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The Lighting of the Candles
To be read before the lighting of the first candle:
I light this Memorial Candle as we recall with bitter grief the six million Jews, countless Gypsies, the handicapped, homosexuals, Jehovah's witnesses, and others who were brutally destroyed in the Holocaust. May we never be numbed, indifferent or complacent to the unprecedented magnitude of this unspeakable horror. In honor of their memory, strengthen our commitment never to forget.
To be read before the lighting of the second candle:
I light this Memorial Candle in memory of the martyred innocent children. Their lives were snuffed out before they had had the opportunity to truly live. In their memory and in their stead we commit ourselves to the sanctity of life.
To be read before the lighting of the third candle:
I light this Memorial Candle in honor of those compassionate men and women of other faiths and nationalities who, at the peril of their own lives, saved another. In the midst of the most frightening reality, there existed those incredible souls who truly lived according to their conscience. May the memory of these righteous individuals be an inspiration and guide to us in creating peace.
Persistence of Persecution
Armenia
The Armenian Genocide was carried out by the "Young Turk" government of the Ottoman Empire in 1915-1916. Three out of every four Armenians (or 1.5 million out of a total population of 2 million) were massacred or died in forced marches. Planned and ordered by the Ottoman Turkish government and carried out by the Turkish army, their stated goal of wiping out the entire Christian Armenian population within Turkey was nearly achieved. Turkey continues to actively deny the fact of the Armenian genocide.
Persecution did not begin or end with Nazi Germany.
Bosnia
From 1991 to 1995, almost 300,000 people were killed (mostly civilian Bosnian Muslims and Croats) through President Slobodan Milosevic's nationalistic program of ethnic cleansing. In the process, bridges, museums, mosques, churches, graveyards, schools, manuscript collections, and art collections were systematically burned, dynamited, shelled, and destroyed.
Persecution did not begin or end with Nazi Germany.
Rwanda
In April 1994, the Rwandan government implemented a policy that called for the Hutu majority to murder the country's Tutsi minority. This was the end result of ethnic tensions fostered during European colonial rule. Though the massacres were carried out by farm implements, the resulting genocide took the lives of approximately 800,000 Tutsi in less than 100 days. Despite international efforts to prevent the genocide, the United States and its news media deliberately ignored the crisis.
Persecution did not begin or end with Nazi Germany.
Our Responsibility
We stand here together, united as witnesses against intolerance, persecution, and indifference. In our world, genocide has continued in many places including Cambodia, Burundi, Kosovo, and East Timor. These horrors evolved from less obvious forms of prejudice. In our daily lives we witness bullying, rejection, persecution, and social isolation of the 'other' in our lives. To stop the growth of hatred, we must not accept any denigration of our fellow human beings. To be a bystander requires nothing, but costs everything. Tonight we choose to reject what is "easy" for what is "right."
Persecution did not begin or end with Nazi Germany.
Antisemitism
Often called the "world's longest hatred," antisemitism has witnessed a global resurgence for which many fear for the lives of Jews worldwide.
In a speech to the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference, Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohammed attacked Jews using age-old antisemitic prejudices. His statements are dangerous, unacceptable and morally repugnant.
Sadly, individuals in the Keene and Brattleboro areas have expressed similar opinions. While leaders of the United States, Australia, Germany, Italy and Spain strongly condemned the speech, France, Greece, Jordan, Turkey, Morocco, Russia, and others refused to.
The Kristallnacht Committee strongly condemns this and other prejudicial statements which seek to use hatred to take away the basic human dignity of any individual or group. We can no longer be surprised when antisemitism is expressed in our communities. We can, however, respond with solidarity. We cannot afford to be bystanders or silent accomplices to the perpetration of evil.
Persecution did not begin or end with Nazi Germany.
Closing (From The Diary of Anne Frank)
It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death.
I can see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us, too. I can feel the sufferings of millions – and yet, if I look into the heavens, I think that it will all come out right, that this cruelty, too, will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.
In the meantime, I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out.
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
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