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World
War II (WWII), initiated by
Hitler's
Nazi
Germany
in 1939, killed some 67 million people
(according to Franklin & Eleanor
Roosevelt
Institute)
out of which some 27 million were
Soviet citizens.
Nazi's
Holocaust emerged from a Persecutory
Campaign initiated by Hitler's Nazi
Germany against the ethnically
undesirable people with the primary
focus on the Jews. That persecutory
campaign, during the war years, evolved
and transformed into a distinctive
genocidal component of WWII whose
objective was the total annihilation of
Hitler's perceived "undesirables" that
were targeted for what they were rather
than for what they did or believed in.
The so-called "world Jewry," in Nazis'
parlance, became Nazis' primary
fixation towards total eradication.
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In the prewar years (1933-1939), the
unfolding Jewish Persecutory Program
(that was to become the
starting
point
of the emerging Holocaust) began
markedly noticeable to the outside
world after Adolph Hitler
became the German Chancellor (in
January 1933) with the systematic and
planned persecution of Jews and their
businesses (through the passing of
various Anti-Jewish
Laws
and with the implementation of the
so-called Aryanization/Arisierung
program), and which evolved with
their deprivation of liberty (by
round up, forced evacuation and
eventual
deportation).
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 .One
of the most
noticeable
and dramatic
action taken
against the
Jewish
citizens of
Germany and
Austria
during that
time (that
for many
observers
was also the
first hint
of what was
yet to come)
was the
nationwide
pogrom
in the night
of Nov.
9-10, 1938
known as the
Kristallnacht
or
"The
Night of
Broken
Glass"
pogrom.
.That
tumultuous
period of
massive
hostility
towards Jews
was the
prelude of
what would
come (to be
known as
the Holocaust)
and, it can
be said to
be
characterized
by
oppressive,
non-genocidal
suffering
and by
sporadic,
non-genocidal
killings.
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During the War years (1939-1945) that
had followed, the Jewish Persecutory
Program developed and transformed into
a genocidal Persecutory and
Victimization Program
--the Holocaust, with a machinery
set in place primarily for the complete
destruction of the entire European
Jewry.
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.Now,
during that
period of
time,
.a)
the non-genocidal
suffering
has reached
a new level
of intensity
--a peak
in human
suffering
that could
be called
the
genocidal
(or mass suffocating)
suffering
and,
.
b)
the
non-genocidal
killings
have been
transformed
into a
genocidal
(or mass
killing)
machinery.
..In
1942,
following
the
notorious
Wannsee
Conference,
the
implementation
of the
so-called
"Final
Solution" to
the Jewish
Problem
began, full
speed, in
Sobibor,
Treblinka,
Belzec,
Auschwitz-Birkenau
and other
concentration
camps. As
trainloads
of Jews
arrived from
all over
Europe, many
were gassed
to death in
specially
designed
chambers
(disguised
as shower
facilities),
or shot by
firing
squads.
The rest
were forced
to work
under the
most
terrible
conditions,
which
ultimately
led to death
by
starvation
or
execution.
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During
those genocidal
years, in
Nazi-occupied Europe
of some nine (9)
million Jews (as
derived from the
population census of
the Wannsee
Protocol)***,
some six (6)
million of them were
murdered with the
rest being deprived
of liberty, human
dignity and forced
evacuation from their
homes and
businesses.
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By 1945, in
Nazi-occupied
Europe, 2/3
of its
Jewish
population
--men, women
and
children--
were murdered.
Jews
deported to
death
camps
That
is by 1945,
two out of
every three
Jews had
been
killed...
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***
NOTE: The
Wannsee
Conference
census
estimating
the
existence of
eleven (11)
million
European
Jews
included all
of the
neutral
countries
(Spain,
Portugal,
UK, Ireland,
Sweden,
Turkey --the
European
part, and
Switzerland)
and, as
well, the
unoccupied
territories
of France
and Soviet
Union. The
combined
Jewish
population
of those
parts of
Europe was
estimated to
be at some
two (2)
million and
thus, it
needs to be
subtracted
from the
total
Wannsee
figure.
