As Holocaust Remembrance Week came to a close, a small group of students gathered Thursday to discuss the effects the Holocaust had on different groups of people in a talk entitled, “Perspectives: How are You Affected by the Holocaust?”
Supported by Hillel and Madison Campus Ministry, the Holocaust Remembrance Coalition wanted to bring attention to the fact that although 6 million Jews were killed and 5 million people from other groups were persecuted, Christians, Roma and Sinti, homosexuals, political resisters and the handicapped were also targets of the Nazis.
Coalition members asked participants to wear one of six symbols used during the Holocaust to categorize people.
Similar to the yellow Star of David used to identify Jews, the red, purple and pink triangles represented other groups under attack.
Discussions connected the separation and persecution of the many groups during the Holocaust to today’s race relations.
“There are still a lot of race problems,” said Efrat Lelkes, a Holocaust Remembrance Coalition member. “We can take off these symbols, but the color of your skin doesn’t change, and we still have a tendency to judge people automatically, consciously or not.”
By recognizing the many groups of people killed, the coalition hopes to involve more people, Kirke Rappe, a member of Madison Campus Ministry, said.
“One of the things this groups is trying to address is the fact that this is about trying to get other groups involved because it?s a human problem, not just a Jewish problem,” Rappe said. “People tend to distance it as ‘history’ or ‘Europe’ or ‘German Nazis’ or ‘Jewish problem’ and not ‘my problem.'”
Coalition members said they hope people are able to connect the Holocaust to their present lives.
“This notion of universal obligation is something that holds a lot of power within it,” said Sharon Bronstein, a Holocaust Remembrance Coalition member. “And it is something that’s really relevant to our lives today. It is recognized as something that?s not just specifically related to the period of the Holocaust. “It’s something each of us deals with on a daily basis when deciding whether we should take action in reference to others.”
