"There is as much good as evil in human nature--probably more--but we must never overlook the potential for evil within ourselves. Only by acknowledging it and resolving never to allow the evil within ourselves to become manifest can we prevent it."
I see a usual response to the idea of the Jewish holocaust uniqueness - that a life is a life, and a Tutu, or a Cambodian, or a Gipsy, or anybody murdered by any -ism in the XX century is worthy a remembrance equally. Yes, true. Still, there is a reason why Jewish holocaust stands out among other evils. Its because it was perpetrated by a supposedly highly civilized society. There is only a handful of nations who could rival Germans in 1900 in the arena of human accomplishments: in business, science, music, industry, cinema, work ethic, comfort of living, arts - mixed and varied accomplishments. And then, before the eyes of one living generation, they perpetrated an industrial scale evil. I understand that its not PC and is a bigotry of low expectations that crimes of Japanese militarists, Khmer ruge, Hutus, Stalinists, Maoists, etc, etc might take a second place to German's first. IMHO, its that none of them were on the top of the world as high as Germans. How somebody so cultured is capable of such evil is mind-boggling. (like when a carrier criminal kills somebody its on page 12, if an upstanding citizen does - its page 1). Even from Jewish own experience in the WWI, German occupation forces in Ukraine, for example, were remarkably better than reds, whites, or miscellaneous local powers taking over during the Civil War there. Then in WWII they were totally different species.
Once again, the above is not to diminish sufferings of anybody else. To me, we need more reminder about all them, not less. My point is that the speed itself of Germans degrading from the top of the world, culturally and all, to the all infecting evil, is horrifying.
I have lived in Germany. I have been to Dachau.
In the light of what you have said, Churchill's selection of the theme from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony was a stroke of genius.
For the exquisitely civilized German people to have degenerated into the horrors of the Third Reich exemplifies what I have said in post #25.
As much as we may deny it and wish it were not so, every on of us could repeat the horrors of the Nazis. To prevent it, we must recognize this potential and resolve that we will never allow it to happen.
Only by understanding that the monster that created the Nazi holocaust--and the millions exterminated by Marxism et al.--exists within each of us and resolving that it will never manifest its evil can each of us do what we can to prevent a recurrence of the horrors of the past.
Yes. The Nazi holocaust was unique.
When we are tempted to allow the monster within to express its evil, each of us must say no to it; each of us must tell Satan to go to hell; and each of us must submit to the love of God and allow this love to manifest itself.