I wrote my Holocaust love story, "Jacob's Courage," because I felt a deep connection with members of my family who were murdered by the Nazi systematic extermination of Jews. My mother, who is 100, was also a victim of religious persecution as a child in Russia. When Jacob's Courage was published, I felt a satisfaction that my lost relatives would at least have a part of their story told.
But, I recently discovered that Jacob's Courage is required reading for high school students in the US. This opened my mind to a greater purpose for my writing.
Whenever we stand up to those who deny or minimize genocide we send a critical message to the world. As we continue to live in an age of genocide and ethnic cleansing, we must repel the broken ethics of our ancestors, or risk a dreadful repeat of past transgressions. We know from captured German war records that millions of innocent Jews were systematically exterminated by Nazi Germany - most in gas chambers. These facts have been proven repeatedly through countless thesis and dissertation research papers. Virtually every PhD in the world will stake their career on the veracity of known Holocaust facts. Despite this knowledge, Holocaust deniers ply their mendacious poison everywhere, especially with young people on the Internet. Such deniers have only one agenda - to distort the truth in a way that promotes antagonism against the object of their hatred, or to deny the culpability of their ancestors and heroes.
Museums and mandatory public education are tools to dispel bigotry, especially racial and ethnic hatred. Books and films can reinforce the truth of past and present genocides. They help to tell the true story of the perpetrators of genocide; and they reveal the abject terror, humiliation and degradation resulting from blind loathing and prejudice. It is therefore essential that we disclose the factual brutality and horror of genocide, combating the deniers’ virulent, inaccurate historical revision. We must protect vulnerable future generations from making the same mistakes.
A world that continues to allow genocide requires ethical remediation. We must show the world that religious, racial, ethnic, gender and orientation persecution is wrong; and that tolerance is our progeny's only hope. Only through such efforts can we reveal the true horror of genocide and promote the triumphant spirit of humankind.
I've come to realize that each of us has the potential to use our writing to transform society. We can educate, instruct and inform in ways that encourage future generations to discard ancient blind hatred and incorporate tolerance for all human beings. This power is within us all. It would seem a shame to have this power and not to use it for the betterment of our society.
But, I recently discovered that Jacob's Courage is required reading for high school students in the US. This opened my mind to a greater purpose for my writing.
Whenever we stand up to those who deny or minimize genocide we send a critical message to the world. As we continue to live in an age of genocide and ethnic cleansing, we must repel the broken ethics of our ancestors, or risk a dreadful repeat of past transgressions. We know from captured German war records that millions of innocent Jews were systematically exterminated by Nazi Germany - most in gas chambers. These facts have been proven repeatedly through countless thesis and dissertation research papers. Virtually every PhD in the world will stake their career on the veracity of known Holocaust facts. Despite this knowledge, Holocaust deniers ply their mendacious poison everywhere, especially with young people on the Internet. Such deniers have only one agenda - to distort the truth in a way that promotes antagonism against the object of their hatred, or to deny the culpability of their ancestors and heroes.
Museums and mandatory public education are tools to dispel bigotry, especially racial and ethnic hatred. Books and films can reinforce the truth of past and present genocides. They help to tell the true story of the perpetrators of genocide; and they reveal the abject terror, humiliation and degradation resulting from blind loathing and prejudice. It is therefore essential that we disclose the factual brutality and horror of genocide, combating the deniers’ virulent, inaccurate historical revision. We must protect vulnerable future generations from making the same mistakes.
A world that continues to allow genocide requires ethical remediation. We must show the world that religious, racial, ethnic, gender and orientation persecution is wrong; and that tolerance is our progeny's only hope. Only through such efforts can we reveal the true horror of genocide and promote the triumphant spirit of humankind.
I've come to realize that each of us has the potential to use our writing to transform society. We can educate, instruct and inform in ways that encourage future generations to discard ancient blind hatred and incorporate tolerance for all human beings. This power is within us all. It would seem a shame to have this power and not to use it for the betterment of our society.
Charles Weinblatt
Author, "Jacob's Courage"
http://jacobscourage.wordpress.com/