The Shoah #HolocaustMemorialDay no dewy-eyed sentimentality.
11 million people killed under Nazi regime because of their race, religion, politics, sexuality, physical or mental (dis)ability.
Countless others since in, among others, Cambodia, Rwanda, Darfur...
Hackneyed quote but worth repeating from pastor Martin Niemoller:
"First 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 for me."
Learning to value difference, to delight in diversity, to value all humans as of equal instrinsic worth, to engage with those we perceive as 'other', to refuse to let fear demonise 'them' or diminsh our own humanity... if we attempt these, then our remembering has purpose.
Oh, and I dislike the word 'holocaust' which means 'whole burned offering' and use the Jewish term 'shoah' which means catastrophe...