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The Holocaust ended with the end of
WWII when Hitler's Nazi Germany
was defeated by the three major
campaigns of the Allies in their finest
and most costly triumphs of modern
History.
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Churchill,
Roosevelt, and
Stalin
at Yalta Conference
in February
1945.
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(Primary
credit goes to the Great
Britain --under the
incomparable Winston Churchill,
the Soviet Union --under the
ruthless and larger than life
dictator Joseph Stalin,
and
the United States --under
Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
the only U.S. President to be
reelected three times).
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  Asides
from the Nazis' primary fixation --that of total
eradication of the Jews, another ethnically
undesirable people set by the Nazi machine for
total annihilation were the European Romanies
(Roma/Sinti) better known by their derogatory
name as "Gypsies." It is estimated that some
one-half million of them were murdered during
the same genocidal period representing some 50%
of their total European population.
By
1945, one out of every two European "Gypsies"
had been killed...
Apart
from their primary targets --the Jews and the
Romanies ("Gypsies"), Hitler's Nazi regime had
also envisioned the elimination of all Poles and
eventually all Slavs (under the so-called
General Plan Ost
that called for the removal of native
populations from the Eastern Europe and
resettlement with Germans) if the Nazi's Third
Reich would have lasted, as envisioned, 1000
years. However, that never materialized as the
Third Reich lasted only 12 horrendous years
(1933-1945).
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.Polish
Victims of the War, but Not of
the Holocaust:
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.The
SS German execution in April
1941 of Polish hostages in
retaliation for an attack on a
Nazi Police Station by the
underground organization
"White Eagle."
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<historyplace.com/worldwar2/holocaust/h-tasks.htm>
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During
the War years (1939-1945) that
constituted also the Holocaust
murderous years, some three (3) million
non-Jewish Poles were also killed, but
they were killed not because of their
ethnicity, religion or creed, but
rather because they were viewed as
subversive, threatening, or
particularly dangerous to the Nazi
regime. (Examples of such Poles that
were killed by the Nazis were the elite
of the Polish people, their political,
civic, and spiritual leaders, members
of the intelligentsia, cultural and
scientific figures, as well as members
of the resistance movement, officers,
and so on.) Thus, in this respect, that
Polish victimization campaign was a
campaign of the War and not of the
Holocaust and, as such, those
Polish
victims
need be considered as casualties of
the War and not of
the Holocaust.
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.(And
speaking of the Polish casualties of
war, it needs to be noted that
Poland --unlike any other European
country-- was battling for its
survival not only from Hitler's Nazi
Germany, but also on the East from
Stalin's Soviet Union. In this
respect, see in here
additional information on the Soviet
invasion of Poland of September 1939
and, this photo
of Polish prisoners captured by the
Soviet Red Army.
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Poland
thus, during the War years, was
savaged by two formidable foes from
two opposite fronts: one from the
West by the Nazi Germans and, the
other one from the East by the
Soviet Russians. See, in this
respect, the Yad Vashem's
entry
on the Katyn [Forest]
Massacre by the Soviets.)
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Of
course, as already noted, all that
Polish victimization resulted from the
two campaigns of the War has had
nothing to do with the
Nazi Holocaust (written always
with capital letter to be distinguished
from any other genocidal event or
holocaust parlance).
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The
Holocaust should never ever be confused with the
various killings of World War II that was a
part of, nor be blurred with other atrocities
and brutalities of the War. The Holocaust was an
unique and distinct massive, persevering,
persecutory and victimization genocidal event of
World War II, prosecuted by the Nazi
Germany, that was based primarily on race and
ethnicity with the sole purpose and goal of
"purifying" the European races from the
perceived "undesirables," and as such, it needs
to be separated from all other killings and
brutalities associated with the War.
