takes a moment on Yom Hashoah to be reminded of the horrible time in history

prays for the souls and for the families of the 6 million individuals slaughtered,

pledges to never forget this horrible event and promises to never again let that happen.

~lost~

Never again

I am of Jewish Heritage although nobody I know about in my family was a victim in the holocaust but I have a deep feeling for all those who suffered during that horrific time. While I was in Europe I went to visit Dachau and it is so terrible what people went through. They have a window case with many of their shoes. They cut their hair off and used to make mattresses and their skin was used to make lampshades. Its incredible what people are capable of. I pray for all those Holocaust victims today that they rest in Gods peace because their sufferings alone earned them eternal life with God. I believe that. Thanks Ilene for pointing out this rememberance. I also read the diary of Anne Frank while in school. I imagined what it would have been like to be her living that way. Terrible and hard to believe something like that could happen.

I am not Jewish but have long been interested in learning about the holocaust. Out of the horror good still won out. For one thing the holocaust ended and Hitler did not win. But also all the people who risked their own lives to save others.

As we remember those who died and their families, let us also remember all those who made a difference. The many soldiers fighting against Hitler, those that hid Jewish people from the nazis, those that helped the Jewish people escape to safer countries.

Thanks for all your responses.

Just a historical footnote:

There were millions more
than the commonly recognized
six million.

The death toll was closer
to ten million. Those
innocent souls included
the physically and mentally
disabled, homosexuals
and anyone that Hitler and
the "s.s." didn't "like."

Thank you all for your
thoughts and prayers
for those who didn't
survive.

One of the most profound
experiences of my life took
place a few years ago when
I met an aging survivor. Meeting
this man provided me first-hand
insight into the dynamics of
emotional and psychological
injury, that textbooks can not
pass on. I was only with him
for an hour and a half. It was
one of the most important
ninety minutes of my life.

Sending all of you
a loving embrace
and prayers for
all good things
going forward.

Wow Ilene that is really neat to have that first hand experience of a survivor! I bet it was very touching and sad to hear his story. I can't imagine what it was like for them expecially since many people they knew and family members were exterminated and treated terribly. It is so crazy to think that could have happened even back then. I guess it could always happen again. I heard Saddam Hussein killed many of his people in different ways too, just not on as large a scale. I wonder why the Jewish are always persecuted through history. That is a strange but true fact.

And to the heros of that time who saved many.............

Oscar Schindler's name is known to millions as a household word for courage - a flawed hero who saved more than 1200 Jews from the Nazi death camps.

No one will ever know exactly what made this complex man do what no German had the courage to do. A large part of the fascination of Oscar Schindler is that not even those who admire him most can figure out his motives.

But he rose to the highest level of humanity and gave his Schindler-Jews a second chance at life. He earned the everlasting gratitude of his Jews. No matter why, no matter that he was an alcoholic and a shameless womanisor of the worst sort - what matters to the Schindler-Jews is that he surfaced from the chaos of madness and risked everything for them.

To more than 1200 Jews Schindler was all that stood between them and death at the hands of the Nazis. But he remained true to his Jews, the workers he always referred to as my children. In the shadow of Auschwitz he kept the SS out and everyone alive.

In a 1964 interview, standing in front of his dingy apartment Am Hauptbahn No. 4 in Frankfurt Am Main, West Germany, Schindler for once commented on what he did:

"The persecution of Jews in occupied Poland meant that we could see horror emerging gradually in many ways. In 1939, they were forced to wear Jewish stars, and people were herded and shut up into ghettos. Then, in the years '41 and '42 there was plenty of public evidence of pure sadism. With people behaving like pigs, I felt the Jews were being destroyed. I had to help them. There was no choice."

Today there are 7,000 descendants of Schindler's Jews living in US and Europe, and many in Israel. Before the Second World War, the Jewish population of Poland was 3.5 million. Today there are between 3,000 and 4,000 left.

Corrie Ten Boom - In 1940, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands. Among their restrictions was banning a club which Corrie had run for young girls. In 1942, Corrie and her family had become very active in the Dutch underground, hiding refugees. They rescued many Jews from the Nazi SS.

radrm -----

I wasn't privy to the awful
details of his story. The
details of the stories of
that time are too wrenching
to contemplate.

What I learned about
the injured psyche was
during the process of
interacting with him.

And yes. . . . bless
the righteous who
did what they could
to save those who
were threatened
with extinction.