Enlightenment and the Holocaust

A few years ago I became an ambassador of the Holocaust Educational Trust, their main aim is to teach people about The Holocaust, what happened and people's accounts. In the courses they ran, we learnt about the Holocaust and of people’s experiences, the course ended with a trip to Auschwitz, Poland, this started my interest in the horrible time of the Holocaust, and the reasons why we should remember it.
Let me introduce you to a man named Primo Levi born on July 31st 1919 in Turin, unfortunately he passed away in 1987 at the age of 67, but during hislife he encountered experiences that not even our worst nightmares could conjure up. The book that I have recently read by Primo Levi is titled 'Surviving Auschwitz', as the title suggests, it is mainly an account of Primo's time at Auschwitz.
I encourage anyone who has a huge interest in history or someone that doesn't even think of history to pick up this book or another book written by a survivor of the Holocaust, it will change your perception on so many levels.
I have conducted extra reading around the topic of the Holocaust, such as Zygmunt Bauman’s Modernity and the Holocaust, from the several pages I read I felt that Bauman was highlighting the reasons of remembering the Holocaust, he tells of how horrific and on such a large scale the Holocaust was, a main fact he wrote has stayed with me;

‘Consider the numbers. The German state annihilated approximately six million Jews. At the rate of 100 per day this would have required nearly 200 years.’ (Zygmunt, 1992; p89)

He also writes of how The Holocaust differs from any other form of genocide, usually killings on such a mass scale are due to the fact the opposing group want land or property, but Hitler wanted a ‘pure’ race, he conducted these murders with pure hatred for the Jewish people or anyone else he deemed as un-worthy.
In reference to enlightenment, I read parts of ‘What is Enlightenment?’ a collection of works by various philosophers; however I focused on the works of Immanuel Kant. He speaks of enlightenment within freedom,

‘For this enlightenment, however, nothing more is required than freedom-‘ (Kant, ; p59)

I agree with this statement,  for example the prisoners in Auschwitz didn’t have the freedom to simply enlighten themselves and leave the camp, in a similar way to the people in Plato’s Cave.  But if you look from the Nazi’s point of view they had more freedom to be enlightened and not be a bystander, they had a possibility of using Kant’s idea; Sapere Aude (Dare to be wise) and think for themselves rather than for a dictator (Hitler).
I’ve also read various poetry about the Holocaust, I’m fascinated by the use of ekphrasis to act as a way of enlightening people about the Holocaust, and this is one of the reasons for choosing a testimonial book to read. (Primo Levi)
A lot of people's response to my views would probably be why should we linger on the past, when there are terrible wars going on now?
Well it's because of whats happening now that we need to remember The Holocaust, we can only hope and pray that nothing as horrific as the Holocaust happens again, but anything close to being the same should be stopped! We need to learn from out past mistakes, we shouldn't be a bystander! If every person had a direct emotional connection and complete understanding of The Holocaust then I doubt anyone would go to war or even start wars or confrontation etc.
So how should we remember, of course Im not suggesting you march right into the front line in Iraq and hold some flowers in the air in a mark of respect and remembrance to what wars can do! There are hundreds of ways to help, I know it's cliche to say that every little helps but it is true. One of the ways is to education younger generations, so that one day we might have a peaceful world.

“I am constantly amazed by man's inhumanity to man." Primo Levi