Remembering the Holocaust or learning from it?
JVL Introduction
Why do we remember the Holocaust and have even appointed a special day to do so; a day that highlights victimhood by its focus on Auschwitz. There have been other genocides before and, sadly since. We absolutely want to acknowledge and honour all the victims of the Nazis (Jewish, Sinti, Roma, disabled people, people from the LGBT community and the many Soviet soldiers also incarcerated in camps like Auschwitz and Sobibor as well as those across Europe living under the boot of Nazi occupation). The point, surely is also to learn from what happened so that “The memory of the Holocaust must function as a warning, not only about what was done to Jews but about what human beings are capable of doing to each other.”
Here, among many other salient points are references to the different approaches of Hannah Arendt and Elie Wiesel and the political use made of Holocaust memory.
LL
This article was originally published by Ha'aretz on Thu 12 Feb 2026. Read the original here.
A Holocaust Deemed Incomparable to Current Atrocities Ceases to Function as a Warning
The Shoah’s historical singularity is beyond dispute. But if that singularity removes it from all human context, it loses its ethical force and serves only as a shield against reality
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The very idea of universal moral principles seems to be the front line now. It is not easy to navigate between the universal and the particular, it is dynamic and complex. My religious education pushed the universal, from Moses v Aron to the golden rule. In tatters now.
Great article and reminds of our humanity. Thanks for the picture. Much appreciated.
The ban on comparisons to the Holocaust is selectively applied. We have seen that people who reject a comparison to Gaza are frequently happy to compare the original Hamas attack of October 2003 to the Holocaust.
As a general rule Holocaust comparisons should not be used indiscriminately as a method of condemnation but only where there is some specific point of resemblance. At present however the normal assumption is that the only relevant point of resemblance is the identity of the victims. That is to say, any bad thing that happens to anyone can be compared to the Holocaust if the people affected are Jewish but if they are not nothing can.