Today is Holocaust Memorial Day. Usually I would have known it was coming up but this year I’m ashamed to say I had to see it trending of Twitter before I remembered. The pressures of working and looking after a young family especially in this period of economic uncertainty tends to distract us from these significant days, focussed as we are on more immediate issues.
Living in Germany as a child and having the chance to visit a concentration camp means I’ve grown up being quite aware of the Holocaust. I read a lot about it and actually wanted to be a ‘Nazi Hunter’ when I grew up (well that or have a shop, I was 11) and then went on to study the period at university. I knew it had involved not just Jews but also Roma Gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally ill and the disabled. I knew that as well as being exterminated in camps, people were worked to death or tortured and experimented on in the name of science. Most importantly I knew that this did not happen overnight or in secret. That over the preceding decade, power hungry politicians with much of the press on their side had been able to harness the anger and worry of the average man on the street, still recovering from the Great War and struggling to make ends meet and support their families during times of austerity, and focus it on groups in society that weren’t able to speak up for themselves. referring to them as vermin and dehumanising them to the point where people would stand by and let these things happen. It all seemed like a terrible but fascinating historical event until I got to meet and speak with a survivor of Auschwitz as part of my course. Then it all seemed frighteningly recent.
Sadly, what we call ‘the’ holocaust is not the only example of this happening. Just since I’ve been old enough to watch the news we’ve seen the same things happen in Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sudan. On each occasion we have seen further examples of propaganda being used to isolate groups of people, laying the groundwork for the violence that was to follow. The Holocaust Memorial Day website has lots of examples of people who have spoken out about these events.
Gregory H Stanton listed 8 stages of genocide, a system of recognising when genocide is taking place, he knew that the moment that a name is taken away, or used in a derogatory fashion, we need to become vigilant about the dangers we could easily face. Calling someone a name, or referring to a group of people with a derogatory term allows a period of classification and dehumanisation to take place*.
The focus of this years Holocaust Memorial Day is ‘Speak Up, Speak Out’ and they are asking us to carefully consider the way we use language in person, online or when speaking about other people and to speak out when others don’t. The parallels between these awful tragedies and our society in the UK aren’t always apparent but I think it’s important to be aware of the increasing levels of intolerance that we can see being expressed towards certain groups by the media and some political parties which start to make it seem acceptable for people to behave that way too and economic problems are only going to make this worse.
Did you know that even in the 21st Century in the UK over 50% of British Muslims have experienced a direct verbal attack? And of course this isn’t just an issue for different ethnic groups. Did you know that according to Mencap 90% of people with a learning disability have endured verbal or physical harassment or that only 7% of teachers respond if they hear homophobic language? We’re being asked to remember that these words can be powerful but so can ours.
You can pledge to challenge the language of hatred here and if you would like to blog about Holocaust Memorial Day you will also find loads of resources for bloggers. Go check it out.
*Source: Challenge the language of hatred (http://www.speakupnow.org.uk/challenge_the_language.php?action=download&id=13)
Related articles
- World marks Holocaust Memorial Day (guardian.co.uk)
Corinne says
Fabulous post.
Cat says
Thank you 😀
Michael Cargill says
Human prejudice is a very sad and dangerous thing. It’s disturbing when you see how powerful a few slogans can be in the wrongs hands.
Cat says
Exactly, it worries me how quick people are to believe the negative messages.
Mum2BabyInsomniac says
Great post – such an important thing to raise awareness of. I am going to sign the pledge now x
Cat says
Fab, thanks Jess 🙂
Beccah says
Thanks for letting me know about this. I feel really strongly about the way people use some language without thinking and it can be really upsetting or offensive to some people. It’s not necessarily malicious on the part of the person saying it, but I think it’s important to make people aware of how much these words can have an effect on people and society.
Have signed the pledge.
Cat says
Thanks, I think as Mums we have a doubley important role to play in shaping how young people think about the language they use.
markusj75 says
I happen to actually be from Germany, just living over here in the UK since 2000 and I liked your post very much! I totally agree we should be more vigilantand point these things out to people more often! Nobody should be harassed nowadays for their failunfs, their ethnicity, their religion, nor their sexual orientation!
Cat says
It does seem ridiculous that this still happens but human nature seems so determined to define everyone as ‘us’ or ‘them’. I think vigilant is exactly the right word. We have to notice what goes on around us.
motherventing says
You write succinctly and with real passion. And you manage to put into words everything I stand for but find difficult to verbalise. Coming from a Gypsy family, I have encountered prejudice before and am not afraid to speak out to people who malign minorities in any way. But I tend to get angry which rarely helps! Thanks for writing this. Excellent.
Cat says
Thanks Fran. One of the things I like most about blogging is the chance to write about these types of topics in a rational way because if you get me started on it down the pub then I just end up ranting and swearing and spilling my drink everywhere. 😉
Slummy to Yummy Mummy says
What a powerful post. Thank you for taking the time to write it.
Cat says
Thank you, and thanks for stopping by.
Misha says
I could not agree more. I’ll sign the pledge and will go and visit the Holocaust Memorial Day page and see if there is more I can do. Such a powerful post… well done.
Amanda Cottingham says
Such a brilliant post!! Thank you so much for adding it to the Linky. The Ana Mum Diary
Amanda x
Cat Parrott says
Thanks Amanda, and thanks for hosting the linky. x
waterbirthplease says
Very thought provoking and beautifully written. Thank you x
thebeesleybuzz says
what an important message to get out there – well done. x