The Holocaust -- powerful ramification of indifference, inaction Published April 25, 2012 By Capt. Joel Bragg 71st Flying Training Wing Command Post VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- The Holocaust is the most remembered and solemnized atrocity in recorded history. It was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators in Germany during World War II. During the same time period, between five and 11 million other people were persecuted and murdered by the Nazi regime on political, ideological and behavioral grounds. It is a subject that is difficult to comprehend and deeply disturbing. The violent acts of murder, torture and inhumane treatment of those oppressed is well documented by video recordings, pictures, survivors, witnesses and thousands of Nazi documents. Remembering the Holocaust is absolutely vital to ensure it will never happen again. President Jimmy Carter signed an executive order in November1978 establishing a commission on the Holocaust and charging it with finding appropriate ways to commemorate "Days of Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust." On April 1, 1984, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger signed a memorandum to the military services, urging the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other military commanders to participate in the annual program for the first time. (Editor's note: See "Vance members travel to Oklahoma City to reflect on Holocaust" posted on this website.) Congress established the "Days of Remembrance" as the nation's annual commemoration of the Holocaust and created the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a permanent living memorial to the victims. U.S. Rep. Tim Holden of Pennsylvania said, "The Holocaust illustrates the consequences of prejudice, racism and stereotyping on a society. It forces us to examine the responsibilities of citizenship and confront the powerful ramifications of indifference and inaction." Time continues to pass and with it, those who survived the Holocaust. These survivors leave the nation a lesson of extreme importance -- a lesson that can never be forgotten. It is everyone's responsibility to fight for individual rights and for those who are not able to fight for themselves. It is everyone's responsibility to fight against ignorance and bigotry. That lesson is captured in a poem by Martin Niemöller: When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist. When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat. When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist. When they came for the Jews, I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Jew. When they came for me, there was no-one left to speak out.