what lessons can we learn today from the Holocaust?

Question

history project. please help!

Answer 1

As they say, the only thing we learn from history, is that we never learn anything from history.

Seriously, I feel as if we have fixated on the Holocaust so much, that we tend to ignore every other time when similar massacres have happened. Instead of learning from the Holocaust, we should be learning of the massive killings of many by a few. We should also be studying the Armenia Holocaust, the million or more people massacred by Pol Pot; and especially the 25-30 million (4-5 times as many as the Jewish Holocaust) killed by Stalin.

Since we have very selective memories, we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.

What we need, is to study all instances of mass murder, especially those that have occurred much more recently (Darfur and the N. Iraqi's for example) ... and then study our response to these.

Answer 2

There are several lessons to be learned from the holocaust, whether we have learned anything after Rwanda it is debatable.

One life based on race or religious belief is no less valuable than any other.

Ignorance is not an answer to the happenings in another country. The allies new as early as 1942 what was happening in the death camps.

Appeasement is not a way to keep Peace. The world, particularly Great Britain and France did everything in their power to keep Hitler happy, even dividing up Czechoslovakia with the Czechs having no say in the matter to keep Hitler happy. War came anyhow, only when Hitler was ready.

There are times in History where a foreign country must step in and take action. Had France fought Germany at anypoint prior to 1939, for example when Alsace=Lorraine was occupied the German Generals in 1946 admitted Germany would have been defeated, and Hitler remarked to another according to William L Shire in his book, 1930-1940 The Nightmare Years, he would have had to resigned the leadership. Had the Czechs fought the occupation they may have very well won as the Germans were surprised at the fortifications of the country and doubted the success of their own army at the time.

There is no such thing as "the rantings of a mad man". This is how most viewed Mein Kampf. Hitler may have been "mad" but his speaches were based on Mein Kampf as were his plans. He was not ranting.

History does repeat itself. Rwanda, Cambodia are the first two that come to mind, and again, the world collectively did nothing.

Answer 3

That human beings really aren't very bright. I mean, we just keep doing the same darn stupid things over and over and over and over etc etc etc. Superior intelligence? I don't think so! Also, that absolute certainty about anything is very dangerous, and as human beings aren't very bright, they can easily be sucked into the absolute certainties of others. And that we should never vote for anyone wearing a military uniform who shouts a lot. On a more serious note - what is evil? One American psychologist at Nuremburg who went to 'study' the leading Nazis after the surrender, came to the conclusion that the definition of evil was - an absence of empathy. Should we be concerned with a study of the nature of empathy and it's effect on human behaviour, possibly using this as a way to spot 'evil'? The Holocaust was evil - those responsible uniformly had no empathy with victims at all. Genocide still goes on in the world today, and has throughout recorded human history (yes, even in England). I'm not sure that we've learned any lessons at all from the Holocaust, although the repercussions still resound around the globe today. On the other hand, Western Europe is experiencing the longest period of peace in recorded history - I think we might have shocked ourselves a bit!

Answer 4

I read a lot on this as I couldn't understand how someone could be so cruel to other human beings, dehumanise them so they could be murdered on a massive scale. The documentary last year on TV on Auschwitz-the final solution (the book is well worth reading for a history project or a good explanation of the holocaust) gave a good account of how it happened. It included people looking for a scapegoat for Germany's recession after World War 1 (the Jewish people were blamed for this and most other problems by the Nazi's), dehumanising them (their legal rights were taken away and they were regarded as 'subhuman' by the Nazi's) as part of the process and people being carried away by this brainwashing and the poverty/inflation to carry out inhumane, uncivilised acts including genocide and this was encouraged, accepted and legalised by the state. It was an evil ideology and people were brainwashed by the media (political rallies, cinema, books, newspapers at that time)., Hitler was said to be very charismatic as a speaker (!?). Thank goodness there were people who resisted the Nazi's in wartime Germany/Occupied Europe and elsewhere. I think we learnt that after a War (eg World War One) we shouldn't drive the 'losing' Country's economy into a recession by taking excessive compensation so dictators such as Hitler can get into power and after the Second World War, Germany's and Japan's economy recovered and flourished. England's took much longer. The Holocaust has happened again (in the old Yugoslavia and in Saddam's Iraq and is currently happening in Zimbabwe-albeit to a much lesser degree than in the Second World War). Man's inhumanity to man continues.

Answer 5

Never to judge or stereotype people. Never to discrimate on the grounds of religious, cultural or racial backgrounds. To learn from the stages and changes which took place in Nazi Germany that allowed for such an atrocity and never allow that to happen again to a country.

However, have we (collectively world wide) learned anything from the Holocaust as genocide has occured several times since the Holocaust.

Finally the most importnat thing i think an indiviual could do is to stand up against rasism, be brave enough to disagree with something rasther than going along with it because the majority agrees.

Finally to quote Martin Niemoller

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist;

Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a socialist;

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist;

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew;

Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Answer 6

There are many things we ignore about the Holocaust and WWII, for example why did USA refuse to accep many of the Jews that were trying to emigrate?, why was a ship ( Saint Louis) full of jews turned back to Germany from USA?.Why was Henry Ford decorated in 1938 by the German Nazy Party?

Answer 7

We can recognise how politicians can use minority groups and blame them for the difficulties faced by the mass.

Look at Rwanda! The former Yugoslavia.

The holocaust started as a typical example of the mass attacking the minority. It was not exceptional...it was only in its latter stages that the full horror unfolded.

At first it was insulting Jews...calling them names...individual attacks on the streets...blaming them for the financial state of the country...taking benefits that others don't get...Not being proper Germans...having different 'values' to Germans....being 'sub humans'....trying to find a way to 'get rid' of them.......

Are we really any wiser now?

Answer 8

The Holocaust didn't just happen one day. It took years of buildup by an evil force. Jews were negatively propagandized. I see this today with other groups who are systematically marginalized.

Answer 9

That someone is always ready to declare some other part of the population non-human and therefore subject to extermination for the greater benefit of the whole (rest). Think of the term "Silent Scream." Does that seem like it describes a people/population so vulnerable they can easily be killed with no one looking.

Answer 10

The evil of society, and how destructive humans can really become. The Holocaust was also known to have many egregious medical experiments on Jewish children...