Page 11 - Witness

INTRODUCTION
In the history of humanity, replete with wars, massacres, and wanton destruction, the Holocaust stands out among the darkest stains on our morally fractured past. In the first half of the 20th century, German achievements in music, art, literature, philosophy, and science epitomized the height of Western civilization, yet this was the nation that singled out for eradication an entire people in the most horrifying manner. And it very nearly succeeded.
But Nazi Germany did not target Jews alone. Members of other minorities and innocent populations – Poles, Roma, Soviet POWs, the disabled, homosexuals, and many other groups – were viciously persecuted or slaughtered en masse.
Since the fall of Communism in 1989, more than 260,000 young people, accompanied by Holocaust sur- vivors, have traveled to Poland and other parts of Europe on programs like March of the Living and March of Remembrance and Hope to study the history of the Holocaust and other WWII genocides perpetrated by Nazi Germany on millions of innocent victims.
Anne Frank, one of the most famous victims of the Holocaust, wrote, while still in hiding, “In spite of every- thing, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” To which (pre-war) camp survivor Bruno Bettelheim responded, “If all men are good at heart, there never really was an Auschwitz.”
How does one comprehend the enormity of the Holocaust? How can we understand the appalling cruelty that Nazi Germany and its collaborators exhibited? How do we preserve our young people’s innocent belief in the goodness of humanity in the grim face of Auschwitz? Should we? In fact, does the Holocaust not teach us that humanity is inherently evil? And if humanity is so utterly hopeless, so beyond salvation, why should we care one whit about each other?
We may never have a definitive answer as to why the Holocaust took place. But we do know how to respond. The answers resound in the pages of this book.
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