I write this on the anniversary of one of the most inhuman events in the history of our species. The date is January 20. The event was a conference at Wannsee House in Germany. The year was 1942
The Wannsee Conference involved several high-ranking Nazi officials. The result was a document known as the Wannsee Protocol. The document contained detailed plans for a "final solution" to a "problem" the Nazis were trying to solve.
The final solution, as I hope all of my readers know, was a euphemism for the murder of the Jewish population in Europe.
Why am I dragging up old memories? Shouldn't the past remain buried?
No.
We must never forget. And if we stop telling the story, we will forget.
Try this: name a Nazi death camp.
. . .
You thought of Auschwitz, didn't you? Everybody remembers Auschwitz. Why? Because Auschwitz served two purposes: it was both a place to kill Jews and a place of forced labour. Because of the latter purpose, several thousand people survived to tell of the horrors of Auschwitz. People remember Auschwitz because the survivors told their stories.
Other camps were simply places where Jews were killed. These names are less well known. Treblinka, Sobibor, Belzec, Chelmno. Two people survived at Belzec. Three people survived at Chelmno.
They are forgotten because there is nobody to tell their story.
So why am I digging up their memories? Shouldn't we forgive and forget?
How can I either give, or withhold, my forgiveness? I have no moral right to either. I wasn't there. I wasn't involved. Others have that right, and they will do as their conscience tells them.
But, whether we were involved or not, we must never forget.
This has been a shorter article than usual, simply because there is nothing more I can add to this subject. The stories are out there. Find them. Re-tell them. Don't forget. Don't let your children forget. Make sure the stories are still being told even if humankind is on this planet for another thousand years or more.
Because if we forget the past, we may allow it to happen again.
© 2001 by David Meadows. All rights reserved. 20 January 2001