In the late 20s of the last century, just ten years before the start of the Second World War, no one took Hitler’s National Socialist Party in Germany seriously. In 1928, it had only 12 seats out of 500 in the parliament. But in four years the party has turned from the marginal one into the leading political force of the country: in 1930 it had 107 seats, and in the next elections it already had 230.
Nazism was focused on the discontented, ill-fated people. Hitler offered them work and bread, without specifying who this work and bread will be taken from.
The Nazis knew that the Germans would not support a war just for the sake of seizing new territories. But they would support it if it came to protecting their families. Jews were blamed that they wished to destroy the Germans. In their propaganda, the Nazis explained to the people that they should not personally kill their neighbors. The Nazis told their citizens: you do not need to do this, let the state protect you. And the citizens agreed.
The world can never forget what it led to. Six million Jews died because of the desire of one person for the world domination.
History tends to repeat. And now, when there are so many people unhappy with the social institutions, anti-Semitism is again raising its head. Deadly Pittsburgh Synagogue Attack, Jewish tombstones spray-painted with swastikas in Strasbourg, stoning attack on the synagogue in Sofia. In 2017, the number of anti-Semitic attacks in the United States increased by 57%. In Europe, 28% of the Jews were persecuted in this or that way. And these figures, unfortunately, do not tend to reduce.
“We must teach our children to love before others teach them to hate,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said yesterday. The Jews have learned their lesson from that tragedy. But has the world learned it? Today, like 90 years ago, the society is plunging into hatred. The victims of this hatred are not only Jews, but also other minorities – national, religious, ideological.
Today is the Holocaust Remembrance Day.
I would like a special history lesson to be held in every school in Ukraine tomorrow — the history of the Holocaust. The children must be told what hatred leads to. They must be told about the heroes who saved the Jews from persecution, despite the threat to their own lives. They must be taught to remember, to think and never follow other people's insanity.
We Remember.
JCU President Boris Lozhkin
