The Incredible Importance of the Holocaust
The Holocaust is an enormous part of human ethics and history today. It is, understandably, a very disturbing and upsetting topic. But disturbing topics should not be avoided. Many people do avoid it, however, and for a variety of reasons. Germans and Jews are two groups who want to forget the Holocaust more than most. The Holocaust may be disturbing, but it is a part of what the human race is today. We need to know our history in order to create a better future.
The Holocaust is a part of the study of ethics because it was so horrible. It showed many people real genocide and inspired ethicists to start finding more rules to ethics. The things that were done to Jews were wrong but this knowledge inspired a need to know why they were wrong, and the scale at which these things needed to be to be wrong. It has become an essential part of the study of ethics that genocide is wrong. The wrongful suppression and killing of an entire race or religion is an atrocity that is painfully apparent when applied to humans but somewhat hazier when applied to non- humans. Ethicists see through the lens of the Holocaust to examine whether we are working against our ethics by killing animals.
The Holocaust has a huge impact on history because, well, it happened. But it also issued in a new age. The Holocaust was a major cause of World War II, and that war has largely shaped the world today. The Holocaust is a particularly dark period of human history. Genocides are horrible things; the larger the scale, the more horrible it is. The Holocaust had a tremendous scale. It is also one of the places where historians must turn into ethicists. It is impossible to study this event without choosing a view. The Holocaust nows splits many groups. There are those who would ignore it and those that say it is essential to the continuation of the human race.
Jews in particular might want to forget the Holocaust. It is painful to think that if they had been there, they would probably be dead. The unspeakable events of the Holocaust have scarred their race and religion forever. It is painful for anyone to hear the stories and see the pictures. This pales next to the experience of survivors, to see their dead friends in pictures and their names in stories. These painful experiences will never be forgotten because they will be passed on through families and friends. This religion will remember the dead of the Holocaust for ages to come.
Germans may want to forget the Holocaust because it does not speak well of their country. It makes them into monsters. Those who helped the Nazis are horrible, but those who did not protest are just as horrible. Germans have been put under a stereotype that makes them all monsters. Forgetting the Holocaust will cause others to forget the wrongs done by many Germans and free them from the stereotype. Germans did suffer repercussions, but not enough for many people. At some level, many humans, Americans and British especially, feel that Germany was the reason for both World Wars and many other horrible things that have taken place in Europe.
The Holocaust is part of the history of the human race, for better or worse. Humanity must now find a way to take this tragic event and use it as inspiration to work for a better future.