A long time ago in Saturday religious school, when I was about... maybe nine years old, everything was as per usual. We spent the day discussing whatever it was we were talking about. Suddenly a couple teachers barged into the room. They demanded silence and unrelenting cooperation. \
Everyone was confused and afraid.
They lined us up and led us through the hallways. Talking to one another was not tolerated and was met with harsh tones from the teachers.
We arrived at a classroom. I couldn't quite see inside, but I could tell that it was dark.
As we shuffled into the dark classroom one by one, we were stamped on the hand. Our shoes had to be removed and thrown into a disorganized pile in the corner of the room. The seats were arranged in rows.
I only recall a few things after that. One of the teachers spoke to us in a terrible tone. There were candles in the center of the room and some kind of banner on the wall. I don't recall much after that except for my thought process.
I remember being frightened. Had we done something wrong? Had I done something wrong? Were we all in trouble? Why on earth would these teachers throw us into a room with no explanation? Why would the talk to us as if we were nothing but scum? What the fuck was going on?
As a 9 year old, I didn't really know what the Holocaust was. Until that day.
The whole being led into a dark room and being silenced with speeches and six candles and all that had been repeated several times after that. It happened several times in Haganah to the point where it was just annoying and unoriginal. Hell, I've even lead one of those ceremonies. We always would do it on Holocaust Remembrance Day, or at least around then.
But nothing ever came close to that first time. We were a bunch of innocent kids scared shitless by people that we trusted and in a place that we had grown up in. Suddenly this synagogue was so foreign to us. We were little kids!
There are moments in your life that will define how you see something. The first time I saw ET I was terrified. I was maybe six years old at the time, but I could never watch it after that. I don't see it as frightening now, but every time someone mentions that movie I feel a small bit of fear rising up. I can't help it. Now, I actually enjoy ET.
I think the same goes for the Holocaust. When I hear that word, I always think back to that fateful day in Saturday school. I don't think I will ever forget it. But as an adult, I have a better grasp of what really happened. You study it not just in Saturday school, but in history and english classes in grade school. As a Jew, you study it. As someone who watches a lot of movies, films like Schindler's List, The Pianist, Life is Beautiful, and so many others give you an in depth look at the terror that the Nazi's brought upon the Jewish people.
It is important that we remember the lives lost. What people often forget is that the six million are just the Jews. There are six million non-Jewish casualties in the mix too. The Nazi's slaughtered 12 MILLION human beings. Each of those 12 million human beings had their own dreams, hopes, beliefs, families, histories, and LIVES that were taken away from them without compassion.
It's not like anybody even saw this coming. It just happened. After centuries of persecution, it only took a couple of years and dedicated followers to kill 12 million people. And to this day we still have racism plaguing the world.
One last thing to all of my Jewish friends out there: Please watch Schindler's List. I always try to get people to view this movie. It's difficult to watch it even once, it really is. But it's a powerful movie, it's without question one of the most incredibly and hauntingly beautiful movies that I have ever seen. As a Jew, it's just something that you ought to see. Just once in your life.
I know I'm not the most observant Jew, but remembering the Holocaust is very important to me. Not just as a Jew but as a human being. We can't let anything like this happen ever again.
Never forget. Don't you ever forget.
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