Who Were Killed

We would learn a lot about ourselves if we would only learn our history. History contains many good things humans have done and many bad things.

One of the worst things that ever happened in history was the Nazi persecutions of many races and classes of people -- chief among them, Jews. I don't want to take anything away from the Jews. They suffered greatly at the hands of the Nazis. However, despite what I seem to be constantly hearing, they were not alone.

Twice this week I heard the Nazi holocaust described as the deaths of six million Jews. Fair enough. But I would really like to hear the following definition used in the future:

The Nazi holocaust was the persecution and deaths of millions of people. Among them:

- Jews
- Roma and Sinti (Gypsies)
- Mentally and physically disabled
- Ethnic Poles
- Gay Men
- Jehovah's Witnesses
- Soviet prisoners of war
- Freemasons
- Slavs
- Political dissidents

Added together, these deaths would total about eleven million people. Six million Jews is bad; but aren't the other five million deaths bad too?

I have heard it argued that the term "holocaust" should only refer to Jews because Jews were targeted by the Nazis. True; but to be totally accurate, the only people not targeted by the Nazis were people of pure German blood who would be able to reproduce more people of pure German blood. This was at the heart of Hitler's desire to have a "pure race" populate the earth: pureblood Germans, and no one else. That "no one else" meant a lot of people -- Jews and otherwise. (This is why lesbians were not persecuted. As long as they could reproduce, their sexual orientation didn't matter.)

One thing that can be said about humans is that we are a group of people who tend to forget things that should be remembered. The Nazi persecutions should never be forgotten -- and we should remember ALL the people who were victims.

You can learn more about the holocaust at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.