Those of you who read my stuff regularly know that I have covered a great deal of Jewish history including much about the Holocaust. But one thing I always try to emphasize, and my recent reading of the classic history of Nazi Germany, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich emphasizes this, is that the Holocaust is about more than just the Jews. Roughly (and the numbers are debated, but are unquestionably large and horrific) 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. Roughly 5 million others, including Gypsies, homosexuals, Catholics, communists, Eastern Europeans, liberals, etc. were also killed in the Holocaust. The first concentration camps did not house Jews, but rather political dissidents including Catholics, communists and liberals. Racial genocide was aimed to a large degree against Jews, but also Gypsies and Slavs. Plus the mentally ill of all races were targeted for genocide.

Those are facts, and they are pretty harsh and brutal facts. Nazi Germany targeted a wide range of humanity in their insane, disgusting attack on civilization.  read more »