Holocaust Remembrance Day

Holocaust Remembrance Day
(Yom HaShoah)

"Monsters exist, but they are too few in numbers to be truly dangerous.  More dangerous are...the functionaries ready to believe and act without asking questions."  

-- Primo Levi, chemist, author, Auschwitz survivor 

CAUTION: I made this photo as small as possible to give you the choice of whether to enlarge it. At full size, it is a very disturbing reminder of absolute evil loosed upon the world. A page of history some would rather forget.

We are supposed to remember history. The reason we learn history is to try and head off the inevitability of bad history repeating itself. History is supposed to teach us to learn from our mistakes, as well as our successes. How are we to learn if we don't teach it? How are we teach if we don't remember it?

With the state of our educational system in the U.S. today, it is a wonder our children learn anything, especially when there are those who would change history for "political correctness."  For instance, an African-American helping to raise the flag at Iwo Jima.  Never happened, but it is politically correct to include this segment of society in the historical moment.  I found it humorous when watching the latest remake of The Sound of Music to see the Mother Superior of the convent was a black woman.  Really?  This story was set in Austria in the late 1930s just prior to the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany.  The premise of the Mother Superior of an Austrian convent being black during this time period would have been more interesting to follow than the novice Maria or the family Von Trapp.  Hell, Hitler would have had an aneurysm.  But I digress.

There are those who would have us believe the Holocaust never happened.  These are the same loons that claim the moon landing was filmed on a back lot in Hollywood.  We built phony showers in concentration camps and outfitted them with phony Zyklon-B gas canisters.  We dug phony mass graves and outfitted them with hundreds of phony emaciated corpses.  We built numerous phony brick and concrete furnaces and wrote reams of phony Nazi paperwork supporting the entire facade of a "Holocaust" because that's what we do in order to justify going to war against an insane dictator hell-bent on world domination.  Somehow I just don't think so.  All this kind of unreasonable talk does is prove to the rest of us there are still psychopathic "functionaries" in the world with way too much time on their hands.

"The sad and horrible conclusion is that no one cared that the Jews were being murdered. This is the Jewish lesson of the Holocaust and this is the lesson which Auschwitz taught us."

-- Ariel Sharon (1928-2014), former Israeli PM

Simon Wiesenthal once said, "God must have been on leave during the Holocaust."  Many people have asked how God could allow such evil to happen.  Did we not eat of the apple?  Did we not disobey God and, in doing so, lose paradise?  Yet, we blame the evil that men do - on God!  How human of us.  We were told by Christ in John 16:13 that there would be evil, "In the world, you will have tribulation;" and only in Christ will we find peace. 

"Therefore, we might best respond by saying that God does not Will "bad" things to happen in life. Rather, "bad" things happen in the freedom that comes with the gift of life. When "bad" things happen to any of God's children, God is grieved and suffers with us, experienced most vividly in the hurt and suffering of Jesus the Christ for all humanity. Any "bad" thing which happens is never the last word. Rather, God is the deepest and last word, and that word is love and eternal life with God.

-- The Rev. Dr. Douglass M. Bailey, Episcopal priest, author 

What the Nazi regime did to the Jews during "medical experiments" was an atrocity unto itself and fairly well publicized.  But, while what happened to the Jews during WWII bears our continued attention, what is lesser known are the activities of the Japanese and their Unit 731.  Activities of this unit could teach Dr. Mengela a thing or two about sick and twisted.  Their work would make for a terrific present-day horror film.  I won't go into the graphic description but will cite as an example the amputation of a limb without anesthesia, and reattachment to the other side of the body.  I try to imagine myself on an operating table, fully conscious and no pain killers or anesthesia, watching this happen.  For more information and specifics I would recommend wikipedia.com and search "Unit 731."  A Google search will enlighten you with much more information you probably will not want to know.

If you think giving Nazi rocket scientists a free pass into the U.S. to assist with our space program was questionable, check this out.  After Japan surrendered, General MacArthur secretly granted immunity to the physicians of Japan's Unit 731 in exchange for providing the allies with their biological research.  Somehow it seems to me the world became complicit in the atrocities at this point.  Basically, these horrors are excusable as long as you give us the data.  One wonders if they were given carte blanche to continue this research as a "black program" for our government at some secret location under a large city with a sizable homeless population.  Hollywood loves this stuff.

I have said this many times before.  God has given us the tools we need; it is up to us to use them.  If we don't learn from the horrors of the past we are surely doomed to repeat them.  Is this what we want?  Look at the recent torture in Syria of women and children or the annexation of Crimea.  Our recent European history is rife with mass graves due to madmen looking for a final solution.  The horrors are still with us.  The evil still haunts us.  We repeat history by turning a blind eye and doing NOTHING!  My only response to those that think God doesn't care is, "Why should He?  We don't."

Elie Wiesel was a survivor of Auschwitz, Buna, and Buchenwald.  He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (yes, Obama, he actually did something to deserve his), the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Congressional Gold Medal, National Humanities Medal, Medal of Liberty, and many more.  I leave this post and my readers with a quote from Mr. Wiesel and hope that we never forget, or try to rewrite, our past.

"For the dead and the living, we must bear witness."

Editor's Note

(Re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card)

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider an alternate viewpoint. 

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and while engaging in peaceful and constructive discussion, in an arena of mutual respect, concerning those opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we learn from the experience, and what we do afterward.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with United States Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, instructor, and senior manager. He spent 17 years, following his service career, working with the premier, world renowned, Institutional Review Board helping to protect the rights of human subjects involved in pharmaceutical research. Ordained 1n 2013 as an "interfaith" minister, he founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance in response to intolerance shown by Christians toward peaceful Islam. As the weapon for his war on intolerance he chose the pen, and wages his "battle" in the guise of the Congregation's official online blog, The Path, of which he is both author and editor. "The Path" offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He currently resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteers as lead Chaplain and Chaplain Program Liaison, at the regional medical center.