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The Holocaust Museum is still one of the most powerful and emotional moments in my life, before my grandmother got sick she wanted to go but then couldnt do it. I learned alot that day.
For some reason I haven't visited the U.S. Holocaust Museum yet, even though I'm in D.C. often (family lives there); it's definitely on my list for the next trip out there. I did visit Yad Vashem (the Holocaust museum) in Jerusalem, and it was one of the most moving experiences of my life too. There's an exhibit called the "Hall of Names", where they have 2.5 million candles burning, to represent every child killed in the Holocaust... they read names of these children as you walk through, and just as I entered they said one with my last name. That gave me some serious chills up my spine. My mother & sister also did a Jewish tour of Eastern Europe, where they visited a few of the larger concentration camps. I wish I could've gone with them, because they still talk about how moving it was.
To Electron - there certainly were 6 million killed (give or take a few, of course), as insurmountable evidence has proven. I don't have the energy to find you sources right now, but the proof is definitely there! As I said above, my great-aunt experienced it, beginning in the Lodz ghetto of Poland... her village was basically wiped out, as were many others around Eastern Europe. And as Adream stated, it wasn't just Jewish people who were killed - it was basically anyone who didn't fit into Hitler's "ideal" standards. He was a true maniac...
Gizmo, don't shut up! Someday this generation will all have passed away, and the ones left to bear witness to it will be those who have heard the stories and have seen the tattoos!
Go ahead, get fired up - it's a topic that deserves that!
(See how fired up I get? Look at all of those exclamation points).
Oh, don't worry... we'll never shut up about the Holocaust, no matter how hard the hate-mongers try to bury & deny it! The meaning of "Yad Vashem", name of the Jerusalem Holocaust Museum & Holocaust memorial day, is "NEVER FORGET" - and we never will!!!!!!!!!!! (enough exclamation points? lol)
This just isn't the right forum, since I'm assuming you're all in agreement on the subject.
Of course the Holocaust happened and I think 6 million murdered by the N a z i s is a low estimate. They focused on exterminating...yes...exterminating the Jews, and also went after the disabled and handicapped, the mentally challenged, homosexuals, gypsies... they rounded up in cattle cars human beings from every country they overran and shuttled them to the death camps in Poland to use as slave labor, human victims of medical experimentation, testing the effect of chemical weapons, etc. Of course the Holocaust happened and it was perhaps the most vile and horrific chapter in human history, particularly horrifying and evil as it used a modern civilization and its technology to accomplish the killing. The Iranian "president/Mullah puppet" is a fool and an evil man. It seems to me incredible that these world leaders who advocate the destruction of Jews and Israel haven't yet learned that God never allows them success, but fights personally against them. They think Allah will protect them? Got news for them..allah is a pagan moon god, no match for the God of Abraham who created all things (people who think Allah is just another name for Jehovah don't understand the different natures of God and this pagan entity called allah). God has His reasons for allowing certain events to have happened in the history of the Jews, but, beware to any fool who thinks He doesn't hold the Jews closest to Him and who dares to cause harm to them. He has a standing and unbreakable covenant with the Jews and no one can break that. Those who seek the destruction of the Jews are enemies of God and will always face the harshest judgement...thank God! The Iranians and anti-Semites are fools and blind and it's clear they don't know God.
That's how I see it. Anyone who hasn't figured out that the survival of the Jews and their prominence in the world though they only comprise a drop in the ocean of humanity is a supernatural event has his eyes shut. How does one explain how such a minute group influence the top ranks of science, culture, the pinnacles of man's achievements, have a tiny country in the middle of a hostile environment surrounded by hundreds of millions of enemies and survive every attempt to crush it? It's not America that saves Israel, it's God. But I also realize that evil can prevail briefly anywhere in the world, even America. We have to be extra careful to recognize the signs if they begin to appear and stamp them out. If such evil could happen in a first world country with a history of civilized behavior and mores like Germany in the 1920's/30's/40's, it can happen in any country.
But the Holocaust did indeed happen and to deny it is complete stupidity...stupidity for all the reasons I mentioned above. One bright spot that shows that God works even in the midst of such evil is the story of Corrie Ten Boom, the Dutch woman who was taken by the N a z i s and thrown into an extermination camp. It involves God sending angels to protect her and miraculous events that saved her life so she would survive when her family didn't and be able to tell the world. It's fascinating and one of the most powerful stories of faith I've ever read.
Electron (and anyone else who's interested)... I did drag out one source, the website for Yad Vashem - http://yad-vashem.org.il/about_yad/index_about_yad.html (broken link)
This place has physical/tangible records from at least half of the victims (3 million), and they are still working on collecting the rest... as mentioned above, I visited this museum and saw the evidence with my own eyes. Btw, it's actually 1.5 million candles in that room I talked about, & it's called the Children's Memorial - Hall of Names is a different section in the building. It was 12 years ago, so my memories are a little fuzzy!
Speaking of books, MoMark, anyone who hasn't read "Night" by Elie Wiesel should do so!! I've read it at least four times, and it's just as emotional and touching each time... it tells of Wiesel's personal experiences in the Holocaust, and is very eye-opening and horrifying. Another good read is "Maus I & II", which are 2 graphic novels about the author's father, who was a survivor... fascinating format for this type of story, and it's REALLY gripping.
What's the name of that book you talked about, MoMark? It sounds very interesting! It also reminded me of my visit to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam... talk about moving, that was really incredible. I snuck in some pictures, even though you aren't supposed to (I'm bad ), so maybe I'll post them here later. Oh yeah, and great post btw.
