Quotable Quotes: Holocaust Remembrance Day
by Miki Saxon
Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day.
I take the Holocaust personally, since it wiped out the last of my mother’s family (the Cossacks had already gotten most of my father’s). I believe that the most important reason to remember the Holocaust is so another one doesn’t happen—whether to the Jews or another group.
Here are some thoughts for you to ponder, but I’m skipping most of the commentary today, it would just dilute the impact.
It is deeply shocking and incomprehensible to me that despite volumes of documentation and living witnesses who can attest to the horrors of the Holocaust, there are still those who would deny it. –Mark Udall
This is one of two attitudes that enrage me, the other centers on the growing ranks of those who want to repeat it.
The Holocaust also shows us how a combination of events and attitudes can erode a society’s democratic values.
The Holocaust illustrates the consequences of prejudice, racism and stereotyping on a society. It forces us to examine the responsibilities of citizenship and confront the powerful ramifications of indifference and inaction. –two from Tim Holden
“The Holocaust is not only a tragedy of the Jewish people, it is a failure of humanity as a whole.” –Moshe Katsav
First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Social Democrats, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Social Democrat. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew, Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me. — Pastor Martin Neimoller
I remember this one from school; it’s worth repeating as the world grows more intolerant.
Holocaust Remembrance Day isn’t a laughing matter, but I wanted to leave you on a lighter note and maybe even a chuckle or two. To that end, my final offering is a Quayleism.
The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation’s history. I mean in this century’s history. But we all lived in this century. I didn’t live in this century. –Dan Quayle
Image credit: Piku on sxc.hu
