DAEGU, South Korea -- The 188th Military Police Company, 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command hosted the Holocaust Remembrance Day Observance, April 6, at Camp Henry Theater to remember those killed during the Holocaust and highlight the importance of human dignity.
The Holocaust is the deadliest genocide in history. Nearly six million European Jews were killed by Nazi Germany based upon its racial policy between 1933 and 1945 during World War II. As a part of their racial segregation and extermination policy, also known as the Final Solution to the Jewish Question, the Nazis established a network of concentration camps where the Jews were either killed or made to work as slave laborers, undernourished and tortured. Later, they built extermination camps. These camps were designed to kill large numbers of Jews as quickly as possible by using toxic gas.
The United States Congress established the Days of Remembrance as the nation's annual commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust and created the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a permanent living memorial to those victims.
"I think the Holocaust is a tragedy because some targeted people were persecuted just because they did not meet a certain 'standard' the Nazis made for themselves," expressed Sgt. Kenwyn H. Peters, Squad Leader, 188th MP Company.
The observance was an interactive event open to all units, schools and members of the Daegu community. Soldiers of the 188th MP Co. set up several stations where participants could walk through and read from posters for the information regarding historical events during the Holocaust. One Soldier was assigned to each station and available to answer questions regarding the posters. Documentaries about the Holocaust were played during the entire event. There was also a candle lighting station where a list of the victims was displayed. Participants could leave their signature and light a candle in their memory.
"We took reference of the Holocaust Memorial Museum website for information and videos, and we are planning to send all the signatures to the Holocaust Museum to show our support all the way from the Korean Peninsula," said 2nd Lt. Alexandra C. Dean, Platoon Leader, 188th MP Co. "There still remain racial conflicts nowadays, so it is important to educate people and increase the level of their awareness, so that an event like that never happens again."
Remembrance not only gives people a chance to memorialize those killed during the Holocaust, but it also reminds them of their responsibility to confront hatred, prevent genocide and promote human dignity.
The 19th ESC will build upon the lessons learned from this event and use them to prepare for another meaningful remembrance to ensure genocide does not happen again.
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