A lot has been written about the Holocaust since the end of World War 2. My thoughts on this topic were triggered by a news report on Iran publishing a books which seeks to debunk the number of people killed. For some time now, writings about the holocaust have essentially degenerated into a numbers game. The officially accepted figure is 6 million. Debunkers try to point out that reaching this figure would entail a high death rate from the first day of the war right till the last day of the war. Obviously that did not happen. It took time to build the infrastructure and the logistics network necessary to transport and process large number of people. I feel that a numbers game really misses the lesson of the Holocaust.
First what are the undisputed facts? What is undisputed is that a regime created a network of camps designed to kill people in the most efficient manner possible. The victims were chosen on the basis of their belonging to a particular religious group. Thus an accident of birth was enough to condemn a large group of people to death. Why is this undisputed? The reason is that the physical infrastructure exists; a large number of prisoners were discovered in the camp and the belongings of former prisoners who had been killed were also present. The principle involved was that people were worthy of condemnation and death because they were born into a certain religious group. the individual actions of these people were irrelevant.
I feel that the principle on which the holocaust camps were operated upon; the philosophy behind the incarceration and death of individuals is what needs to be condemned. Such a principle is dangerous because it condemns people not because of what they do but because of who they are. A principle like this is dangerously open to abuse. It is the principle which matters and not debate about numbers. It really doesn't matter if 6,000 people were killed like this or 6,000,000. The death of even 1 person based on a principle like this is one death too many.
First what are the undisputed facts? What is undisputed is that a regime created a network of camps designed to kill people in the most efficient manner possible. The victims were chosen on the basis of their belonging to a particular religious group. Thus an accident of birth was enough to condemn a large group of people to death. Why is this undisputed? The reason is that the physical infrastructure exists; a large number of prisoners were discovered in the camp and the belongings of former prisoners who had been killed were also present. The principle involved was that people were worthy of condemnation and death because they were born into a certain religious group. the individual actions of these people were irrelevant.
I feel that the principle on which the holocaust camps were operated upon; the philosophy behind the incarceration and death of individuals is what needs to be condemned. Such a principle is dangerous because it condemns people not because of what they do but because of who they are. A principle like this is dangerously open to abuse. It is the principle which matters and not debate about numbers. It really doesn't matter if 6,000 people were killed like this or 6,000,000. The death of even 1 person based on a principle like this is one death too many.
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