History's blackest mark.

"What an amazing man Hitler must have been...one cannot help but be in awe of a small, obscure man with such a dislikeable disposition who conquered Germany, and indeed the world. It seems extraordinary that he succeeded purely out of his impressive oratory skills, his "fanatical eyes" and fearsome presence - his book, with the absence of the voice that delutded a nation, is proof of how narrow-minded and ugly his vision, policy and philosophy really was. He was a drug that a tired, wearied, disillusioned population became addicted to, a drug that drove them blindly to the most inhumane and disgusting lengths to reach their twisted ideal, an artificial nirvana of the most appalling kind. And with all drugs come side effects, consequences - one man's voice shook the nation, and, alas, I have neither his talent nor the weary population needed for such a great, if terrible, revolution."

- On Hitler, L.R.

Imagine if Hitler had used his strengths, his great talents in capturing a nation and making it do as he bid, like a master to a dog - he would be more revered than President Lincoln or Martin Luther King. We cannot fathom what could drive a man to become something so terrible, to do such terrible things - as we sit comfortably in our comfortable homes, with good food and such abundant luxuries, we cannot contemplate the terror of war, of the Holocaust, of the mass killings, of the Night of the Long Knives, even the simple absence of a fair and democratic government we so take for granted. It seems impossible that one man, of insignificant means, could take the world nad turn it on its head, that every time we see the most gruesome pictures of Jews perishing in ghettos and concentration camps we can attribute this to one man, and one sick, twisted idealogy. And Hitler was not some crazy warlord of Ancient times - less than a hundred years ago he was the tyrant of the day.

People these days no longer have what Hitler had - a loving, adoring people, who were either brainwashed or forced into obedience, a tired, hungry, humiliated, war-weary population, willing to drink his lies and relish in what promises they brought. We cannot rouse such passions, such desperations, such rebellion and revolution in people now - for just causes, and for otherwise.

We are too complacent these days, too trusting of the flimsy protection democracy supposedly gives us - one must never forget that the Nazis rose to power during the Weimar Republic, which was supposedly democratic. We must never think that the Holocaust can never be repeated, because if we continue this complacency, this blatant disregard for politics or the deep, dark, frightening causes some people pledge themselves to, even now, today.

I know in my heart I would never be able to survive the horror and cruelty victims of concentration camps were subjected to. Even without my physical defects, even if I was fit and strong and a man, I would never be able to. I would poison myself with the sheer injustice of it all, pollute my mind with angry bitter thoughts of hate and sadness and self-pity and despair. It is in this that makes the Holocaust survivors true heroes - whilst we are often ignorant to the horrors humans can inflict upon one another, we are even more ignorant of the great courage it takes to know of it, but to ignore it nonetheless.