The Holocaust: More than We Even Know

Today, everyone knows what is meant when someone says "The Holocaust." But do you know what the word holocaust actually means? Did you know that it was a word prior to the 1940s? It means "great destruction of life, especially by fire" or "a sacrificial offering consumed by fire."

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/holocaust

It wasn't until the 1970s and 1980s that the definition of "The Holocaust" (as well as the capitalization of the word) came about. During the war and immediately after the war, the atrocities were not discussed much because survivors were attempting to move on with their lives. In the 1970s and 1980s, their children wanted to discuss and remember what happened to their parents and their people.

Most people think of the Holocaust as the systematic killing of the concentration camp prisoners. But what about the people who were killed in their villages? What about the people who were killed on the way to the camps? What about the people who were killed while in ghettos?

January 27th is the international Holocaust Remembrance Day as well as the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps. We should remember what the Nazis did to millions of innocent people because they were prejudiced against others. At Dachau, there is a memorial to the victims that says "Never Again." Never again can we allow the systematic extermination of people. This also means that we need to be able to identify genocide earlier, even if it is a controversial topic.

(Photos from Terezín)

(Photos from Dachau)

(While a gas chamber, labeled as "Brausebad" meaning bath, was built at Dachau, it was never actually used.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/28/world/europe/a-light-on-a-vast-toll-of-jews-killed-away-from-the-death-camps.html?_r=0

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/auschwitz-survivors-mark-liberation-anniversary-22182125