P.S. Talk about ironic... at the exact moment I started to edit this post, a clip of a Jewish man shaking the Iranian president's hand (at that conference) popped up on TV - on the Daily Show w/ Jon Stewart. Those "Rabbis" who attended are a disgrace to our religion!
Speaking of books, MoMark, anyone who hasn't read "Night" by Elie Wiesel should do so!! I've read it at least four times, and it's just as emotional and touching each time... it tells of Wiesel's personal experiences in the Holocaust, and is very eye-opening and horrifying. Another good read is "Maus I & II", which are 2 graphic novels about the author's father, who was a survivor... fascinating format for this type of story, and it's REALLY gripping.
What's the name of that book you talked about, MoMark? It sounds very interesting! It also reminded me of my visit to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam... talk about moving, that was really incredible. I snuck in some pictures, even though you aren't supposed to (I'm bad ), so maybe I'll post them here later. Oh yeah, and great post btw.
P.S. Talk about ironic... at the exact moment I started to edit this post, a clip of a Jewish man shaking the Iranian president's hand (at that conference) popped up on TV - on the John Stewart show. Those "Rabbis" who attended are a disgrace to our religion!
the book by Corrie Ten Boom is called "The Hiding Place". It's powerful, lots of tears reading it. One of the most moving parts is when she's in Germany in 1947 and runs into a former guard for the N a z i s who recognizes her too. She forgave him while holding his hands. You become a puddle reading this book, but it also outlines the extent of the evil that happened while showing how one human with faith could overcome. It's amazing. She died in 1983 in California.
One bright spot that shows that God works even in the midst of such evil is the story of Corrie Ten Boom, the Dutch woman who was taken by the N a z i s and thrown into an extermination camp. It involves God sending angels to protect her and miraculous events that saved her life so she would survive when her family didn't and be able to tell the world. It's fascinating and one of the most powerful stories of faith I've ever read.
"There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still" ~ Corrie Ten Boom
Her's is a soul wrenching account of what people suffered through at that time, and she was able to survive and witness to it.
Interesting to me is the current account from a young woman named Immaculee Ilibagiza who survived the atrocities in Rwanda. She has written a book entitled "Left To Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust" and was featured on 60 Minutes about two weeks ago.
From CBS ---The genocide in Rwanda 12 years ago was the most efficient ever carried out. As correspondent Bob Simon reports, 800,000 people were slaughtered in 100 days. That’s a better rate than the ***** (= N-a-z-i-s )ever achieved and it practically wiped out Rwanda’s minority tribe. Those who managed to survive the mass murder did so with a combination of courage, cunning, and dumb luck.
One incredible and inspiring survivor’s tale has come to light only recently. It took Immaculee Ilibagiza, a college-educated young woman from a remote village, many years before she could confront the horrors she lived through.
She is speaking out now, she says, to prevent further atrocities, not only in Rwanda, but in Darfur and other places where massacres loom on the horizon...
Oh, don't worry... we'll never shut up about the Holocaust, no matter how hard the hate-mongers try to bury & deny it! The meaning of "Yad Vashem", name of the Jerusalem Holocaust Museum & Holocaust memorial day, is "NEVER FORGET" - and we never will!!!!!!!!!!! (enough exclamation points? lol)
This just isn't the right forum, since I'm assuming you're all in agreement on the subject.
Gizmo,
It is due to events and rememberances like yours that we all can put away our differences, and as one voice come together to say our hearts go out to all of the victims of this atrocity, both those who were murdered, those who survived and the family members who suffered like you, who live with the result of this hated.
I was listening to Michael Medved yesterday talk for about an hour on the subject. He had many callers claim that Iran is right that there was no holocaust. I will be curious to watch and see if there are any of these nuts who join this thread and have the gonads to speak their mind.
He had many callers claim that Iran is right that there was no holocaust.
Please keep in mind that the current nut-in-charge of Iran no more speaks for all Iranians than the current nut-in-charge of the U.S. speaks for all Americans.
Yes, the President of Iran is a whacko, and sadly, there are quite a few very whacko individuals and groups in Iran. No doubt. But don't judge all Iranians by him. Most Iranians are kind, generous people who simply want to live their lives and raise their families in peace.
Please keep in mind that the current nut-in-charge of Iran no more speaks for all Iranians than the current nut-in-charge of the U.S. speaks for all Americans.
Yes, the President of Iran is a whacko, and sadly, there are quite a few very whacko individuals and groups in Iran. No doubt. But don't judge all Iranians by him. Most Iranians are kind, generous people who simply want to live their lives and raise their families in peace.
Normally I would agree that nutty leaders may not represent the people, but in this case I would not agree. The hatred of the Jewish race by most non-jews in the middle east is a centuries old ingrained bigotry. I am sure there are those in Iran who would be moderate in their beliefs about the Jews, but I am quite sure that they would never say anything in public. This, of course is why it is difficult to determine the level of tollerance, but I think it would be a pretty low percentage.
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That gave me some serious chills up my spine. My mother & sister also did a Jewish tour of Eastern Europe, where they visited a few of the larger concentration camps. I wish I could've gone with them, because they still talk about how moving it was. 
)ever achieved and it practically wiped out Rwanda’s minority tribe. Those who managed to survive the mass murder did so with a combination of courage, cunning, and dumb luck. 