The Forgotten Lessons

Bryant Irawan /Indonesia Media

Abandoned children raised without parents, helpless toddlers executed and tossed into ditches, fatigued men toiling until their hands blister and bleed, distraught fathers searching desperately for loved ones, the sick and elderly forced to march to their imminent demise. These are the grim faces of the Holocaust. In a span of only a few years, an entire generation of innocent people vanished from the face of the earth for no other reason other than their race or religious convictions. The Holocaust depicts the evil that resides in the heart of man and how easily we can belittle the existence of other human beings. The number of victims who suffered Hitler’s wrath is inconceivable, with some estimates as high as ten million. In the course of human history, it is indisputable that the Holocaust of World War II stands as one of mankind’s greatest tragedies. Despite the magnitude of this heinous crime, it would be an even greater tragedy if we did not garner the lessons from this event and pass them on to future generations. For the countless Jews that lost their lives, we owe it to them to not allow their deaths to be in vain. It is our duty to honor their sacrifice by closely studying the people, the events, and the circumstances surrounding the Holocaust, in an effort to ensure that no such tragedy will ever happen again.
In retrospect, it is astounding that the population of an entire country could be brainwashed by one deranged tyrant promising wealth and power. Though scholars and laypeople alike attribute blame primarily to Adolf Hitler, there were many individuals and complex circumstances that led up to this dark period of human history including the unawareness of the Jews. Hitler didn’t cause the tragedy, nor was it the SS officers, the true culprit was ignorance. Only by understanding the Holocaust can we make an effort to educate young people about the sins of the Nazi regime. This way, if we ever encounter a future genocide, it is almost certain that the public would prevent it from happening before it claims the lives of innocent people. Upon hearing about the atrocities of the Nazis, it is natural for most people to be sympathetic or indifferent to the plight of the Jews. However, to shed a tear or simply feel compassion is insufficient because it does not prevent such an event from occurring again. If the lessons of the Holocaust are not permanently ingrained in the next generation, the sacrifices of the Jews during World War II would have been meaningless. Genocides, even as tragic as the Holocaust, can easily be forgotten. Take for example, the Armenian Genocide, which took the lives of up to 3,500,000 people, or Stalin’s Great Purge, which had more victims than the Holocaust. Through censorship and indifference, we have always forgotten history and allowed it to repeat itself.
It is often said that people are a product of their upbringing. This statement proves valid because young people, in particular, are extremely impressionable. For this reason, it is essential that children be taught morality so that when they mature into adults, they will have a strong sense of ethics that will serve as a foundation for any decisions they make. As this pertains to the lessons of the Holocaust, the older generation must assume the task of educating today’s youth about the dangers of tyranny and the adverse consequences of unbridled hate. It has been proven, time and time again, that education is the most powerful weapon against racism and bigotry because children can be shown that discrimination is immoral, unjust, and based on ignorance.
Many people assume that young people are powerless to effect change in their world because of their age. This presumption is grossly untrue. Young people have the ability to influence their peers by speaking out against racial intolerance. On many high school campuses, outspoken students form groups discuss controversial issues and provide a forum in which peers may candidly voice their opinions. Sometimes, reading about human suffering from textbooks or learning about it through teachers’ lectures are a bit impersonal. If students are given the chance to listen to personal accounts from survivors of the Holocaust, this would have a profound impact because it would evoke greater emotion. From my own experience, I know that in order to inspire myself to change my behavior, I would need to feel emotionally touched. Listening to a person detail his or her experience at Auschwitz would elicit the entire gamut of emotions, from ire to pity to remorse, and my conscience would motivate me to speak out against racism.
In my own life, I have been fortunate enough to have already observed firsthand how efforts to curtail discrimination have been successful. My father is an outspoken advocate of civil rights. One of his primary goals is to curtail the rampant racial discrimination that exists in Indonesia , particularly against those of Chinese descent. Because of his vocal criticism of racism, he has been the source of much controversy, but this does little to deter him from expressing his heartfelt sentiments. I have come to respect and idolize my father greatly for his staunch refusal to simply conform to the thoughts of the majority. Though he realizes he cannot reach the entire world, simply knowing that he is the cause of making many small changes to improve the world reminds him that we must do whatever it takes to continue fighting. I am aware that not everybody has these conditions, but as long as you are not heartless or cannot talk, it is my firm belief that age is of no consequence when it comes to speaking out again discrimination.
In order to truly grasp the severity of racial intolerance, it is equally important that we lead by example and not demonstrate any discrimination in our daily interaction with others. There exists a natural tendency to stereotype others, so we must consciously avoid doing so. Because we, as students, interact with peers from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities, and religious preferences, we must strive to not categorize others based on these apparent differences. Sometimes, this is far easier said than done. In these instances, we must assert our non-conformity by speaking out on behalf of those at whom the prejudice is directed. If we ourselves cannot prevent discriminatory thoughts from permeating our minds, then how can we expect others to follow?
 As human beings, we take immense pride in the fact that we are the most intelligent and highly-evolved species on the planet; yet there exists a rather disturbing irony. We have the ignominious distinction of being the only species to discriminate against our own race, and worse yet, to kill each other mercilessly, senselessly, and without provocation. We must work toward ridding ourselves of this embarrassing stigma, and this begins with people looking beyond the color of their skin and treating each other as equals. 
The Holocaust does not necessarily have to be entirely misfortunate. Though we are unable to fix our past, we can use the Holocaust as a reference of evil for future generations. However, if we do not educate the public about the Holocaust, nothing would be done to prevent such a thing from happening again. Though this might sound like an easy task with today’s mass communication, we have already failed to prevent mass murders and harmful stereotypes in our generation. Darfur and other politically instable countries endure murders caused by stereotypes every day, while we casually do nothing to stop it. Americans today tend to take their freedom for granted and forget how our founding fathers were able to start such a prosperous country; if they hadn’t voiced their opinions, chances are we would not have to privilege to live in such a free nation. By throwing away the lessons of the Holocaust, we are allowing genocide and going against the American principle. Even if we correct one person, this could slowly educate thousands of people to do the same. If more people would realize the everlasting effects of racism, more people would get involved, and maybe we wouldn’t have to live in a world where there is no hate or prejudice.

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