As a term, Holocaust often misused

Many members of the Jewish community used Holocaust Remembrance
Day this Sunday to reflect upon the genocide that occurred during
the late 1930s and early 1940s. But while they examine their social
responsibility in eradicating discrimination and hate, some also
feel the term Holocaust has been contemporarily abused and
misused.

The word Holocaust was attributed in the 1950s to signify the
Nazi killing of millions of people due to their ethnic, religious,
and national origins ““ particularly Jews.

But current use of the word has separated it from its original
association in a way that many feel demeans the significance behind
its historicity.

“Historically, the term Holocaust has been associated with
the mass murder of European Jewry, therefore, I think we should
maintain some respect for the integrity of that term,” said
David Myers, a UCLA professor who specializes in Jewish
history.

“There is a real danger in diluting the enormity of the
attempted Nazi destruction of the world Jewry by applying that term
to other historical or social phenomena,” he added.

Myers points to a statement made by officials in the Roman
Catholic Church condemning abortion. According to a BBC news
report, the Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Joachim Meissner,
compared taking the abortion pill to the use of poison gas in the
Holocaust.

Another instance occurred last summer, when the word Holocaust
was used to describe the extensive number of deaths that occurred
due to a heat wave in Europe.

Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller, director of UCLA Hillel, agreed with
Myers.

“The memory of the Holocaust has been cheapened by the
loose usage of the word,” he said.

Seidler-Feller recalled what he called an obscene example of
this when, while he was watching a news clip of a baseball game,
the announcer shouted, “There is a holocaust on the
field!”

Jewish Student Union President Andrew Green, whose grandmother
is a Holocaust survivor, said, “It bothers me that people
would consider using these words that are so hateful, and I really
feel like it belittles the significance of the meaning of these
words.”

Myers said the troublesome application of the term Holocaust to
other events “really taps into a question of central concern
in remembering the Holocaust. Is it primarily a Jewish event? Or is
it an event that should be remembered in general?”

Both Myers and Seidler-Feller said Jewish identity should not be
purely based upon victimhood from the Holocaust. Rather, Jews
should take the tragic memory and strive to maintain Jewish life
and vitality, they said.

“No identity should be tied to negativity. No one should
be defined by the people that hate them. What should give people a
definition are the principles that inspire them,”
Seidler-Feller said.

Myers also said it is important to support centers for Holocaust
memory. He said the creation of the United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., has demonstrated how the
memory of the Holocaust is integral to history as a whole.

“The success of that institution in attracting visitors
and maintaining intellectual integrity is important not just for
Jewish culture in America, but American culture as well,”
Myers said.

The importance of Holocaust Remembrance Day ““ which falls
on the anniversary of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising, in which
7,000 Jews were killed in the biggest Jewish resistance to the
Nazis ““ has two purposes for Jews, Seidler-Feller said. It
should be used to memorialize the six million Jews that died, while
also taking the memory of that tragedy to ensure that it will not
occur again.

Green said it is important to realize that Jews were not the
only ones who were victimized, and that Holocaust Remembrance Day
should resonate with everyone.

“The Holocaust Remembrance Day is not only for Jews. Every
person should be remembering what Jews and non-Jews endured, and be
motivated to bring an end to hate,” Green said.