Windows & Doors

Holocaust Remembrance and Hitler's Birth Share the Day

Monday April 20, 2009

In an ironic and bitter coincidence, Hitler's birthday and the start of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, fall on the same day. Technically they overlap. Hitler's birthday is April 20 and Yom Hashoah begins tonight, which is the beginning of a new day according to the Jewish tradition in which days run from sundown to sundown. But that really is just a technicality.

The truth is that the world over, announcements for memorial events like the one at which I am speaking tonight in Louisville, KY invite people to join together on the 20th. The irony is pretty clear -- today being both the 120th anniversary of the birth of the man who sought the total annihilation of the Jewish people and the day upon which we prove his failure by gathering publicly and remembering what he tried to accomplish.

The bitterness of today's coincidence lies in the fact that even though Hitler didn't win, it's hard to speak of either the Jewish people or the human race "winning".

Of course, the Allies won the war and the slaughter did finally end. But with over six million Jews gassed and burned, and millions more innocent civilians meeting similar fates at the hands of the Nazis, it would be weird to declare that we "won".

We won the right to end that particular genocide, but in human terms, we all lost and lost big. In fact, we continue to lose given that genocide has threatened communities around the world in virtually every decade since the forties.

No, I am not arguing for the equality of any two genocides. In fact, no two are the same. But I am pretty certain that we ought not to feel genuinely victorious in the fight against any single genocide, when others threaten to continue similar atrocities in new locations.

Perhaps being stuck with our memories of Hitler, with the seeming impossibility of focusing exclusively on those he wanted to destroy and the suffering he caused, we are forced to wrestle with the fact that our victory can never be complete until we can assure ourselves that not only will we never forget the past, but that we can assure that no echoes of it will occur in the future. Perhaps that's the only way to forget about both Hitler and his birthday.

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Comments
Your Name
April 21, 2009 3:48 PM

Everyone have sinned and fall short to the glory of God.It is a Bible
quote that we should meditate when we committed sin.It is already
written and our sinful nature proves it,but again and again,the blood
of Jesus is always and forever available to cleanse us if we claim it.For it is in receiving that we are saved,by Faith people of God shall live.I just wanted to celebrate this day that once again,any
believer of Jesus Christ shall be proven Free from all kinds of
false accusations,because there shall be no weapon formed against
them shall ever prosper,every mouth shall rise in judgement will show
them wrong.This is a very word provided by God to be claimed by
a believer of God,it is just a word but it is very powerful when a
true believer will utter them,by the power of the Holy Spirit,they
were made manifested.

Your Name
April 21, 2009 4:06 PM

Wow...Happy Birthday to Hitler and to another person i know whos name
is almost of the same sound like Hitler himself from Germany too!What
a coincidence!!I would love to celebrate with this friend of mine and
tell him how much his birthday is very precious to me and to his love
ones as well.He is the finest person i know and has great respect of him.To Hitler's relative,Happy Birthday my dear,God Bless You and
i care about you,always!Wherever you are and if ever i will be away
just remember that once upon a time,there was Alice in Wonderland!
Happy Birthday again,my friend.

Gerard Nadal
April 21, 2009 10:37 PM

Happy Birthday Annie!

You're being an April 20 baby is a reminder that God keeps His promises and will never forget His People.

Many, Many More.

Your Name
April 22, 2009 10:57 AM

Holocaust should never ever be forgotten we must keep it alive.
I just put on a play in our School "can you hear them crying"

Your Name
April 22, 2009 10:18 PM

I love to wrap myself into a gift and be given to the children crying
and with me hankerchief!!!and kiss their tears away,and Oh!i'll bring
my little son with me....to play with the children crying...and
i am sure there will be tears of joy!

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brad.jpg Author, radio and TV talk show host, and President of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Brad Hirschfield is the author of You Don’t Have To Be Wrong For Me To Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism. Listed as one of the nation’s 50 most influential rabbis in Newsweek, and a regular commentator on Court TV, he is the creator of the popular series, Building Bridges, airing on Bridges TV, and the co-host of the weekly radio show, Hirschfield and Kula.

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