The Sacred Memory of Shoah
[ Inscription in Hebrew ]
"In sacred memory of the six million Jewish heroes and martyrs who perished at the hands of the Nazis."
The 20th Century is the century of abject horror. Evil committed on an industrial scale. Political ideology, rather than religious wars precipitated it, whether it be the millions slaughtered under Stalin or Mao, or the singularly shocking genocide of European Jews by the Nazis. You can understand why I hate politics so much. Humanity deserves better and whenever political views divide us this is a cancer eating away at our souls.
The memorial we see here in the Melbourne General Cemetery is dedicated to the six million Jewish people who perished between 1941 and 1945 in what is now called The Holocaust or Shoah. Literally, a "holocaust" is a sacrificial offering completely burned upon an altar. There is no need here to retell exactly how these victims of Shoah died, but it is also true their bodies were consumed in ovens specifically made for the task.
It is all too easy today to dismiss this as madness and evil. Hitler and his cronies were monsters. But the fact is that they were also human beings. The root of that evil lies within the heart of every person. Until we recognise that fact, history will repeat itself. The shadow side of the human soul is an abyss that cannot be plumbed. Only a willingness to live humbly before God and seek forgiveness for our own misdeeds towards our fellow human beings can redeem us from falling into actions that break the sacred cord that ties us all together.
This moving memorial, stands as a witness and a signal warning to every one of us.
There's another Hebrew inscription here too:
"Here are buried bones, ashes & soap
Made from the human remains of our martyred brethren slain in Europe by the Nazis
May their memory live forever
1939 - 1945"
Virtual Tour of the Exhibition "Shoah" at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON7NX_AuOD0
The Sacred Memory of Shoah
[ Inscription in Hebrew ]
"In sacred memory of the six million Jewish heroes and martyrs who perished at the hands of the Nazis."
The 20th Century is the century of abject horror. Evil committed on an industrial scale. Political ideology, rather than religious wars precipitated it, whether it be the millions slaughtered under Stalin or Mao, or the singularly shocking genocide of European Jews by the Nazis. You can understand why I hate politics so much. Humanity deserves better and whenever political views divide us this is a cancer eating away at our souls.
The memorial we see here in the Melbourne General Cemetery is dedicated to the six million Jewish people who perished between 1941 and 1945 in what is now called The Holocaust or Shoah. Literally, a "holocaust" is a sacrificial offering completely burned upon an altar. There is no need here to retell exactly how these victims of Shoah died, but it is also true their bodies were consumed in ovens specifically made for the task.
It is all too easy today to dismiss this as madness and evil. Hitler and his cronies were monsters. But the fact is that they were also human beings. The root of that evil lies within the heart of every person. Until we recognise that fact, history will repeat itself. The shadow side of the human soul is an abyss that cannot be plumbed. Only a willingness to live humbly before God and seek forgiveness for our own misdeeds towards our fellow human beings can redeem us from falling into actions that break the sacred cord that ties us all together.
This moving memorial, stands as a witness and a signal warning to every one of us.
There's another Hebrew inscription here too:
"Here are buried bones, ashes & soap
Made from the human remains of our martyred brethren slain in Europe by the Nazis
May their memory live forever
1939 - 1945"
Virtual Tour of the Exhibition "Shoah" at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON7NX_AuOD0