Today is the 60th anniversary of the Liberation of Europe form the Nazi's and a day that the UK mark their respects for the atrocities that happened. I have picked an article that is not only a great article in itself but is very relevant to us the members of Habonim Dror. I have taken extracts from the article to read the full article or read up on holocaust memorial day visit http://www.hmd.org.uk.
Since Holocaust Memorial day started there has been a theme for each year and this year the theme is "One person can make a difference"
Making Moral Choices:
During the years of the Holocaust everyone had to make moral choices. Some people became perpetrators, others were bystanders. A small minority chose to help the persecuted - these are the rescuers and helpers. This was an extraordinary selfless choice. It meant risking not only their own lives but the lives of their own family and children. Many paid with their lives. None succeeded in halting the Holocaust but many Jews were enabled to survive as a result of their efforts. Each chose to defy the power of the Nazis and their collaborators - mostly single-handedly. Mostly we think of them as non-Jews who helped Jews but we should not overlook the many acts of kindness and support between persecuted Jews as well. That choice made a huge difference to many individual lives. More importantly they showed the power of the individual and provided hope in otherwise hopeless circumstances by demonstrating the importance of moral courage in action.
Individuals who make moral choices and act upon them can and do make a difference. They demonstrate that those who actively oppose prejudice, racism, persecution and murder can make a difference. Making such moral choices is challenging for individuals and many were fearful but persevered in spite of their fears. Their example shows that learning to use one's voice to enhance positive human values turns good intentions into real actions. It is about making the choices to do what is right rather than what is expedient. It sets out to dispel the argument, 'I am only one person, what can I do?', and shows that one person can achieve a great deal, however modest their actions might initially appear.
Action:
Do what you can, however insignificant it may seem, to encourage everyone to identify something in which they were not previously engaged and to make a difference to that cause. Examples could be:
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supporting asylum seekers in their community;
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engaging in some local multi-cultural activity;
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offering time to assist some current prevention such as making their voice heard over Darfur;
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challenging racism and bullying;
- supporting moral courage awards.
This theme offers every single person in the country the opportunity to challenge their own current behaviour and moral choices. It can initiate debate and discussions on all levels and amongst the young and old from whatever background. It should build on the enormous impact of HMD 2005 which dwelt on the horror of Auschwitz and what was done there, by focussing on what can be achieved when people make a moral choice to disobey orders and ignore propaganda. Everyone can make those choices.
The message of the article is clear, "One person can make a difference", be that person.
The Habonim Dror Movement Workers
An additional article by our Shaliach, Yahal Porat;
The international holocaust memorial day
The UN assembly decided to declare the 27.1 to be the day to remember the holocaust. By choosing this date the UN addressed to the Jewish Holocaust (there are as we know other groups who suffered holocaust as well, such as the Armenians) and to the fact that the UN was founded due to the horrors of ww2. The date is marking the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army (soviet army). This terrible place, the ground on which so many Jews were murdered, is a symbol to the holocaust of the Jewish people.
In total, the Nazis in this camp alone murdered about 1,600,000 humaneness. Among them almost 1,500,000 Jews. The numbers are too big to even start to understand them. When the soviets entered the camp only less them 8,000 prisoners were left, after the Nazis took the rest of the prisoners still alive, a few days earlier, to march all the way to Germany, the march ended in the death of almost all of the less than 60,000 prisoners. Many years after, we can yet understand why the western allays or the soviets did not bomb the concentration camp. The soviets troops stayed just 150 kilometres from the camp since mid 1943, while the west had known about the killings since the same year, while having troops in Italy already.
On the entrance gate to Auschwitz there is a sign – Arbit Macht frai, which means in German- Labour is freeing. In the camp the soviet have found more then 7 tones of human hair, tens of thousands of shoes, almost 840,000 women cloth sets. Where are the men, women and children who wear it?
As some of you, habo members, I visited this camp when I was 17, with my school class. Nothing can be said to explain the way you feel when standing in the camp, on a snowy day, trying to understand the un-understandable. The UN, like the UK, has decided to mark this date, in order to tell the world: never again.
As Jews, especially, we are those who shall stand proud to remind those who tried to eliminate us, that they failed. But, on the same time, we should be the nation that carries the torch of human rights, the value of life, the excepting of the other, the different, and the non-stopping search for peace among nations and among us.
You can find much more info in these web sites:
http://www1.yadvashem.org/education/lessonplan/english/january2006.html
http://www.hmd.org.uk/default01.asp
http://gfh.org.il/eng/
http://www.massuah.org.il/index_eng.asp
http://www.moreshet.org/ewelcome.htm
and many others.
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