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GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba - Joint Task Force Service members gathered in the old Trooper’s Chapel April 30, to observe the National Holocaust Days of Remembrance, hosted by the 525th Military Police Battalion’s Headquarters and Headquarters Company. The observance included thoughtful insight from a guest speaker, a candlelight ceremony to honor those who were murdered as a result of the gruesome genocide. There was also a narration explaining the children’s transport system that saved thousands of young lives.
The observance, marking 70 years since the beginning of the Holocaust, commenced with a reading of Psalm 23 and a prayer offered by Army Sgt. 1st Class Richard Didymus, with the 525th MP Battalion, followed by a speech by Army 1st Lt. Raymond Lowdermilk, Joint Detention Group chaplain. During his oration, Lowdermilk brought to light some of the inherently unfortunate facts that make this remembrance difficult to comprehend.
The JTF’s participation in the National Holocaust Days of Remembrance aligns with the observance first sought out by Israel. On April 27, 1953 Israel instituted this national memorial day, Yom He-Shoah, which means Holocaust Heroism Day. On this day, Israel’s flag is lowered to half-mast and the air raid is played throughout the whole country and observed by schools, military bases and other organizations.
Coinciding with this year’s theme for Holocaust Remembrance Week, published by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, ‘Confronting the Holocaust: American Responses,’ Lowdermilk spoke on the issue of the slow American response from the released works of the HMM.
“I wish I could say this was a good summary report for our forefather’s actions but it largely focuses on America’s action and inaction in order to answer these two questions: What are the warning signs we should look for to help prevent future genocides, and what is our responsibility as a nation or as individuals when confronted by such crimes,” said Lowdermilk. “These inactions were our actions, just as a lack of leadership is still leadership, but it’s just bad leadership.”
Lowdermilk then went through a recount of events that summarized the timeline of the horrific incident, including details that made the accounts difficult to hear much less imagine. Even more moving was the effect that the American influence had on the war.
“Within six months of our arrival there, the end of the war was in sight,” said Lowdermilk.
Questioning the timeliness of the American aid, Lowdermilk wondered how the effectiveness of the Nazi genocides would have been if only we had responded sooner.
The telling of the heart-wrenching accounts of the tragedies that occurred were followed by a candlelight ceremony where six candles were lit to honor the six million Jews murdered in the genocide in Europe while the sounds of the air raid sirens bellowed through the chapel.
The ceremony concluded on a more hopeful note with a narration of the children’s transport rescue efforts known as Kindertransport.
“Kindertransport was the informal name of a series of rescue efforts which brought thousands of refugee Jewish children to Great Britain from Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1940,” read the narrator. “The British government eased immigration restrictions for Jewish refugees following the violent pogrom staged by Nazi authorities known as Kristallnacht, Night of the Broken Glass … In all, the rescue operation brought about 9,000 to 10,000 children, some 7,500 of them Jewish, from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland to Great Britain.”
Ending on the note that the responses of other countries facilitated the survival of thousands of Jews at risk brought back the thought of our response and the questions we must keep in mind to stay vigilant against allowing a tragedy like this to occur again.
| Date Taken: | 05.09.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 05.09.2014 11:03 |
| Story ID: | 129297 |
| Location: | GUANTANAMO BAY , CU |
| Web Views: | 112 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, National Holocaust Days of Remembrance: A ceremony of observance, by PV2 Kourtney Grimes, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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