International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 27 January, is an international memorial day for the victims of the Holocaust, the genocide that resulted in the annihilation of 6 million Jews, 2 million Gypsies (Roma and Sinti), 15,000 homosexual people and millions of others by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. It was designated by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 60/7 on 1 November 2005 during the 42nd plenary session. On 27 January 1945, the largest Nazi death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, was liberated by Soviet troops.
Among the many who died at Auschwitz was Edith Stein. Tom is related to her through his mother, and his family was contacted by the Vatican when they were doing the investigation for the process for her canonization as St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, the name she had taken when she entered the Discalced Carmelite nuns. I was present at that (somewhat controversial) canonization in 1998 and the monastery where I lived in Chicago was named in her honor.Members of my religious community, including some who had been born Jewish and others who sought to protect Jews from the Nazi terror, died in the camps. Tom lost blood relatives. I lost people from my chosen family.
When people want to talk about being persecuted today, I always hear that against the background of the events like the Holocaust. To talk as though someone expressing an opinion contrary to mine is some form of persecution demeans the reality of the cruel and deadly suffering millions of people endured over the centuries. Let's not do that.
1 comment:
It is the task of the living to make meaningful the sacrifices of the dead. There are so many things in history I hope we don't forget or see mangled in time.
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