Holocaust Remembrance Day

Each year British society is invited to observe 27 January as Holocaust Memorial Day.

This date is the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz camp by the Soviet Army on 27 January 1945. In Hebrew the stem of the word Holocaust (olah) means 'burnt offering' and burnt offering is translated into the Greek of the New Testament as holokautoma (o]lokautwma). There have been implications in the past that using the very word 'holocaust' or 'burnt offering' for the atrocities of the Second World War could infer that the Jews were sacrificed on behalf of the rest of the human race, thus almost legitimising terrible acts of genocide. For this reason many Jews prefer to use the word Sho'ah to describe the murder of the Jews and other so called minorities during the Second World War. The word Sho'ah simply means desolation, destruction or catastrophe. 

During the war it is estimated that 2 million Jews were killed by the Einsatzgruppen troops in the Soviet Union, 3.5 million Jews were killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Chelmno, Sobibor, Belzec and Treblinka, and half a million Jews died in the ghettos of Eastern Europe of reprisal attacks, hunger, disease, and exhaustion. 6 million in all. Millions more Gypsies, Slavs, Russian POW's, the physically and mentally disabled, homosexuals and others in minority groups perished.

The Holocaust Memorial Day was proposed to commemorate not just the Holocaust or Sho'ah, but also to acknowledge the repeated occurrences of genocide, such as Cambodia, Rwanda and Bosnia, and to renew the commitment of the British people to combat racism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia.

On Holocaust Memorial Day we pray for those who died when madness ruled the world and evil prevailed on earth. If we forget, the way is prepared for yet more holocausts, yet more Sho'ah. Therefore we must never forget.

Isaiah too was familiar with the concept of mass deportation. The reference to the Galilee of the Gentiles refers to the time of mass deportations under the Assyrian Emperor Tiglath Pileser. His plan was to exchange populations, moving new groups into depleted areas. It is this same Galilee in which Jesus preached about a new kind of freedom, the good news of the Kingdom 700 years later. In recalling and repenting of past evils they laid the foundation for a new covenant relationship with God. Through Jesus they found wholeness, healing and restoration.

At a time when the events of 11 September 2001 and their repercussions are still fresh in our minds the need for wholeness, healing and restoration have once again been emphasised. Whatever the creed, race, colour or religious beliefs of individuals, Jesus entrusts that work to His people. The Holocaust Memorial Day reminds us of dark time times when even survival was not possible for many. It also reminds us of the piercing light of God, shining through His Son Jesus, which will never be extinguished. It reminds us of a resilience of faith which is beyond our understanding.  Sam Cappleman

Web Links and Resources

Israel National Holocaust Memorial Centre: http://www.yadvashem.org.il 
The Holocaust World Resource Centre: http://www.hwrc.org
Holocaust Links: http://web.macam98.ac.il/~ochayo/linke.htm 
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, The Holocaust Centre: http://www.bethshalom.com

Meditation

First they came for the Communists and I did not speak out - because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the Socialists and I did not speak out - because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Pastor Niemoeller, in prison and concentration camp for eight and a half years

Prayers

Let us surround our worship and our community with stillness, stillness to remember all those who died in the Holocaust; those before or since whose lives were brought to an end by genocide, and those still suffering or dying. Amen 
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland - Remembering Genocides

Our Father, forgive all our misdeeds and wipe away our sin, for you are great and compassionate; your mercy knows no bounds. Amen    
Rabbi Lionel Blue

Father, in your love you have brought us from evil to good and from misery to happiness. Through your blessings give the courage of perseverance to those who have been called and justified in faith. Grant this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

May the Lord guide your hearts in the way of His love and fill you with Christ like patience; may He give you strength to walk in newness of life and to please Him in all things; may Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen