Why is there a holocaust remembrance day?

[Texashiker]

Just as the title of the thread says, why do we have a holocaust remembrance day?

In comparison to all of the other exterminations committed by various governments, why is there a special remembrance day setup for the holocaust?

A few examples:

Julius Caesar and the Gauls - the army of Julius Caesar almost wiped out an entire race of people.

Hernán Cortés slaughtered how many Aztecs?

US government slaughtered how many Native Americans?

Where is the Native American extermination remembrance day? Why dont we have a special day, or even a special week setup to remember the crimes committed against native peoples that the Europeans and their diseases wiped out?

 

[nickbits]

i wasn't aware of such an occasion

 

[woolfe9999]

Those incidents are too far in the past and too remote to compare, at least the first two. You may have a point with the slaughter of native Americans. It's probably hypocritical of us not to have a day of recognition for that.

 

[monovillage]

Columbus Day?

 

[Texashiker]

Those incidents are too far in the past and too remote to compare, at least the first two. You may have a point with the slaughter of native Americans. It's probably hypocritical of us not to have a day of recognition for that.

Those I listed are only a few examples.

What about the hundreds of thousands of women and children that were killed when the US dropped the two atomic bombs on japan? And not just the people that died within the first few years, but also the birth defects that followed for decades later.

What about the forced castration of undesirables in the US from the early 1900 - 1960s?

With no many events in recent human history, why does one event deserve special attention?

 

[monovillage]

Memorial Day? Veterans Day? Pearl Harbor Day? 9-11? If you want it make up your own day for your own family and celebrate any way you want.
Today is trash day at our house, i'm going to celebrate it by taking out the trash.

 

[Ausm]

Memorial Day? Veterans Day? Pearl Harbor Day? 9-11? If you want it make up your own day for your own family and celebrate any way you want.
Today is trash day at our house, i'm going to celebrate it by taking out the trash.

That's officially June 5th in Wisconsin.

 

[EagleKeeper]

How about a deliberate attempt to wipe out a race of people while the world stood by.


You have now graduated to the level of a few other trolls that do not understand US and world events and what leads up to them; Pat yourself on the back.

 

[Texashiker]

Memorial Day? Veterans Day? Pearl Harbor Day? 9-11?

Those are related to acts of war, not acts of genocide.

You have now graduated to the level of a few other trolls that do not understand US and world events and what leads up to them; Pat yourself on the back.

What makes one act of genocide more important then other acts of around the same proportion?

 

[woolfe9999]

Those I listed are only a few examples.

What about the hundreds of thousands of women and children that were killed when the US dropped the two atomic bombs on japan? And not just the people that died within the first few years, but also the birth defects that followed for decades later.

What about the forced castration of undesirables in the US from the early 1900 - 1960s?

With no many events in recent human history, why does one event deserve special attention?

You do have a point. The trouble is that we are unlikely to have a remembrance day related to mass deaths that our own government caused. Can you imagine the Japanese having a "rape of Nanking remembrance day?" Maybe it should, but its not gonna happen.

If you want to understand why the Holocaust gets so much attention, I recommend "The Holocaust in American Life" by Peter Novick. The Holocaust, incidentally, went virtually unrecognized until the late 1970's. It wasn't even commonly referred to as the Holocaust until a popular TV mini-series by that name.

 

[Infohawk]

We should have memorials in DC to slavery and Native American ethnic cleansing. (I know we have a museum for Native Americans but it's not quite the same thing.)

There are a lot of these days. Depending how expensive it is, I don't necessarily see the problem with a Holocaust Remembrance Day. The most important thing is that it is taught in schools.

 

[monovillage]

You do have a point. The trouble is that we are unlikely to have a remembrance day related to mass deaths that our own government caused. Can you imagine the Japanese having a "rape of Nanking remembrance day?" Maybe it should, but its not gonna happen.

If you want to understand why the Holocaust gets so much attention, I recommend "The Holocaust in American Life" by Peter Novick. The Holocaust, incidentally, went virtually unrecognized until the late 1970's. It wasn't even commonly referred to as the Holocaust until a popular TV mini-series by that name.

I had a teacher (part of History) in the early '60s that taught us about the Holocaust. Mrs. Levick iirc 4th grade.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Horse_Memorial

 

[schneiderguy]

I think we should have a "Innocent people the Jews in Israel slaughter daily remembrance day" instead.

 

[fskimospy]

Those I listed are only a few examples.

What about the hundreds of thousands of women and children that were killed when the US dropped the two atomic bombs on japan? And not just the people that died within the first few years, but also the birth defects that followed for decades later.

What about the forced castration of undesirables in the US from the early 1900 - 1960s?

With no many events in recent human history, why does one event deserve special attention?

Wolfe hit it on a number of levels. First, the Holocaust is (relatively) recent and it exerted a huge impact on a significant segment of the American population. While similar genocides have certainly occurred in the past, I can't think of one that has been so influential on such a large part of the populace other than perhaps the American Indian extermination.

And, as wolfe said, we're not likely to commemorate our own genocides.

 

[Oyeve]

I think we should have a "Innocent people the Jews in Israel slaughter daily remembrance day" instead.

Word.

 

[Lemon law]

I am not exactly known as a pro-Israeli government poster, but I have no objection to a US remember the holocaust day. And at some point we can also have a remember Nakba day too.

Two horrific events in recent world history as neither justifies the other.

 

[EagleKeeper]

What makes one act of genocide more important then other acts of around the same proportion?

difference: is it genocide

The American Indian was not in terms of population percentage and the overall time frame

The Japanese bombing was the same issue - was it intended to wipe out a race of people?

How many Gauls did Caesar eliminate as a percentage of the population under his control?

The Aztecs - The act of one mad man frustrated because he was gold crazy

 

[woolfe9999]

I had a teacher (part of History) in the early '60s that taught us about the Holocaust. Mrs. Levick iirc 4th grade.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Horse_Memorial

It's unlikely that the term "Holocaust" was used in your classroom then. The Hebrew equivalent "Shoah" was in use in Israel by then, but Holocaust was a rare term in reference to this particular historical event until the 1970's. Your experience of learning anything about it then in school was also likely more the exception than the rule. It's possible that some education started around that time because the Eichmann trial in Israel had been televised and this was the first event that raised some global awareness. However, it wasn't really until the 70's that "the Holocaust" became significant in American culture.

Part of the reason is that from the mid-1940's and onward, the U.S. and other western governments had an interest in grooming and maintaining West Germany as an important ally against the Soviets in the Cold War. Too much emphasis on Nazi barbarism did not support this goal. For other reasons, Jews tended not to raise this issue during this period of time, except amongst themselves.

The reason for the ascendancy of the Holocaust in 1970's American culture had to do with the civil rights movement which had started in the 1960's. The Holocaust thematically played to the theme of ethnic tolerance while at the same time it was politically "safe" because it wasn't an American crime based on American intolerance.

 

[Lemon law]

As EK asserts is it genocide---as we can also ask is it a violation of human rights or slavery?

IMHO

1. With the American Indians, it was mostly genocide, immediately South in Mexico those same American Indians intermarried with the Spanish and became to Mexican people.

2. In the case of US importation of African slaves, it was clearly slavery as a motive.

3. In the case of the Aztec empire, recent history has shown that Gold Greedy Spanish were not the main factor in the fall of the Aztec empire. In the Spanish version of history they were billed as the only factor, but in fact South America was already in open rebellion against the Aztecs. As the Spanish allied with the opposition and were only the added factor needed.

4. I will not deny the holocaust, as Hitler was only harvesting the the existing antisemitism of a larger European continent and its Christian population. And paradoxically only 25% of German Jewish community died, and in some European countries the the Jewish community lost up to 97% of its population. But in terms of raw numbers of Jews lost and put at some 6 Million estimated, the Slavic races lost at least double that number in WW2 due to indirect events. As Hitler famously pronounced the Slavs will become a helot race. So named for the slaves held by the Greek city State of Sparta. As Spartan men had to spent 100% of their time terrorizing their slaves and in so doing fell as they had no no time to build a viable State able to withstand threats from other Greek City States.

5. When it came to the Palestinian people inside of of the area that became Israel in 1948, Nakba mainly stands for theft of land, human rights violations, hereditary guilt, and a just and humane Israel simply cannot be built on such a foundation. As Israel becomes the new Sparta, without the benefits of Palestinian slavery. Even though the Israelis treat their Palestinians worse than the Spartans treated their slaves.

