Mitch86
Senior Member
- Location
- Connecticut, USA
Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. It is remembered by most folks as a remembrance day honoring the 7 million Jews killed during WW 2 by Germany and many other European nations.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
- Thread starter Mitch86
- Start date
WOLF ANGEL
A Fool on the Hill
The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2026 was Bridging Generations
This is to encourages the next generations to listen, learn and carry forward the lessons from the Holocaust.
This is to encourages the next generations to listen, learn and carry forward the lessons from the Holocaust.
WOLF ANGEL
A Fool on the Hill
The Mayor of London reflects on the importance of remembrance.
At City Hall’s annual service, survivors share their experiences so their stories can be remembered by future generations.
At City Hall’s annual service, survivors share their experiences so their stories can be remembered by future generations.
WOLF ANGEL
A Fool on the Hill
Sharing stories
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WOLF ANGEL
A Fool on the Hill
BBC & AI
WOLF ANGEL
A Fool on the Hill
Investing for the future - with the lessons of the past
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RambleTamble
Member
- Location
- U.S.
dusty
Senior Member
This is where my Jewish family lived throughout their history right up to the war. I know some escaped and made it over here because there are families from them living in South Dakota now.
During the Holocaust, the city of Groningen in the Netherlands suffered the near-total destruction of its Jewish population, with over 93%—approximately 2,550 individuals—deported and murdered between 1942 and 1943. The community was largely sent to the nearby Westerbork transit camp before being transported to extermination camps. The city was liberated by Canadian forces in April 1945 after intense urban fighting
During the Holocaust, the city of Groningen in the Netherlands suffered the near-total destruction of its Jewish population, with over 93%—approximately 2,550 individuals—deported and murdered between 1942 and 1943. The community was largely sent to the nearby Westerbork transit camp before being transported to extermination camps. The city was liberated by Canadian forces in April 1945 after intense urban fighting
RambleTamble
Member
- Location
- U.S.
My grandparents immigrated from Lithuania early in the 20th century. I don't know their story, but I assume they saw that things were getting bad and decided to get out before it was too late. They must have had relatives who didn't get out and perished in the Holocaust.
RambleTamble
Member
- Location
- U.S.
I just did a search for a video related to the Holocaust and found this on PBS.
It's rated 8.7 on IMDB, so it's probably worth watching.
Simon Schama: The Holocaust, 80 Years On
RambleTamble
Member
- Location
- U.S.
At the end of Nuremberg (2000), Dr. Douglas Kelley’s interview serves as a quiet but chilling warning about authoritarianism, drawn from what he learned while evaluating the Nazi defendants.
Kelley explains that the men who carried out monstrous crimes were not all insane, nor were they uniquely evil. Many were psychologically ordinary. What made them dangerous was not madness, but their willingness to surrender moral responsibility to authority. They accepted orders, embraced ideology, and stopped thinking of themselves as individuals who had to choose right from wrong.
He warns that this is not a German problem, or a Nazi problem, but a human one. Under the right conditions—fear, economic stress, social collapse, humiliation, propaganda, and a strong leader promising order—almost any society can slide into authoritarianism. People begin to trade freedom for security, and obedience starts to feel like virtue.
Kelley’s most disturbing point is that authoritarianism does not arrive with obvious monsters. It arrives through normal people who convince themselves they are just doing their jobs, following rules, or serving their country. Once a system rewards obedience and punishes dissent, cruelty can become routine, even banal.
The interview ends on an implicit warning: the danger never disappears. It only waits for conditions to be right again. The responsibility to resist doesn’t belong to heroes—it belongs to ordinary people who must refuse to stop thinking and choosing for themselves.
Kelley explains that the men who carried out monstrous crimes were not all insane, nor were they uniquely evil. Many were psychologically ordinary. What made them dangerous was not madness, but their willingness to surrender moral responsibility to authority. They accepted orders, embraced ideology, and stopped thinking of themselves as individuals who had to choose right from wrong.
He warns that this is not a German problem, or a Nazi problem, but a human one. Under the right conditions—fear, economic stress, social collapse, humiliation, propaganda, and a strong leader promising order—almost any society can slide into authoritarianism. People begin to trade freedom for security, and obedience starts to feel like virtue.
Kelley’s most disturbing point is that authoritarianism does not arrive with obvious monsters. It arrives through normal people who convince themselves they are just doing their jobs, following rules, or serving their country. Once a system rewards obedience and punishes dissent, cruelty can become routine, even banal.
The interview ends on an implicit warning: the danger never disappears. It only waits for conditions to be right again. The responsibility to resist doesn’t belong to heroes—it belongs to ordinary people who must refuse to stop thinking and choosing for themselves.