The Holocaust has forever altered the world. Most people who try to describe it cannot, and the ones that can, often cannot tell the whole story, as it is too painful. This is why I am honoring the people who are working to educate the world on this matter. Individuals who write about the Holocaust strive to make sure this atrocity never happens again. There are museums that dedicate their existence solely to education about the Holocaust. Many people are working hard so that the Holocaust and other events will never happen again. People are keeping the knowledge of the Holocaust alive. Through individuals who write about the Holocaust, the education of the world grows broader. Education, the sharing of knowledge, is the way to keep another Holocaust from happening.
The Nazis who ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945, when Hitler committed suicide and Germany surrendered, thought that the Jewish people were of inferior class. Fortunately, today’s society has seen that this is an erroneous assumption.
Keeping the knowledge of the Holocaust alive leaves a “living legacy.” When people know about the Holocaust, they remember it, and they pass their knowledge on to others. This way, their knowledge spreads like a ripple, like a drop of water hitting the surface of a pond. Many people do not know about the Holocaust, and need to be told. The brave people that do talk about the Holocaust are the people who deserve to be honored even more than everyone else. These people are truly “leaving a living legacy.”
“We are all different; because of that, each of us has something different and special to offer and each and every one of us can make a difference by not being indifferent,” said Henry Friedman, Chairman of the Holocaust Education Centre in Seattle, Washington on the website “Hopesite.ca”. We need to celebrate and honor our differences. Differences help us make contributions to our world, because everyone is needed. Genocides begin because a group of people does not like another group of people due to differences in religion, race, sex, or some other belief. Differences should not force one People to be killed; they should give that People a right to live. Differences are reason to live; they are not a reason to die. When we are indifferent, the world suffers, as hate is not the opposite of love, but indifference truly shows that we do not care for someone. Why, then, did many stay quiet?
At this day and age, organizations and people are educating the uneducated about the horrors of the Holocaust. Words such as, “A destruction, an annihilation that only man can provoke, only man can prevent,” from Elie Weisel on “BraineyQuote.com”, really stand out. “Not to transmit an experience is to betray it.,“ by the same individual, show that everyone must help prevent future genocides by keeping the experience alive – through words, writing, singing, or art. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website announced that, from April 23rd to April 30th, 2006, many will observe Holocaust Remembrance Days. This year’s theme is a relevant one; “Legacies Of Justice.” This Memorial Day will be commemorating those who work tirelessly for justice, both in the past and present. These people leave legacies and show that the world can work together for justice against inhuman crimes.
As Richard von Weizsaecker said on “Phrases.org”, "There were many ways of not burdening one's conscience, of shunning responsibility, looking away, keeping mum. When the unspeakable truth of the Holocaust then became known at the end of the war, all too many of us claimed that they had not known anything about it or even suspected anything." Now that society is educated, we can all help by not, “keeping mum,” as von Weizsaecker put it. All knowledge broadens our understanding. We can help by being knowledgeable.
The people who educate our country and the world are the people that make the world a better place. We must learn to celebrate our differences, so the world will be a safer place for everyone. The world is remembering the Holocaust with Yom Hashoah, a Holocaust Remembrance Day. People reading poems, singing songs, and speakers usually celebrate this Remembrance Day. The world has truly become a better place, but in order to make it even safer, we must teach everyone we are capable of about the Holocaust.
Through all of these efforts, I know that the people of the world are preventing future genocides. Education is the best way in which genocides can be prevented. As you can see, our world is nothing without differences, people, and great sites to see. If our world stays the same as it is, we will not get to see the beautiful sites, the wonderful differences, or the great people that would not be possible to see without fighting, wars, and genocides. Our world is trying, but trying is not good enough. We need more people to write, talk, and educate about the Holocaust if we want to become a peaceable, non-warring world.
