Jan. 27 is Holocaust Remembrance Day. Did I celebrate this? No. Did I know this day existed? No.
Growing up Jewish, I always considered myself different from other students because I knew few people with a similar background. Learning about the Holocaust made me feel just as different.
The Holocaust is one important part of history that makes me who I am. It is a piece of my ancestry. Even though this is the case, I still had no idea that Holocaust Remembrance Day existed.
Lindsay Trombly | Argonaut
The only time I ever learned about the Holocaust was in eighth grade when we read some of Anne Frank’s letters and watched “Shindler’s List.” That was all that was implemented in my junior high education, and when I grew older that sense that the Holocaust happened in World War II slowly faded away.
Idaho education might not be the best in the country, but we should still receive quality education about the Holocaust. And other countries have more education surrounding this topic than the US.
An article from The DW centered around Germany celebrating Holocaust Remembrance Day. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas who was a part of the wreath commemoration in Germany, cited a CNN study that found 40 percent of young Germans don’t know much about the Holocaust.
Germany is the one part of the world that should be educated and know about the Holocaust, but it doesn’t mean America doesn’t need to know important history as well.
In April 2018, the New York Times conducted research on how the Holocaust is fading from people’s memory.
The survey conducted notes, “many adults lack basic knowledge of what happened — and this lack of knowledge is more pronounced among millennials, whom the survey defined as people ages 18 to 34.”
Yet there is more to this survey that is just as shocking.
“Thirty-one percent of Americans, and 41 percent of millennials believe that two million or fewer Jews were killed in the Holocaust; the actual number is around six million. Forty-one percent of Americans, and 66 percent of millennials cannot say what Auschwitz was. And 52 percent of Americans wrongly think Hitler came to power through force,” the survey shows.
Many people don’t realize this important day of the year or acknowledge it exists. It doesn’t make them bad. But it does show a lack of universal education, and that’s something we can change.
Children need to be told at a young age how important the Holocaust was and be told about Holocaust Remembrance Day. As we grow older, we must help to keep that curriculum in high schools and even colleges across the country. The Holocaust cannot be forgotten.
This past year the world was shaken by a synagogue shooting — an extreme act of anti-Semitism. Now is as good as a time as ever to remember the Holocaust, it is time to remember what happened to Jews then and how they should be treated now.
How are people of different ethnics and religions supposed to get this task done? By being educated on history.
It’s time to take a look at the Holocaust and recognize its importance on society. We must remember the victims and their families. We need to remember how Jews became free.
Every millennial Jew needs to be reminded to be grateful for life.
On this one day of the year, people are supposed to remember the lives lost. I reflect and remember the day Jews became truly free to be who we are.
Lindsay Trombly can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @lindsay_trombly