Did we learn anything from the Holocaust!

By JANE KIEL
International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27th, is an international memorial day for the victims of the Holocaust, it is the date in 1945, when the largest Nazi death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, was liberated by Soviet troops.
Every year on this day I go to Yad Vashem, I feel this place is drawing me in, I just HAVE to be there and let my heart, mind, eyes, soul, be reminded what happen and actually in "other ways" still is happening today to the Jewish people and many minorities around the Middle East.
Today, I didn't look so much at all the pictures and artifacts, I know them by heart now from all of my visits there, but today I looked at people instead. We are not allowed to take photos, something I will respect otherwise, I would have made videos and shown you tons of pictures, but let me share about my impressions today.
When I entered this place, something inside of me instantly hurts.It feels like i am drowning and desperately need to go up for air, because the pain in my chest is unbearable, like I am exploding. Today I walked behind groups of Israeli and Italian high school students, and they really looked liked they didn't get it, like this was something happening in a history they have never known I then heard some visitors speaking German when I entered the room with all the Nazi flags and the videos of Hitler speaking.
I saw 2 women standing there and the truth is, for a moment I nearly walked over to them and asked “what is it like to be German watching this?” I was just curious to what they had to say because, I have met people from Germany and I know the pain/guilt they are carrying around.
Of course the Germans today can’t be held accountable for what happened back then, and the truth is, I had to let go of the anger I had towards the Germans. It was a choice I had to make.. What then caught my attention was a Muslim woman walking around, and that just made me think, why is she here? And then I thought, well done young lady, now you see for yourself, what you are not being told in school.
Arabs are being taught the Holocaust never occurred. I hope being there had a huge impact on her, and she will bring a lot more muslims to Yad Vashem, and that she is bold enough to go home and share the truth. I then heard some crying, and that was a young woman walking around being so touched she could not hide it.
I then started to cry when I watched the story of a man name Shalom. He spoke about how him and his grandfather were caught during the war, they were stripped naked and moved to a pit filled with bodies of killed Jews, and they knew, their time was up. His grandfather started reciting Shema Israel and while singing the blessing over Israel. He took his last breath as he was being executed.
Shalom was 16 years at that time and he only managed to sing the first line of Shema Israel before he fell into the pit, but he survived and didn't move for hours while many more Jews were being killed, and falling down on top on him. When everything calmed down and the Germans left, he started moving and someone pulled his leg, that turned out to be another young boy that was alive.
So, they managed to get out of the pit and survived. When I watched this story a young Italian man bursted into tears next to me and left, I was hiding behind my long hair with tears running down my face, and I have to admit, it went straight into my heart when I heard how this grandfather was killed while reciting Shema Israel.. I just know that prayer is much more powerful that I will ever know, and please understand me right, because this is not about me. I know that when I recite shema Israel 3 times at The Temple Mount, it has a deeper meaning then I realize.
There is so much evil coming against Israel today. Yes the Holocaust is over, but the same evil is very much alive, and the world needs to wake up and stand for the Jewish people, because no one did during the WWII and Jews are still being killed today for that one reason: being Jews. Today the enemy is called Islam, I am being bold enough to say that, and the Jewish people are still being attacked all over the world.
If we, as well educated people want to convince ourselves that we have learned from the past, and the horror of the Holocaust, We are OBLIGATED TO STAND WITH ISRAEL TODAY!! There is just no way around it, we cannot just sit and be quiet like they did back then, it is not acceptable any more.. Don't think for a second it is enough that other people do something, we ALL have a responsibility to do what is right.
This tiny nation is still fighting for survival every single day. When I left Yad Vashem there was a big group of policemen and they all looked deeply moved, and I believe that they know what an important job they hold.
Friends please keep them and everyone in the IDF in your prayers. Israel needs it more than ever. I know it can be hard to understand for all of you that lives outside this great nation, but I am telling you, it is more important than ever. I live here, I see it, I feel it every single day. This is the center of the world, everything revolves around Israel and everything in Israel revolves around Jerusalem. There is no way around it.