From
immemorial times, each society had their own
"undesirables" (most notable, the hard-core
criminals, and those holding a particular creed,
belief, or political view deemed to pose a
threat to the society) and, that component
clearly existed within the Nazi Germany. But
those particular types of victims of the Nazi
Germany (such as the Communists, religious and
political opponents, or Jehovah's Witnesses)
should never ever be associated nor incorporated
with the true victims and survivors of the
Holocaust. That is because those groups of
people became victims of the Nazi Germany not
because of who they were, but because of what
they did or believed in. It is therefore
important to note that not all victims of the
Nazi Germany were victims of the Holocust and,
that the Nazi victimization program extended
well outside the boundaries of
the Holocaust.
The
cleansing of Europe from racially and ethnically
"inferior or degenerate breeds" was an essential
ingredient in the formulation of a new Europe as
envisioned by the Nazi regime. In the so-called
"Final Solution" to the Jewish Problem, the
rapid killings of all European Jewry was at the
core and center stage of the entire Nazi mass
murder process. After all it was argued, this
unprecedented "solution" was needed --as a
public health campaign-- for the betterment of
the world in the pursuit of creating a new
"pure" (aka Aryan)
"super" race.
  Consistent
with the creation of a "pure" superior race, the
Nazi regime had targeted in addition those with
various incurable mental and physical
disabilities killing some 300,000 patients in
various hospitals and asylums under the
so-called T-4 Euthanasia
program. That race "purification" program must
also be included as part of the Holocaust.
In
the name of perceived race "purification," the
homosexuals
were also targeted for complete annihilation and
thus, they need to be included into what we call
the Holocaust. (It is important to stress
in here, for that complex category of Holocaust
victims, that even if the Genetic Biology
 ultimately
will determine that the homosexuality is not
derived from a genetic condition but rather from
a lifestyle condition, the Nazis --for sure--
considered them as "carrying" hereditary genes
of homosexuality that needed to be rooted out.
Indeed, in their campaign against the
homosexuals, Nazis relentlessly pursued not only
their current homosexuals, but also their family
hereditary traits. That Nazi pursuit was
directed primarily towards the male homosexuals
as the female homosexuals were, by in large,
ignored and tolerated. That duality in the Nazi
policy between the male and female homosexuality
has had its primary roots in the Christian
religion where the sodomy has always been
regarded as an absolute sin.)
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Jewish
women and children at Birkenau marching
towards the gas
chambers.
[Yad Vashem -- The Holocaust
Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance
Authority.]
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ENLARGE THIS IMAGE
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To recapitulate, the Jewish Holocaust (known
also as the
Shoah),
the Romani (Roma/Sinti) or the "Gypsy" Holocaust
(known also as the Porrajmos),
the Psychiatric/Eugenic Holocaust (known also as
the so-called T4 Holocaust
of the disabled), and the Gay Holocaust,
were the only components of what is known as the
Nazi Holocaust.
Any
other victims during the Holocaust
years need to be considered as being
part of the casualties of war and
not of Holocaust. This explicit
distinction and demarcation is, as
already noted, essential in the
precise, unambiguous definition and
formulation of the
Nazi Holocaust.
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In a nutshell thus, the Holocaust (that
developed from its prewar Nazi Persecutory
Campaign of the "undesirables") was a machinery
set in place by the Nazi regime of cleansing the
European races from all the perceived "inferior
and degenerate breeds" that the Jews, the
Romanies/Gypsies, the mentally and physically
disabled, and the Homosexuals were considered to
be. That was the "line" of the Holocaust that
was a clear and unmistakable "line" that needs
not be confused or blurred with any other
murderous "line" of World War II.
Another
way of looking at the Holocaust
"line" is how the Texas University
Professor, Dr. Ian Hancock
sees it, as a genetic "purification"
line designed to eradicate the
perceived genetic "contaminants"
from the European gene pool in
pursuit of creating a "pure"
superior "master race."
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As
a historic event, the Nazi Holocaust is of
enormous complexity:
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- How
could such an event ever take place,
in the first place?
- How
such an absolute breakdown in
humanity, moral judgments, and faith
in God could have taken place in one
of the most cultured country of
Europe?
- How
could a most cultured nation in the
center of Europe be responsible for
such mass atrocities that are
defying human comprehension?
