In school why do we only learn about the Jewish holocaust?

Question

There are so many other holocausts that happened and why do we only learn about the Jewish people. I feel sorry for the Jewish people but over 40 million people died in Russia and China when they were under communism. Why don't we hear about those?

Answer 1

It has a lot to do with the shockingness of it when it was discovered. For the time frame, that kind of mass executions wasn't something that the world heard about.

You also have to remember that there is a bit of guild amongst the Allied nations regarding the Holocaust. The Soviets discovered it a few days before the Allied forces did, and reported it. It wasn't believed as true, with the Allies figuring it was Soviet Propaganda.

A few days later, the Allied forces discovered it was true. Talk about egg on our faces.

Lastly, Isreal and Jewish people in general wield a great deal of influence politically, and thus they can keep the notion at the forefront of our attention.

Answer 2

I totally agree with you...
in 1932-1945 10 million Chinese were killed by the Japanese, and 3 million more of Koreans, Indonesians, and Filipinos

in the Jewish holocaust it is estimated about 9-11 million people died

yet we only learn about the Jewish one? why?
oh and we also did get dragged into the Chinese one too. our invasion of japan used Chinese bases and had the U.S and Russia pushing Japan out from the land themselves, the only difference is that the Japanese don't keep the Chinese in the camps, they just kill them

Then communism in Russia and China (as you said) incredible amounts of people died, much more than both holocausts in WWII.

Answer 3

I think, that while the murder of the many by the few for political reasons is not unique to European Jewery in WWII, that it is the easiest to study and grasp the enormousness of it.

The Germans were methodical administrators, they did not manage to destroy their careful records of this monstrous perfidy. After they got it under way they developed a business plan for the whole event. They treated the entire process of the destruction of a people like a manufacturing process. So much raw material to the processing plant, so much allotted for the plant, so many employees needed to process this raw material, so many man hours needed to dispose of the waste and bi products from processing. so many railroad resources, so much coal, executive meetings to design newer more efficient machinery to accomplish these ends.

While many have met and even bettered the sheer numbers of human beings they have destroyed, I believe none is as well documented and accessible. None is as well thought out, or as carefully executed as the Nazi's.

There is no reason that you should limit yourself to just those brands of human cruelty that you now hear about in school. School is designed to introduce you to subjects. Learning is a whole life, full time occupation. If you wish to expand your knowledge in any area you are free nay obligated to give it a go.

Answer 4

I'd say for a few reasons, some of them being, that we were directly involved with the concentration camps liberations and the war per se and that documentation and camera footage were somewhat more abundant. Remember that it was not only Jews, twins (i.e. concentration camp mediacl studies), but Europe's gypseys, political prisoners, POWs and lastly the unknown amount of unknown Soviet civilians executed by the SS groups sent into Russia, directly behind the army as elimination squads during operation Barbarossa.

Answer 5

What school do you attend? If your school only taught about the Jewish holocaust, its social studies department is sadly lacking. Are you sure you were paying attention, doing all of your reading?

My school taught us that the Nazis did not just kill Jews, they also killed political dissidents, mentally ill, homosexuals, Sinti and Roma (commonly referred to as "gypsies"), Poles, trade unionists, Freemasons, Serbs, Eastern Christians, Catholic and Protestant clergy, etc. during the holocaust.

They also taught us about other genocides, the Native American in the USA, political and cultural dissidents in China and Russia during and after their revolutions, the Koreans by the Japanese. I know there were others, but I can't remember them offhand. (I know that some of these stretch the definition of genocide as the intent to destroy a specific national, ethnic, racial or religious group, but that's the best collective way that I know to speak of these killings.)

Answer 6

We don't learn about the other holocausts becasue people just don't want to bother. It's sad, because other holocausts are just as important to learn about. Just becasue America was dragged into the Jewish Holocaust doesn't make it the most important!

Answer 7

I think more should be taught too I didn't learn about the total devastation of a lot of native peoples by the Spaniards Portuguese French and others.. that came over here Many of them were cruel to say the least I Honestly think skin colour plays a part here

Answer 8

because the "jewish holocaust" as you put it is the only one that america got dragged into. but keep in mind that "the jewish holocaust" actually included more than just jews. It also included twins and homosexuals. And it's normally referred to as WWII. Not "the jewish holocaust".