Shoah Never Again

Introduction

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History has proven, from Biblical days to the current time, that man’s instincts are often less then laudable. Man’s desire to dominate his fellow man has transcended the ages. This propensity has been evident from the time of the Pharaohs in Egypt through the Crusades of the Middle Ages to the ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, the Congo, Sudan, and Rwanda in our day. This human epidemic of terror is precipitated by seeds of greed, intolerance or differences in religious views. No matter what one’s religious preference, whether or not we believe in one true God, it is likely that every human being is motivated by his conscience to be fair and just. Animals, on the other hand, having no conscience are incapable of having true love and have no conception of fairness or justice.  Animals are motivated by survival instincts, not love or passion. For example, the human-like affection your dogs pays to you when you come home is not an act of love, but rather a routine that supports its instinct for survival. These are simply beastly instincts, unlike God’s generous gift to mankind, the conscience. By that we mean the ability to distinguish right from wrong, justice from injustice, humanity from inhumanity. Take an atheist, for instance. He or she does not have to be taught to have love for his or her parents or children it’s simply a natural component of being human.

But like everything else in life, there are exceptions to every rule. Because God has given man a conscience, we like to think that we tend to exist in a natural state, free of prejudice or bias. Some individuals, however,  are motivated more by animal-like instincts, seemingly devoid of conscience. Their thirst for power or their interest in their own personal, selfish, and often diabolical agendas overwhelm any natural or God-given sense of conscience and goodwill. History is replete with examples of those who have forsaken God’s gift of love and humanity for the lower more basic animal-like instincts that are principally selfish in nature. This infamous club of individuals who have wielded their power relentlessly and unscrupulously would include the likes of Stalin, Slobodan Milosevic, Mussolini, Idi Amin, to name a few. Some way, somehow, their God-given gift for love and fairness gave way to their animalistic instinct.

There is no greater example of this abhorrent behavior than that of the infamous Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler. What he did to millions of people, Jews and alike, the world is just now realizing. I must admit that it was not until I witnessed part of this devastation through watching the Academy Award winning film, Schindler’s List, that I realized the extent of horror thrust upon a generation of innocent people. Having had my own ancestors brought down by slavery, it was easy for me to be sensitive to this issue. But it wasn’t until I saw Schindler’s List that I realized the sameness of the suffering. Schindler’s List motivated me to research more about this campaign of terror perpetrated, as was slavery, on a people so undeserving of its carnage.

One may ask, “How did your understanding of the Holocaust, slavery and other injustices to mankind result in an artistic body of work?” The simple fact is that I was driven by sheer, unrelenting passion to write from my heart what my mind could barely decipher. The more I learned about Hitler’s cruelty on such a large and institutional level, the more I felt compelled to write in the one way that I know best, that is, through poetry. Many of these instances, such as slavery, were more personal to me than others. However, I haven’t felt anything that resembled this intensity of passion since viewing the epic television saga, Roots.

My writings are also a product of the knowledge that I have gained through having close friendships with Holocaust survivors and their family members. There aren’t enough ways to express the hurt they feel from losing a generation of friends and loved ones. It was my desire to illustrate not only the tragedy of a people, but also what survivors and their families had prior to the Holocaust. The abundance of love between women and men, the joys of raising children, the prosperity gained in business and careers, and the desire to make contribution to the world itself. This book of poems, I felt, was the very least that I could do, in memory of all the fallen ones.

James E. White, Jr. 

About Author, Jim White  I  Sample Poems  I  Shoah Web Site