Holocaust remembrance reflects on racism

By Mr. Steve Ghiringhelli (Drum), Staff WriterApril 24, 2014

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Maj. Kirsten Bergman, S-4 officer for 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, addresses a crowd of Soldiers gathered April 17 at the Commons during Fort Drum's annual observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day. Bergman, whose postgraduate work at the U.S. Army C... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT DRUM, N.Y. -- An Army officer whose mother-in-law survived the horrors of the Buchenwald concentration camp during World War II delivered an authoritative speech April 17 at the Commons detailing the roots of genocide and why it should matter to Soldiers during Fort Drum's annual observance of Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah).

"When all other factors contributing to what caused the Holocaust are analyzed and stripped back, the remaining root cause is racism," said Maj. Kirsten Berg-man, S-4 officer for 10th Combat Aviation Brigade and guest speak-er for the event. "It is the fundamental cause of all genocides.

"And no matter how optimistic we are," she continued, "racism exists in the United States, and it is something everyone in this room has dealt with in some capacity and will continue to deal with throughout their lives."

The theme for this year's observance was "Confronting the Holocaust: American Responses."

The ceremony began with a moving video tribute recounting the story of Cpl. Tibor Rubin, a Holocaust survivor who served valiantly with the 1st Cavalry Division during the Korean War, as a way of repaying the U.S. Army for liberating his concentration camp a decade earlier.

Rubin, who lost both parents and two siblings in the Holocaust, received the Medal of Honor in 2005 for heroism during the Korean War -- actions that went unrecognized for decades due to the anti-Semitism of a superior from his unit.

Before introducing the guest speaker, Sgt. 1st Class Joey Mitch-ell, an equal opportunity adviser for 10th Mountain Division (LI), asked that the six candles at the front of the room be lit to remember the six million Jews killed during the Holocaust.

"We honor the memories of the estimated 6 million Jews and 5 million other innocent victims whose lives were tragically taken during the Holocaust between 1933 and 1945," Mitchell said. "Those who experienced the horrors of the cattle cars, ghettos and concentration camps have witnessed humanity at its very worse.

"By remaining vigilant against those who seek to perpetrate violence and murder," he continued, "we honor those whom we lost during the darkest periods of human history."

The guest speaker told audience members that just days earlier, a suspected white supremacist with a long history of anti-Semitism gunned down several people outside of a Jewish community center in Overland Park, Kan.

She said it was the same community center near Kansas City where she studied years ago while finishing postgraduate work in genocide and mass atrocity prevention at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.

The tragedy was personal for Bergman, a Lutheran who married into a Catholic family, because the alleged gunman ironically shot and killed individuals who were not Jewish.

"When I think about this past weekend, I wonder what makes me so different from those three people killed there," she said. "There, but for the grace of God, go I."

'This person is not like me'

"American responses" to the Holocaust after World War II were wide and varied, Bergman said. Although most Americans believed the Holocaust did in fact occur, she said victims could not adequately express the horrors and sympathizers were nearly incredulous concerning the magnitude of the cruelty.

"Skeptics, too, just could not comprehend it," she said. "It was too big, too terrible, and they could not understand how a developed nation could possibly propagate or allow the systematic, industrialized murder of millions of people.

"There are still skeptics who deny a crime ever even occurred," Bergman continued, "not that the Holocaust took place, but that it was a crime.

"(But) millions of Jews were specifically targeted," she said. "There was even a name for it -- the Final Solution to the Jewish Problem."

Bergman returned to her point that genocide stems from plain prejudice.

"When we look at another person and think, 'This person is not like me' -- and the reason that we have that thought is based on that person's identity rather than his or her behavior -- we begin to walk down the sordid path of racist thinking," she said.

Americans commonly think of racism in terms of their national history with slavery. But racist thoughts have other names, such as anti-Semitism, and they can be applied to other groups, she noted.

To drive home the point of how insidious bigotry can be, Bergman made her points even more personal.

"Anyone here in the room ever hear a term like 'towel head?'" she asked. "(Such remarks) draw lines that, on one hand, may emotionally insulate a Soldier during wartime but that simultaneously mark a group of people as separate, and therefore not like us."

She explained that scholars who have identified the different stages a society passes through as it moves towards genocide point out that every modern genocide begins the same way -- racism infects a community and begins classifying a group of people as "different."

"I am not suggesting that American Soldiers should start sympathizing with our national enemies. I am saying that our national enemies and all of our fellow citizens and all of our Soldiers have one thing in common," she cautioned. "First and foremost, they are hum-an beings."

Illustrating the thinking of one of history's most infamous racists, Bergman shared seemingly harmless statements of Hitler's that upon further reflection "scared the crap out of me."

One such quote: "He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future."

"Think what it would mean to own the youth," she told the audience. "Think if someone owned your child's future."

'Responsibility to Protect'

As distant as the Holocaust may now seem, Bergman said the nonprofit group Genocide Watch listed nine countries that in 2012 were in the extermination phase of carrying out genocide.

"They also listed 11 countries as being in the preparatory phase, while 16 countries, including Iran, Kosovo and Rwanda, were polarizing into separate groups and … one step away from organizing a genocide plan," she said. "For the American Soldier, racism and genocide are still very relevant today."

Change occurs at the individual level, where racism is checked and unit cohesiveness is fostered, Bergman said. She also pointed out that under an emerging U.N.-based norm called the "Responsibility to Protect," policymakers bear the burden of developing strategy and navigating the political realm.

"They are the ones who decide whether our global 'responsibility to protect' other human beings requires use of military force," she said. "And if that happens, I pray they will also give us the resources we need to accomplish our mission."

Bergman closed by sharing something her grandmother often told her during her adolescence that not only still resonates with her today but also complemented the discussion.

"If you have to hide it or lie about it, it's because you know damn well it's wrong and you shouldn't be doing it in the first place," she said of her grandmother's advice. "There is a reason racist groups use obscure symbols to identify others with similar beliefs. That reason is because it is wrong."

After Bergman's speech, Col. Gary A. Rosenberg, Fort Drum garrison commander, said he was glad to see all of those who attended the ceremony, and he thanked each individual who participated in making the observance a meaningful event.

Rosenberg also offered the guest speaker a small gift as a token of appreciation.

"That was a wonderful job," he said. "That was very inspiring. You very eloquently gave us all a lot to think about.

"As you said, multiple times," Rosenberg added, "but for the grace of God go I."