| Sixty years ago, one of the most hideous places on this planet released its share of the survivors of Hitler's holocaust. The Soviets liberated the mostly Jewish prisoners. This was where 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were murdered by the Nazi Regime.
I'd also like to point out something that barely ever receives mention. Six million Jews died due to the Final Solution, but so did five million others, including millions of Russian, Ukrainian, and East European Slavs, more than a half million Gypsies, over 15,000 homosexuals, the mentally and physically handicapped, any number of dissidents of every persuasion from Communists to Socialists to trade unionists to conservatives to Protestant and Catholic priests, German and foreign alike. Men, women, children, these were all "undesireables" persecuted under a perverted version of the Swastika.
And yet, after all of these lessons from the suffering and deaths of millions, we just don't learn. Since WW2 we've had genocide take place any number of times:
Pol Pot (Cambodia, 1975-79) 1,700,000
Menghitsu (Ethiopia, 1975-78) 1,500,000
Yakubu Gowon (Biafra, 1967-1970) 1,000,000
Jean Kambanda (Rwanda, 1994) 800,000
Suharto (East Timor, 1976-98) 600,000
Slobodan Milosevic (Serbia, 1992-96) 180,000
Hassan Turabi (Sudan, 1989-1999) 100,000
This isn't a complete list by any stretch. Another extreme example is the Cultural Revolution that took place in China under Mao Tse Tung, where over 11 million people --the same number executed by the Nazis-- were persecuted and murdered because of their differing views.
By all means honour those who died in Auschwitz on this, their 60th anniversary of their liberation, but also please spare a thought for the millions of others who also died due to accident of birth, chosen belief, or differing ideology. |
