The Holocaust

This week is dedicated to the lives of those who died during the Holocaust. In school we watch a short 5 minute video detailing the Holocaust with a backtrack of sad music. It leaves the class in silence, and after some minutes we continue on with our work, not mentioning it. What I want to know is why the Holocaust is remembered like this, but not the many more people who Stalin killed, directly or indirectly.

This is open for all discussion on the Holocaust as well, which will hopefully be spawned from the couple of posts.

I would actually have to say the same thing but about Mao Zedong as he actually killed more of his countries own citizens than Stalin. The is probably the way in which they were killed and the fact that it was internal. Dictators like Mao and Stalin executed political enemies and free thinkers. They did not gather groups of minorities together and slaughter them. they also were not at the same time trying to conquer all of Europe.

I think it’s down to the scale of things really. The Holocaust was much more open and known about than those that Stalin killed, and the way the Holocaust was orchestrated and planned makes it very chilling. Hitler implimented a system of “human killing farms”, and one can only imagine the sheer terror those inside the camps felt.
I’m not saying that the Stalin murders were any less horrific or sad, it’s just the Holocaust was such a massive engine and powerful genocide it’s pretty hard to ignore it.

The Holocaust was pure genocide, while the death’s during Stalin’s reign can be better attributed to poor leadership and a totalitarian government. Correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t the Gulags and “purges” aimed at any and all opposition, regardless of race, religion, or creed? Besides, the famines during his reign affected everyone, not just a specific group. The point is that any mass extermination of a people based on religion is going to be better remembered than one based on politics.

What Stalin did wasn’t by definition genocide and lets be serious, Stalin wasn’t the first Russian leader to employ mass death. Even Stalin was sent to a Gulag once during his lifetime and only lived because he escaped with a gun and walked all the way from Siberia back to Moscow. So yes, you could probably say he was a “Man of Steel”.

Not like that pussy Hitler who never spent a day in a death camp.

(The point is that any mass extermination of a people based on religion is going to be better remembered than one based on politics.)

Exactly! I think the pwerful emotive photos, video footage and eyewitness accounts helps alot. After all, the skeletal corpses dumped naked in an open grave is not an easy image to forget…

Hitler was a genius. And he was just doing what he thought was right. Unfortunately that led to millions of people being slaughtered :\

Hitler was a genius.

Hitler was a megalomaniac and a fool. It is a myth that he was hard working/organised/very gifted. In fact his rise to power was very lucky and relied on many other things out of his control. He was one of the reasons the Germans lost WW2.

I am studying the holocaust at the moment too. It is a fascinating subject but a horriffic one. Some of the videos we watch in class are downright disturbing. It should be compulsory foor all students to at least study a tiny bit of it. It should never be allowed to be forgottento ensure it never happens again.

Hitler was a genius. And he was just doing what he thought was right. Unfortunately that led to millions of people being slaughtered :\

It all came down to a few King Tigers ( Tanks) and his reign ended.

I can’t imagine how bad his nephews in America felt about him.

Nephews? I thought he was an only child. How would he have nephews?

Hitler was a genius. And he was just doing what he thought was right. Unfortunately that led to millions of people being slaughtered :\

Kind of beyond the point. What Hitler thought was right was sick and terrible… ‘unfortunately’ is a lame way to describe the events he caused. On a smaller scale, it’s like saying ‘John Wilkes Booth was a great actor, you know?’

Nephews? I thought he was an only child. How would he have nephews?

It was rumored that Hitler had relatives in the USA. A reporter investigated and found them. The three brothers are supposedly the last known Hitlers. In report they all took a vow that they would not have children to kill off the last of the Hitlers.

I dont see why they should be punished to what one of their distant relatives did. It is compltely illogical.

Your post is compltely illogical.

Originally posted by woodythedon:

I dont see why they should be punished to what one of their distant relatives did. It is compltely illogical.

Life isn’t fair. Hitler shamed his family so greatly it’s impossible to even describe, and they made that choice themselves.

It is not fair that someone should be punished for something that they had absolutely no control over. It would be like your dad dying in prison and then you being expected to carry on the sentence. It is unfair and illogical. Saying life isnt fair doesnt invalidate it. Just because your relative is regarded as evil doesnt mean you should have to vow never to have children. It isnt proven that people are born evil.

It’s not fair that people should be discriminated against on the basis of skin colour, gender, or sexual orientation, yet all those have happened.

I am not disputing the fact there is unfairness in the world, but I am just highlighting the stupidity of discriminating against someone because of their distant relatives.

No one told them to do it…

Originally posted by Jabor:

It’s not fair that people should be discriminated against on the basis of skin colour, gender, or sexual orientation, yet all those have happened.

I agree with this. If Hitler was killing people he should have done it to everyone, excluding the Aryans of course, and their slaves.

Originally posted by woodythedon:

I am not disputing the fact there is unfairness in the world, but I am just highlighting the stupidity of discriminating against someone because of their distant relatives.

I bet they have children.

He might have meant forefathers.

I think the holocaust never happened.

Disclaimer: I have a degree from the UoT ( University of Terhan )

Originally posted by RMcD:

Originally posted by Jabor:

It’s not fair that people should be discriminated against on the basis of skin colour, gender, or sexual orientation, yet all those have happened.

I agree with this. If Hitler was killing people he should have done it to everyone, excluding the Aryans of course, and their slaves.

If you’re killing everyone except the Aryans then you’re still discriminating based on racial background.

Originally posted by Vanguarde:
Disclaimer: I have a degree from the UoT ( University of Terhan )

Are they affiliated with the University of Tehran at all?

Lower forms of life don’t count silly.

Originally posted by unproductive:

Originally posted by Vanguarde:

Disclaimer: I have a degree from the UoT ( University of Terhan )

Are they affiliated with the University of Tehran at all?

Impossible, they produce intelligent students.