VERSION|0.5.1|NAME|HarryR|DATE|1359391483|CONTENT|We can be grateful that the Holocaust hasn&#039;t been allowed to fade away into history. The suffering was appalling, the choice of victims capricious, the scale beyond comprehension. I recommend a visit to the KZs, preferably in deepest winter to imagine the cold that starving, overworked and brutalised common civilians lived and died in. And, just as important, to see the camps without the distraction of the hoards of tourists and organised groups.

But why oh why is there a specific Holocaust day and not a generic genocide day? The Nazis targeted and killed many people of all nationalities and reasons. Why specifically should the world commemorate  the suffering of only the jewish victims? 6 million? It was more like 12 million non-combatants killed as policy but no one really knows.

If the nazis had won and jews, handicapped, pacifists, political opponents were all gone then the Russsians and Poles would have been next. The Czechs, Balts would have been culled to allow germanisation of their populations. The Ukrainians had starved as stalin&#039;s policy. The native americans were wiped out. Isn&#039;t recognition of genocide in it broadest form what should be warned against on such a day?|IP-ADDRESS|86.156.142.46|MODERATIONFLAG|