The importance of history

• The importance of history

Ilearned something new this week … January 27 is designated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, so designated by the United Nations General Assembly to coincide with the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazis’ largest extermination and concentration camp, by Soviet soldiers on January 27, 1945. Dr. Jim Denison of the Denison Forum stated this week that we are called to remember the millions of Jews, Romanians, political dissidents, intellectually disabled, gypsies and other “deemed undesirables” murdered by the German Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945.

Historians have calculated that Nazi Germany murdered six million Jews, one-fourth of whom were children, as well as six million others (Soviet prisoners of war, non-Jewish Poles, Serbians, as well as German political opponents and dissenters). Curiously, there are still many deniers walking the face of the earth believing the holocaust never happened.

Why did the Nazis attempt their so-called “Final Solution,” their genocidal attempt to exterminate the Jews? They believed the Aryan race to be superior to all others. They persecuted and often sought to eradicate racial groups and others they considered inferior to themselves—primarily the Jews, but also Romani, people with disabilities, Poles, Russians, and Black people. They also persecuted those whose ideology they opposed such as Communists, Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, gay men, and those they considered to be “asocials” and “professional criminals.”

The roots of German antisemitism go back centuries before Hitler. There was a widespread belief in Christian Europe that the Jews were responsible for the death of Christ and that they, by refusing to accept the Christian faith, were agents of the devil. Throughout many centuries, laws restricted and prevented Jews from owning land or holding public office. They were excluded from most occupations, which forced them to make a living through money-lending, trade, and commerce. Then, when they became successful at these trades, they were accused of using them to oppress their non-Jewish clients and community.

History is important. Remembering the past demonstrates God’s faithfulness. “I the Lord do not change” (Malachi 3:6). Human nature does not change—we still face the same challenges, feel the same fears, and harbor the same hopes as our ancestors. Remembering what God has done in the past encourages us to trust him to do the same today and in the future. Isaiah 46:9 says, “Remember your history, your long and rich history.”

When we remember the evils of the past, we are better prepared to prevent those same evils to occur in the present and the future. What happened to anyone can happen to everyone. For example, German Pastor Martin Niemöller, who was incarcerated by the Nazis, later testified: “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

History matters … all history … good and bad. We are not perfect … never were, but we can learn from it. If we erase history, then we are doomed to repeat the mistakes made in the past over and over again until we learn from history.

Debby Efurd is co-founder of Cary John Efurd Ministries of Pittsburg, TX. She has been a contributor to Bound for Life and written numerous articles published in LifeNews, Christian Post and the Baptist Standard, and is the author of Go Tell It!. isit her blog, The Second Mile, at www.debbyefurd.com and contact her by email (caryjohnefurdministries@gmail.com).