Germany marks pogrom that led to Holocaust

Original Story

"Germans and Israelis on Sunday marked the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the Nazi-incited riots that began their campaign to destroy European Jewry, with ceremonies, concerts and vows to honor the victims with renewed vigilance."

Learning from history is something everyone should do. Certainly this event in history should be looked upon with the utmost scrutiny and caution. The following segment, however did raise a small alarm for me.

"Chancellor Angela Merkel recalled the Nov. 9, 1938 riots in which more than 91 German Jews were killed and more than 1,000 synagogues damaged, telling Germans that the lessons of the nation's past were crucial in confronting a current increase of xenophobia and racism."

She is of course referring t0 the obscene amount of foreign refugees being imported into Europe. Most of them Muslims. As Muslims riot for the inclusion of Sharia Law to be placed into existing European Law, many Europeans cannot help but feel that without assimilation, the growing immigrant population will eventually overtake Europe and force them all under Islamic rule.

Angela Merkel's comments concern me because the two events have little in common. The Jews were not fresh groups of immigrants, many had been in Germany and Europe for decades, if not hundreds of years. Many were proud Germans in fact. In addition to that, the false notion of racial superiority has nothing to do with the factual notion of cultural superiority. Superiority not being a racial or religious based philosophy, but one derived from the ideals of liberty and justice no matter your race, gender or creed. Those who hail themselves as Muslim and believe in religious freedom without reprisal is not thinking that way from a religious perspective, but from a perspective derived from the governing culture of western civilization. A Muslim who thinks otherwise is of a non-assimilated mindset and will seek to overthrow liberty and replace it with theocratic dictatorships.

In that way, the two situations are different. So while I agree that we should not be trying to set a blame on a people or group, as the Nazis did, we should also not overlook the differences in the two situations.