Awakening humanity
The Hall of Names at Yad Vashem. Photograph by Jotpe via Wikimedia Commons (own work). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Rev. Dr. Robert Wallace
Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, is a powerful, artistic remembrance of those murdered in the Holocaust. Visitors are directed to walk, zigzagging a central hall past exhibits which document its history. The path is marked by barbed wire and other artifacts, serving as powerful reminders of the time. The central hall itself has a high ceiling and naked concrete walls which slope inward, giving the impression of an oppressive ghetto. The organization of the path is roughly chronological. One walks from the denial of rights and the denial of freedoms early in Hitler’s reign to the denial of humanity and the denial of life in the concentration camps.
In Hebrew, the museum is called “a memorial and a name,” in part because it houses the names from the over six million Jews who died, along with 2.7 million pages of testimony and thousands of audio and video clips. These names and memories are part of the reason a trip to the museum is a required part of training for the Israeli army. The museum is meant to offer the soldiers context for why Israel’s defense is so important and why it’s so often said, “Never Again.”
It is unlikely that modern nation of Israel would exist were it not for the Holocaust, and Yad Vashem certainly supports that narrative. At the end of the tour, the naked, oppressive concrete walls angle away from a balcony which reveals a beautiful, lush valley outside Jerusalem.
I am not sure I want to know anyone who can go through Yad Vashem, or any other Holocaust museum, without being moved. That moment in history should awaken within us a commitment to our ultimate humanity, and to say with full conviction, “Never again!”
I pray the Holocaust is never interpreted from the narrow perspective of one nation’s oppression of one people. If that is the case, the lessons we learn will be too narrow to speak to the root of the deeper problem. The Holocaust primarily affected Jews, with approximately 6,000,000 killed. And separate Nazi persecutions also killed an additional 6 to 11 million (although some estimates are closer to 35,000,000) non-Jewish individuals from various groups, including Roman Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Freemasons, members of the queer community, people of color, the Romani, the physically or mentally disabled, communists, and any perceived dissidents of Hitler’s regime. The philosophy of the Holocaust was rooted in the scientifically fraudulent eugenics movement, and anyone who did not measure up as a member of the “master race” was persecuted or eliminated. The suffering of the Holocaust was widespread.
I am not sure I want to know anyone who can go through Yad Vashem, or any other Holocaust museum, without being moved. That moment in history should awaken within us a commitment to our ultimate humanity, and to say with full conviction, “Never again!”
Likewise, the Holocaust was an ugly reflection of the worst of all humanity, not merely a single country. Violence and abuse beget violence and abuse. Left unchecked, the Holocaust shows us that this cycle will take us to terrible ends. It also painfully reminds us that those terrible ends can be justified by people of faith, abusing their scripture to allow the abuse of people.
Holocaust remembrance means learning the lessons of history well, truly seeing the humanity of those we disagree with, and genuinely working to ensure that “never again” means “never again” anywhere, at any time.
“Never again” means antisemitism must always be called out. It has an unfortunately long history — so long that it even pervades our media without our realizing it. Children’s media can echo persistent, antisemitic caricatures, such as the goblins in the Harry Potter series (who were in charge of the bank). Too often and for too long, antisemitic ideas have been supported by poor and dangerous theology that continues today, even in Jewish “allies.” Modern political “Zionism” was supported in the 19th century by British Christians, who believed the Jewish people needed a homeland — so that they would not live in England. Antisemitism can never be excused or tolerated, though one must be careful not to conflate legitimate criticisms of political Zionism or the actions of the state of Israel with antisemitism. (Zev Mishell helpfully walks through the challenges of this in several places, most recently here.)
“Never again” means that no human being must ever be “othered” by a group or government. The moment we create a “them,” whose rights can be curtailed or who existence can be ignored, we lay the first stone on the road to the Holocaust. Even today, Palestinian Christians like Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac painfully marvel at the silence of the Western church on the abuses that members of his church and community suffer from Israel. The state of Israel’s actions in their occupation of the West Bank and Gaza do not facilitate peace or justice, and these genocidal abuses are met by many around the world with silence. War crimes are wrong no matter who is committing them, and they can never be excused or tolerated. “Never again” means we cannot be silent. We must call out the abuse of oppressors and minister to the suffering of the victims when we see it.
“Never again” means the abused must break cycles of violence. Generational trauma must be healed. No amount of suffering can justify causing the suffering of others, and no group can be beyond criticism when this happens. Human beings acting with impunity (often with a perceived divine sanction) led to the Holocaust.
In the Hebrew Bible, “remembering” was participatory. The Passover meal urges the participant to “remember how we were once slaves in Egypt.” May there be a participatory remembrance on this difficult day. May the memory of how truly evil humanity can be to one another awaken in us the desire to work for God’s justice in this world.
Rev. Dr. Robert Wallace is senior pastor, McLean Baptist Church, McLean, Virginia.
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
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