Parshat Yom Hashoah

by Paul Margulies, METNY , 5759

Life is Beautiful. Sounds like the perfect title of a film, doesn't it? Well, apparently Roberto Benigni agreed. His movie is the perfect contrast between two extremes in life: happiness and sorrow. Playing the main character, Benigni's life is on the upswing. He meets a girl, and pursues her, they fall in love, marry, and have a child. No aspect of his life is religious in any way, yet we begin to see signs of antisemitism in it. There is often a great misconception about the Holocaust. While many Jews were outwardly religious, a large part was totally assimilated and did not identify with its heritage. The only crime those people committed was being born to Jewish parents. This movie is clearly contrary to that stereotype. The remainder of the film is unrealistic, however, though it is not meant to be realistic. "Life is Beautiful" is a love story and a comedy rather than a documentary. The family in the movie is shipped off to a concentration camp, where the father hides and protects his son not only from Nazis, but from the truth about his surroundings. Not wanting to ruin the movie, the father cares so much about his family that he is unable to protect himself. Although many details are incorrect, this movie gives a slight fraction of a view of the horrors of the Holocaust in the best- case scenario. Think of how many families were torn apart, shipped to different camps, and slaughtered. And others, who watched their children march off to the gas chamber. Such horrors could never be experienced anywhere but in reality, and hopefully they never will be. At least the world learned from the Holocaust...or did it? The continuing crisis in the Balkans could be a parallel. Over one million Albanians in Kosovo are being tortured, murdered, and pushed out of their homes. NATO has stepped in with air strikes, but is that enough? Should we be risking our own ground troops to come in and stop the killing? Perhaps we should. The only crime these people committed was being born to Albanian Parents. Such senseless killing should not and can not be tolerated. At least refugees are being taken in by different countries temporarily, till they can safely be returned home. This is a step in the right direction. During the Holocaust many countries, including the United States, refused entrance to the Jews of Europe. Those who fled to America on ship were turned away and ultimately ended up in concentration camps or worse as a result. Perhaps we did learn something from a dark period in our history: that we must aid the innocent victims with whatever necessary. This Yom HaShoah, or any day really, remember the Jewish existence in Europe and the horrors of the Holocaust, but also think about the famous saying: "Those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it." Don't let history repeat itself.