My ‘fondest’ memory regarding the holocaust.

Shocking way to begin but please stay with me.

Through my life I have spoken with WWII veterans who liberated camps, holocaust survivors, and relatives thereof. I’m not Jewish by birth, faith, or heritage, so I’ll never quite feel comfortable sharing the experiences as told to me. As important as passing on those memories are, they are not my stories to tell, and I feel I would do them a disservice in relating them in my amateurish second-hand way.

But that being said, I can’t even begin to understand holocaust deniers. Doesn’t even compute with me. 

In the early 90’s, my college opened a holocaust studies program. They held an event in the main theater where the speakers were survivors living in the area and the keynote speaker was author Elie Wiesel. I was asked to volunteer to be an usher and felt honored to help in my own small way. You know, help elderly people attending the event find their seats, hand out programs, etc.

As the attendees where arriving, I was horrified to see several dozen or more deniers standing in the parking lot, complete with shouting and large ignorant, hateful signs that I will not repeat.

They didn’t accost the arriving guests, thankfully, but just their presence was sickening to me.

I am pleased to report that as the last attendee filtered in, leaving the deniers standing in the parking lot with naught but their own ignorance, and as I shut the large outer glass theater doors so the event could begin, the sky opened up with a loud thunder clap and a deluge of rain such as I had never seen poured down on those wretched souls, running the ink on their signs and sending them fleeing for cover.

Deny that you assholes.