lives being destroyed and another Holocaust taking place. Historians have seen the damage our technologically advanced industrial civilisation can do to minorities if lead by an ideology of hate. If people do not continue to tell the story of Holocaust, it is possible that the next time it happens it will destroy a whole race, religion or nation.
The second aspect I am going to consider is remembering the Holocaust as a part of our own personal history. As Gene Simmons reflected "It happened to my mother. I never knew my grandmother's or my grandfathers. They were all wiped up in the gas chambers of Nazi Germany." (Simmons, 2016). Simmons makes the case that the Holocaust can be related to a lot of people. There is probably thousands or millions of people, whose ancestors experienced the Holocaust and most of them do not even realise it. It is very important to know our history because it helps us realise who we are and create a sense of identity and moral compass. Knowing your history may give you a sense belonging, as well as keep the memories of those who died alive. As Elie Wiesel said, "To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time" (Wiesel, 1956) . To make sure the lesson of the Holocaust is kept alive throughout the generations, so that the people and their stories will never be forgotten, survivors should be encouraged to share their stories and the story of Holocaust so that the information can be passed on.
Furthermore, by knowing your personal history you can make sure you will not repeat the mistakes of the past. For example the new generation of German people who have had the opportunity to reflect on their story, have in fact demonstrated to be one of the most liberal and tolerant societies in modern Europe. Therefore, there is significant opportunity to realise the difference between moral and immoral actions, unlike the female guards of Auschwitz who seem to be enjoying themselves while eating yogurt, when many Jews were starving to death - as countless people are being murdered and cremated at the Auschwitz (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1944) Additionally, you would have the information of what your family have done therefore you could share it, which would lead to historians knowing more about the Holocaust and how to prevent that from happening again. Moreover, you could then pass this information to further generations, to carry on the message of tolerance and multiculturalism. The Holocaust, even though a horrific human tragedy can still serve as a moment of pause and reflection that could provide guidance for new better future.If the millennial generation of Europeans learnt and reflected on their personal history and contributed in keeping the memories of survivors as well as the dead alive, it would be easier to prevent them from repeating the mistakes.
Finally I would like to consider why the Holocaust is important to remember as a moral lesson. Living in the aftermath of the Holocaust for over seventy years, we all can learn several lessons from what happened so that it does not occur again. Hitler’s basic strategy consisted of creating scapegoats, sub-humans or perpetual enemies, then escalating the discrimination to murder. For the past two millenniums, when Christian nations and Muslim empires were not at war with each other, they took turns in killing their Jewish neighbours, mostly in the name of their religion. For example the 1,400 years of Christian/Islam struggle. Jews have been the scapegoat of choice throughout western civilization. However the Nazis perfected the art of scapegoating into a science by disseminating vicious propaganda; passing discriminatory laws; stripping down freedoms. The Nazis succeeded in turning a civilized democratic German state into a mass killing machine. Therefore, if we remember the Holocaust and the lesson it taught us, so that we can prevent another nation into changing into intolerant and killing machine, as well as preventing religious conflicts like the wars between Jews, Christians and Muslims.
Another lesson we can learn from the Holocaust is about the hate crimes, which are crimes motivated by prejudice or intolerance towards an individual’s race, nationality, colour or gender. What we now call “Hate Crimes” are basically the tools that the Nazis used in the early years to intimidate entire groups of people. For example, Germany used propaganda to turn people against other people and ignite a spark of hatred inside them. These are not like most criminal acts where the perpetrator either knows the victim or wants to do harm, or is seeking material gain and wants to rob to obtain it. Hate Crimes are designed to spread fear and terror into a certain part of society where the perpetrator doesn’t know the victim and is not seeking any material gain. This is exactly what the ISIS are doing now. They claim to be Muslims, and then they make unprovoked attacks against innocent people .This creates fear and conflict between people, making them paranoid, just like Hitler once did with the Holocaust.
Overall,the significance of Holocaust lays in the fact that it serves Historians as a reminder that intolerance and hatred can lead to massive life destructions. Therefore, people should be encouraged to learn about the causes of the Holocaust and about their personal history, to help them find a sense of belonging. Especially, students should be encouraged by their parents, as well as schools, to know and reflect on the story of the Holocaust, so that the memory of the victims will never be forgotten. Moreover, parents should tell the story and the moral lesson of the Holocaust, so that the new generation can be raised, based on the mistakes committed, so that they will not repeat them because like Elie Wiesel stated “My greatest disappointment is that I believe that those of us who went through the war and tried to write about it, about their experience, became messengers. We have given the message, and nothing changed.”
Resources Used:
Wiesel Elie, “Night”, Autobiography, first published in 1956
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
Trump Donald, mentioned in an interview “What Is Populism and How Did Trump Use It To Win?” by Joanne Myers
Mohamad Wasan article by Arti Patel published on 09/11/2011
Canadian Court, article published on March 10, 2015
Forster Katie, article published on 13th October 2016
Kim Jong-Un, article published on 15th July 2015 by Newsweek
Simmons Gene, article by Nick DeRiso on June 13 2016
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust Encyclopedia
Trump Donald, mentioned in an interview “What Is Populism and How Did Trump Use It To Win?” by Joanne Myers
Mohamad Wasan article by Arti Patel published on 09/11/2011
Canadian Court, article published on March 10, 2015
Forster Katie, article published on 13th October 2016
Kim Jong-Un, article published on 15th July 2015 by Newsweek
Simmons Gene, article by Nick DeRiso on June 13 2016