I always seem to get forwards and although I read them, I find very few of them interesting enough to share. I received a forward the other day that I felt needed to be shown, as it pertains to what we were discussing the other day in class. It once again talks about excluding material from the curriculum that can be valuable to our students. Don’t mind any errors. I didn’t personally type this out.
General Eisenhower Warned Us
It is a matter of history that when the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the death camps he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead. He did this because he said in words to this effect: 'Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses -because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened' This week, the UK debated whether to remove The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it 'offends' the Muslim population which claims it never occurred. It is not removed as yet.. However, this is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it. It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the 6 million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1,900 Catholic priests who were 'murdered, raped, burned, starved, beat, experimented on and humiliated' while the German people looked the other way! Now, more than ever, with Iran, among others, claiming the Holocaust to be 'a myth,' it is imperative to make sure the world never forgets. This e-mail is intended to reach 400 million people! Be a link in the memorial chain and help distribute this around the world. How many years will it be before the attack on the World Trade Center .. 'NEVER HAPPENED' because it offends some Muslim in the U.S. ???
I think these types of thing should not be excluded from the curriculum, as it is an important point in history. How can we pretend that it never happened? What are we trying to prove by ‘protecting’ people from the truth? I really enjoy the last line that we need to remember events such as 9/11, as this is something that happened in our lifetime. How can we dispose of the truth when so many people were affected by these events? I think this is something we need to think about.
I think that you raise a really big point. I think that part of the issue is that younger people of today, myself included don't get to know our elders as well as we should. If we were to hear the stories and feel the pain that they have went through maybe we could connect better to these life altering events and stand strong on keeping them in our curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI think it is an issue that because one group of people is offended that it is removed from the curriculum, what about all the people who died in the event, won't they be offended? Shouldn't we care about them? Don't we tell soldiers that when they go off to die for their country that they will be remembered? Is taking the Holocaust out of the curriculum really remembering them?
I am frightened by the thought that such a big event could even be considered to be taken out of the curriculum... it is mind boggling!! I am blown away that this is even being considered, that people are having to start a forward in order to try to stop or make awareness of this issue.
History isn't just history, it has shaped our making and we need to start embracing it before someone goes and changes it without our noticing.
Of course, this is nonsense. See http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/holocaust.asp
ReplyDelete99% of what gets forwarded like this is rubbish, a kind of mental virus -- always check out SNOPES before forwarding anything you get that sounds unbelievable, because chances are it is indeed fake. (We all get conned occasionally, so don't feel too bad.)
On the other hand, the post does raise the larger issue of who gets to decide what goes into the curriculum and why it matters.