And of the 5 example I cited, the Israeli Palestinian questions are the only example ongoing and not settled yet.

 

[monovillage]

It's unlikely that the term "Holocaust" was used in your classroom then. The Hebrew equivalent "Shoah" was in use in Israel by then, but Holocaust was a rare term in reference to this particular historical event until the 1970's. Your experience of learning anything about it then in school was also likely more the exception than the rule. It's possible that some education started around that time because the Eichmann trial in Israel had been televised and this was the first event that raised some global awareness. However, it wasn't really until the 70's that "the Holocaust" became significant in American culture.

Part of the reason is that from the mid-1940's and onward, the U.S. and other western governments had an interest in grooming and maintaining West Germany as an important ally against the Soviets in the Cold War. Too much emphasis on Nazi barbarism did not support this goal. For other reasons, Jews tended not to raise this issue during this period of time, except amongst themselves.

The reason for the ascendancy of the Holocaust in 1970's American culture had to do with the civil rights movement which had started in the 1960's. The Holocaust thematically played to the theme of ethnic tolerance while at the same time it was politically "safe" because it wasn't an American crime based on American intolerance.

TY for clarification.

 

[Anarchist420]

The Japanese bombing was the same issue - was it intended to wipe out a race of people?

Yes it was. If anything, it was even worse because it's condoned by so many people and the U.S. government still teaches that it was the right thing to do in its schools. In addition to that, you never heard Japanese people asking for reparations and the Emperor as well as the Japanese people were very civil to Americans before his death. The U.S. still won't quit occupying their lands. The reason it's worse is because it's lead to an acceptance of total war.

 

[CanOWorms]

Probably culture and the like. I wouldn't be surprised if we have more Holocaust type remembrances with changing demographics in America.

Personally, I think we should have a British Colonialism-Genocide Remembrance Day for the hundreds of millions who were slaughtered.

 

[EagleKeeper]

The Japanese bombing was the same issue - was it intended to wipe out a race of people?

Yes it was. If anything, it was even worse because it's condoned by so many people and the U.S. government still teaches that it was the right thing to do in its schools. In addition to that, you never hear Japanese people asking for reparations. The U.S. still won't quit occupying their lands.

So you would like a million people to have been killed on both sides instead of 10% of that amount.

You value human life that shallowly?

If it was not the right thing - what was.

Continue to take island by island - killing Allies soldiers and Japanese soldiers.
Expend large amounts of material.
Attempt to take the Japanese main islands where the residents were ready for the attacks. Those would have to have been soften up considerably by air raids (similar to Desert Storm)

Reparations for what.
They initiated the war.

What lands that were Japanese before WWII do we control without their blessing?
We have military facilities - they have not asked us to leave.
When the Philippines asked us to leave; we agreed without a fuss or conditions.

 

[Deeko]

While the events you listed were certainly horrific, there is a big difference between war/conquest and a systematic process to exterminate a race of people just because you don't like them. Plus, as has been mentioned, there's the whole issue of recentness.

 

[fskimospy]

So you would like a million people to have been killed on both sides instead of 10% of that amount.

You value human life that shallowly?

If it was not the right thing - what was.

Continue to take island by island - killing Allies soldiers and Japanese soldiers.
Expend large amounts of material.
Attempt to take the Japanese main islands where the residents were ready for the attacks. Those would have to have been soften up considerably by air raids (similar to Desert Storm)

Reparations for what.
They initiated the war.

What lands that were Japanese before WWII do we control without their blessing?
We have military facilities - they have not asked us to leave.
When the Philippines asked us to leave; we agreed without a fuss or conditions.

I agree. While the atomic bombings were horrifying, the most likely alternatives were far worse. We could have starved them into submission, but that would have almost certainly resulted in much larger civilian deaths. We could have invaded them, but that would have almost certainly resulted in many, many more deaths than the bombings.

Every country did things in WW2 that could be considered war crimes. I for one think the firebombings of Tokyo and Dresden were far less defensible than the atomic bombings, which to me were the best option of a bad lot.