The Rest of the Holocaust

It is inarguable that the Holocaust that occurred during World War II is one of the darkest moments in human history. The events and scope of the genocide that took place is the very epitome of horrific. The idea that at one time this was considered a politically acceptable plan is almost as unthinkable as the Holocaust itself is well documented. With that in mind, I do not presume to tread on the memory of those that died, survived, or all around suffered as a result of this occurrence. I wish instead to bring into light a wrong regarding the Holocaust that I think too often gets forgotten about: the fact that there were millions other than Jews that wire killed as a part of it.

The Holocaust is seen as a very fundamental part of what it means to be Jewish in the modern world. So much in fact is this an underlying part of Jewish identity that anti-Jewish activists seek to go so far as to deny it ever occurred as a method of attack. (Please note I use the term anti-Jewish rather than anti-Semitic; a Semite is a Jew living in Europe, just a matter of semantics.) Denying the Holocaust is meant to be the ultimate anti-Jewish political position, I doubt few people honestly think that one of the most well documented historical atrocities is actually made up.

Many Jews simply define the Holocaust as the killing of 6 million Jews by the Germans during WWII. This is both correct and incorrect. The Holocaust was the genocide of 11 million people, the remaining 5 million of which were not Jewish. Many were Catholic, some were Islamic or gypsies. Some were simply socially undesirable in that culture such as homosexuals, handicapped, or mentally retarded. When the efficacy of the Holocaust is spoken about, these are often not mentioned. Many times people will refer to the Holocaust only as the genocide of the Jews. In many ways, this serves to lessen the importance of the other types of people that were exterminated; both history and humanity suffer as a result.

I would like to see those that invoke the Holocaust to discontinue referring to only the Jewish part of the Holocaust as the real event. In many ways it serves to give the impression that it is the only part that matters, that the other 5 million people that were killed don’t count because they weren’t Jewish. I personally have never met a Jewish person that actively thinks this; it seems this omission and its effect are unintentional.

But in some small way, isn’t there a similarity between denying the Holocaust ever happened and cherrypicking the events to highlight only your social groups connection to an historical atrocity? They certainly aren’t as bad as one another, but on some small lever there has to be some small similarity. They both are definitely wrong. Both are wrong in significantly different intensities, but still both wrong nonetheless.

The Holocaust is a very important aspect of Jewish history and I have no reason or wish to deny them that. But I think it is equally a human issue. This event is a horrid reminder of the radically differing avenues that human nature can take; that is a lesson that belongs to all of humanity.