NEVER AGAIN
Those are the famous words that when come to mind, the tragic and horrific event of the Holocaust comes simultaneously into thought- ‘Never Again’ will it happen, they say. The two words are engraved on the wall surrounding the infamous Nazi Dachau internment camp.
But can we really be sure of ‘Never Again?’
I wish we could all answer yes; I really do. But sadly, we can’t. A quote that can assist in the answer is as follows: ‘Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.’
To elaborate on the saying, I will begin with the tragic happenings of our time. Nowadays, there are those who suffer from blatant ignorance and those filled with hatred who deny the existence of the Holocaust.
We can use another quotation to help with the answer to our original question; ‘Out of sight, out of mind.’ The ones who deny the atrocity of the Holocaust push what they consider a ‘fallacy’ to the side and out of sight. As quoted above, that lack of sight triggers people to put the ‘hidden’ event out of mind. The horrific event of the Holocaust is being erased from the minds of the ‘weak’ and ‘blind’ among us and many of them are ignorant of its horrors. As stated before, if it is out of mind, it is forgotten - which brings us back to our first quotation - if it is forgotten, it is destined to be repeated. The quote can also be referring to the people who are brainwashed by the leftist media to blindly follow the deniers.
So, what about ‘Never Again’?
Let us begin the answer with a little background knowledge about the Jews in Germany. Only in 1933 was The National Socialist Party- or as it better known by their alias, The Nazi Party -שמם ימח formed. When it was founded The Nazi Party consisted of only sixty-eight members, but by 1945, it contained about 6.8 million members. Within a mere decade, the Nazis rose to be the one of the strongest regimes of the 20th century. The crimes and sins committed by the Nazis were, and are, innumerable and drastic in many ways.
Merely two years after its creation, the Nazi Party, headed by the evil Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany, passed an infamous set of laws called The Nuremberg Laws on September 13th, 1935. The laws passed were clearly antisemitic, banning Jews from business and ordering them to ‘register’ themselves. Those Jews who were on alert from previously, whether from the very creation of the obvious antisemitic Nazis or other events, and the ones who did not wait for the last moment - fled Germany, while many other Jews were now on high alert, but stayed put Sadly, a large part of German Jewry ignored the signs and complied with the new laws, hoping to be true to their "Fatherland".
In Germany, during November of the year 1938, one of the most tragic events to German Jews yet, occurred: Kristallnacht, The Night of Broken Glass. Shuls, stores belonging to Jews, and even houses of Jews were destroyed. Those Jews who were looking out for more signs of danger since the Nuremberg Laws fled from Germany to a safe country with their families and did so more easily than if they were to flee in the few pre-war years following. Others - still oblivious - brushed the event off, some completely, but many began to feel uncertain and unsafe living in Germany.
A scary part about accursed Nazi Regime is that from the beginning they knew what their endgame would be: To destroy the Jews. In 1933, the same year the Nazis came to power, they built the Dachau internment camp.
To tie the story of over eighty years ago to today is not at all hard. The past year or two has had many telltale warnings; some large and some small, and the events are of such bounty that they could fill another article. And once again: The ones who had previously been on alert, have left the now unsafe America to the haven of our inherited Motherland, Israel.
But let us now return to our original query: What happened to ‘Never Again’?
It can now possibly be answered. The words ‘Never Again’ can be fulfilled by each and every Jew. Hopefully also the Jews who are ignorant and ‘blinded’ by the media and the leftists who promise with empty words.
There are two main and major parts that can help a Jew agree to ‘Never Again’:
Point one is to never, ever forget the terrible events of the Holocaust and try to bring the brainwashed and ‘blinded’ who deny it into clear vision of the truth.
Point two is not as simple. To be on alert; to escape before it is too late, like some of our forebears did less than a century ago.
And on a final note, not to forget who is really in charge:
Hashem. The Almighty.
“ביום ההוא יהיה ה‘ אחד ושמו אחד” - On that day, G-d will be One and His Name will be One.
David A. Frankel recently made Aliyah from the United States to Israel, David hopes to inspire others to do the same. David lives in Natanya in the Sharon region with his family and two dogs. He is 12 years old and Arutz Sheva sees a bright future for this clear thinking young writer, be"H.