The year is 1933.
Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge begins, Prohibition is repealed, America is feeling the effects of the Great Depression, FM radio is invented and Adolf Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany—the Holocaust has begun.
“I think we take for granted that history is just a string of ‘nows’ and that the decisions and actions we each take every day are slowly writing out our own history. This means we have the power to change things,” AP European History teacher Jakob Saunders said. “It means we have to learn from this tragedy and apply what we have learned to prevent it from happening again and to take a stand when we see horrible things happening in our world today. If your takeaway is ‘that could never happen to us’ or ‘that was just in the past,’ you are missing the point.”
Beliefs like racial superiority, a combination of extreme anti-Semitic ideology and a deadly political power structure under Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime led to the systematic persecution of numerous ethnic and religious groups until 1945. Over six million Jews and millions of others, including Roma, disabled individuals, homosexuals and political dissidents, were systematically murdered during the Holocaust.
“Sadly, I do not know that hatred and discrimination will ever be totally eradicated from society, though this is a noble goal,” Saunders said. “Unfortunately, even today, antisemitism is still evident. Studying the Holocaust can, however, help us be more vigilant and should provoke us to stand up against hate and discrimination when we see it rather than sit in silence.”
As humanity reflects on this dark chapter of history, Holocaust Remembrance Day offers an opportunity to honor the millions of lives lost, and to remind today’s people of the dangers of hatred unchecked. It is a day not only to mourn, but to educate, ensuring the atrocities are never forgotten.
“If you do not remember it, then you cannot prevent it from happening again,” senior Ben Tignor said. “It is frightening how a group of people could feel so threatened by another group of people that they could justify a genocide.”
On Jan. 27, 1945, the Russian Red Army liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, hence the date Holocaust Remembrance Day falls on each year since its enactment in 2006, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
“Understanding what happened during the Holocaust can give society today a better understanding of modern conflicts, such as the current war in the Middle East,” senior Conner Lungren said. “The Holocaust and its relation to antisemitism allows people to create informed opinions when discussing these conflicts as well as issues within America.”
