• Unchallenged, racism has the capacity to undercut civilization’s basic values and to destroy democracy

Ian J. Kagedan

Toronto Star

November 26, 1991

In the moral reconstitution of Eastern Europe, coming to the terms with the Holocaust must figure prominently.

The hatred of Jews brought thousands to collaborate with the Nazis in the extermination process; anti-Semitism is still a problem. And today we are witnessing a more generalized racism targeting one group or another. The effective denial of the Holocaust by the Communist regimes made it easy to ignore its lessons.

[…]

The Holocaust stands as Western civilization’s greatest failure. It was a natural outcome of centuries of racism and of anti-Semitism.

To deny the Holocaust is to deny racism’s capacity to undercut our civilization’s basic values and to destroy democracy. Achieving our quest of a “new world order” depends on our learning the Holocaust’s lessons.

Ian J. Kagedan is director of government relations for B’nai Brith Canada.