EmilyKasky

HolocaustS

Wednesday’s (Feb. 23rd) Tribune-Review had a photograph and a short blurb on the Pope’s new book hitting the shelves. It read:

“A TV journalist takes a shot of Pope John Paul II’s newest book titled “Memory and Identity” in Rome Tuesday. The pontiff’s book, in which he likens abortion to a new Holocaust, has outraged Jewish groups appalled by what they say is a lack of understanding on the part of the Catholic Church.”

I wish to call attention to the fact that NO GROUP has a monopoly on the term “holocaust.” According to Merriam-Webster online, in section 3b (3a does mention the Jewish holocaust), holocaust is defined as “a mass slaughter.” Obviously, we are all aware of the Holocaust, and what the Nazis did against the Jews. In the above statement, the Jews are forgetting that there were other victims of Hitler, too. These include the disabled, Gypsies, Roman Catholics, and homosexuals.

However, there have been many holocausts throughout history. I wish to call attention to two during the 20th century: the GULAGs, and the lao gai. The GULAGs (the forced labor camps of the Soviet Union) were responsible for the deaths of anywhere between 15-35 million people, maybe more (since the GULAGs (although in full force under Stalin, and did decline somewhat after his death) were in fact, operating up until the collapse of the Soviet Union.) This death toll outnumbers the Holocaust. Even though both of these were atrocious, there is evidence that the Chinese GULAGs (called lao gai), killed twice as many Chinese as Stalin did of his own (as well as citizens of Soviet satellites and POWs), somewhere in the vicinity of 70 million, maybe more.

Abortion (which will probably outnumber any holocaust in all of human history, since over 30 million children have been killed in the U.S. alone, not including all over the world) is also a holocaust as well, since it too involves a mass slaughter. What happened to the Jews during WWII was horrible (having heard accounts from survivors and read literature on the subject). They are not alone. You will find accounts from GULAG survivors, etc. that are equally as horrific. So if the Pope wishes to compare abortion to a new Holocaust, he is perfectly free to do so and shouldn’t be criticized for using the word “…for a lack of understanding.” A mass slaughter is a mass slaughter, whether it be from concentration camps, GULAGs, lao gai, whatever.