Should the world stop talking about the Holocaust?
The answer might be obvious to many, but the BBC wants to open it up to discussion.
As part of its special International Holocaust Remembrance Day programming, the BBC One show The Big Questions held a discussion on the lessons of the Holocaust, and how it is remembered today.
The show, which aired Sunday, featured rabbis, academics, survivors, and educators.
Our one big question this morning: Is the time coming to lay the Holocaust to rest? #BBCTBQ
— The Big Questions (@bbcbigquestions) January 25, 2015
Some Twitter users didn’t take especially kindly to the question.
What??? “@bbcbigquestions: Our one big question this morning: Is the time coming to lay Holocaust to rest? #BBCTBQ” see why we’re paranoid?
— Ami Kaufman (@AmiKaufman) January 26, 2015
The provocative question spurred a discussion on whether the Holocaust was a unique event in history, and how best to memorialize such a horrific period.
Some panelists, including historian Tom Lawson, disputed the idea that the Holocaust was a unique event, receiving hearty applause. Rabbi Yaakov Wise countered that the Nazis didn’t just want to physically annihilate the Jews, but sought the “annihilation of Judaism as a religion, as a philosophy, as a civilization.”
Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner said it would be “obscene” to lay the Holocaust to rest.
