Basherz Dori-Pardon My Swag #47 (IO) - Page 9

😆

I thought you were here to stay, I was going to point out the damn time zones again. Ah wells. I won't be waiting. Or will I be waiting. Reverse psychology I see 😆

Same old, same old... A little busy these days, so I pop in and out for a few minutes. What's up with you, kiddo?

22/01/2013

Posted By Sheryl

Genocide literally means "to kill a race or tribe" . Sadly, tens of acts of mass murder have been recorded in history as genocides, but the Holocaust is called the Holocaust, not the genocide of Jews in Nazi Germany with the death of six million Jews, why is this?

What is it that makes the Holocaust a unique event in history?

The Holocaust (literally "burnt whole") was sadly unique. Emil Fackenheim, in his book 'To Mend the World', listed 4 distinguishing characteristics for this uniqueness:

o The "final solution" was designed to exterminate every single Jewish man, woman and child;

o Jewish birth and the mere evidence of Jewish blood was sufficient for death;

o The killing of Jews had no political or economic justification;

o And those who carried out the atrocities were ordinary citizens.

These factors combined for Fackenheim show the uniqueness of the Holocaust. Fackenheim's argument states that no other genocide contains all four of these characteristics, hence the stand alone nature of the Holocaust.

There is no prize, it's not a contest to have this status of uniqueness, but it must be noted, learnt and taught. Soon there will be no survivors to talk of this uniqueness, nobody left to lift their sleeve and reveal their unique number tattooed on their arm. Those who trivialise the Holocaust and bring it to the level of other genocides, whatever their motives, need to be constantly reminded that the Nazis attempted to systematically eradicate an entire people. "Never forget" is an overused phrase, but it's overused for a reason, and now, more than ever, we need to ensure that we, our peers and future generations do indeed never forget.