- How
could the Church
of
Germany
with all its various denominations
close its eyes to humanity and
surrender its morality, its soul,
and its teachings to the Nazi
ideology?
- How
could the average mass German
population embraced and supported
with such zeal Hitler, the Nazis,
Nazism, and the Third Reich?
- How
and Why was democracy lost in
Germany in 1933?
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How a mighty country such as The United States
of America that was founded through its
July 4, 1776, Declaration
of
Independence
that begins with this fundamental
proposition,
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"We
hold these truths to be
self-evident,
that all men are created
equal,
that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights,
that among these are Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness"
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could have closed its eyes on the Holocaust for
so long, is a perplexing question
for the ages, as the deprivation of
"Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"
were at the core and center stage of the entire
machinery of the Holocaust. Arguably, the
simple answer to this is that no national
security interest was involved and thus, no
compelling interest existed to intervene. That
may be so, if only we could divorce ourselves
from the conscience of humanity.
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Killing
of Jews in Kovno by
Lithuanian
nationalists under
the eyes of the SS in
June 1941. When the
SS mobile killing
units reached Kovno
in the first few days
of the war against
the Soviet Union,
they persuaded the
anti-communist
partisan leader
Klimatis to turn his
forces against the
Jews, to demonstrate
that "the liberated
population had
resorted to the most
severe measures
against
the ... Jewish enemy."
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SS
Photo -
<friends-partners.org/partners/beyond-the-pale/eng_captions/55-1.html>
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How
the great majority of ordinary European
people stood by --at best-- in apathy
during the Nazi's racial and ethnical
cleansing, and --at worst-- taking an
active role in it, is a most profound
and troublesome question that cannot
escape our attention when looking at
the present or at the future. The
humanity should never ever be allowed
to be buried by evil forces and blind
ambitions.
Next
time --if not on guard-- another mass
group or groups of people could be
targeted for their complete
annihilation. As the late
Simon
Wiesenthal
so eloquently put it,
"It is not a written law
that the next victims must be
Jews."
Let
this be the great lesson of the Nazi
Holocaust that humanity, at all cost,
must always be present, preserved, and
remain within us. Hate and blind
ambitions should never ever be allowed
to overcome and poison our judgments
and deeds.
Never
again the humanity should be absent
from a society's deeds and moral
judgments. The Creator endowed us
with a most precious commodity --the
humanity, vested in compassion and
tolerance towards others, and this is
--in fact-- what separates us, humans,
from the rest, in the vast Kingdom
of the Living.
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The
massive human, spiritual, and
intellectual destruction that the Nazi
Holocaust has brought is beyond
quantification. The human talent lost
during the Holocaust is impossible to
be quantified as we can only ponder how
many of the caliber of Jonas Salk
were lost and thus, how many cures of
various deadly diseases could have been
found long time ago. To this if we add
the potential loses in other sciences
and the arts, the total loss could be
staggering and arguably irreplaceable.
And this is indeed a sobering
reflection that cannot escape our
thoughts.
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NOTE 1:
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An
extraordinary set of pictures from the
Auschwitz Album with text commentary by
Oliver Lustig
of Bucharest, Romania, who is
a Birkenau-Auschwitz and Dachau
Holocaust survivor,
has been posted with
corresponding Danish,
Dutch,
English,
French,
German,
Hungarian,
Italian,
Polish,
and Russian
translations from the original
Romanian
text received.
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NOTE 2:
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In
January 2007, the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives
received a mysterious anonymous
donation (from a retired US military
man) of a photograph album with the
inscription "Auschwitz
21.6.1944"
containing 116 photographs of SS
guardians from Auschwitz. This stunning
new photo album, (believed to have been
created and belonged to
Karl
Höcker,
the adjutant to the commandant of
Auschwitz) provides a rare insider's
view of Auschwitz camp staff enjoying
leisure time at a facility adjacent to
the notorious death camp where
thousands were been killed every day.
(See also this
New York Times
article
and the USHMM presentation.)
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