I'm late again working on an anniversary post. But perhaps it's a good thing, because some historical events should be remembered, even on the days not devoted to their remembrance.
Last year, I blogged about the 75th anniversary of the January 27, 1945 liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, which is now commemorated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
This year, many observances were online.
This year, the 76th anniversary was even grimmer, because of COVID-19. Survivors, now all elderly, are dying. When they are all gone, then what?
Who will be there to remember them, in an era where schoolchildren are not taught anything about what happened to various populations during World War II? Or when elected officials even deny it ever happened, or if it did happen, it's been way exaggerated?
I thank the Twitter account @FacesofCOVID, for devoting January 27 for tweeting out obituaries of Holocaust survivors who succumbed to COVID-19.
Right now, there are only about (estimated) 20,000 Holocaust survivors left alive in Europe.
In Israel, it is estimated at least 900 Holocaust survivors have perished from COVID-19, and about 17,000 survivors died overall in 2020.
It's true that what we call the Holocaust is far from the only time mankind has shown just how much evil it is capable of. It gives us all the more reason to remember this period of history and to cry out its modern rallying cry.
"Never again".
...this dark moment in history is sadly denied today by many!
ReplyDeleteThe Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC bears witness to this dreadful example of man's inhumanity to man.
ReplyDeleteMay the memory of the righteous remain for a blessing
ReplyDeleteSchoolchildren are not taught...? Really? Because where I'm at, the Holocaust is definitely taught. The 8th graders read Anne Frank (with supplemental material about the Holocaust). They read Night in 10th grade. Then there's the genocide unit in their history classes (so not just the Holocaust but other genocides as well). There was a huge project that went along with that, last we were in person.
ReplyDeleteThere is a Holocaust museum locally. There's an annual field trip that a couple of the schools do.
So, it's taught. Much more than when I was in school. But that just could be unique to my location.
It appears teaching about the Holocaust has been on the rise in recent years, and I thank you for your input about California. California (according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) is one of 16 states requiring Holocaust education in secondary schools (My New York is another and, indeed, my son did receive such instruction plus he was able to take a half year Holocaust elective about 15 years ago.) But Rhode Island and Texas didn't require it, apparently, until 2018. Meanwhile, I do wonder how many other states offer electives or have local requirements. I am not a teacher so not that familiar with how curriculum is set.
DeleteCurriculum is dependent on the state as well as the local districts. I'm not sure exactly who and how. Although the Common Core thing is nationwide.
DeleteI thought it was funny that today I was covering a 10th grade English class, and guess what unit they're starting this week? Yup, the Night unit. The assignment for today was vocabulary from the book. Terms included: genocide, holocaust, and ghetto.