That was a different time and for many the oath that they swore kept them from telling what they had seen and perhaps participated in doing. Even years after the war some would never tell their families anything about WWII.

The moral of the story is alive and will always be active.

Yes, but no one will heed it. History repeats itself...sadly. I sometimes think that our refusal to believe it, is a way of maintaining our sanity. If the worry,

remembering, etc., was always with us, we couldn't cope and get on with

living. "Shawshank Redemption's line " get busy living, or get busy dying" can

be applied to a lot of issues.

I understand your point, and I think a contributing factor is that so many of us are living our comfortable lives that make it much too easy to let these things happen gradually. We can watch the newscast, pause for a moment, and then hustle off to do whatever it is that we have to get done. That is so much easier than taking some of the large, and painful, actions needed. I agree that sometimes we don’t recognize the problem until after the fact, but other times, we just don’t have the stomach, or the guts, to make the hard decisions. I am glad you still have that letter from your brother. Thinking of it is bringing tears to my eyes.

No. I don't think genocide/mass murders could happen again in any modern democracy, the so-called First World countries. Elsewhere, persecution and lethal attacks on minority populations have happened many times since then, including recently.

I learned to never say never. I am not by any means an authority on radial Muslims. But isn't radial Muslims trying to do the same to the infidel as Hitler did to the Jews? "There are more than four hundred verses in the Qur'an alone that describe the torment in hell that Allah has prepared for the infidel. The Qur'an dehumanizes infidels: They are vile animals and beasts, the worst of creatures and demons;[12] perverted transgressors and partners of Satan[13] to be fought until religion is Allah's alone.[14] They are to be beheaded;[15] terrorized,[16] annihilated,[17] crucified,[18] punished, and expelled,[19] and plotted against by deceit.[20] Believers must be in a constant state of war with the infidel.[21]"

functionthenlook, you're pulling words out of the Koran and applying context to them that isn't accurate. Do you even personally know any Muslim people? Actually know any? Or are you repeating words you hear in the media?

I know some Muslim people. I work with a Muslim guy. Met his family, and celebrated Eid Mubarak, the last day of Ramadan, at his home. There were many non-Muslims there as well. Several of his of Christian neighbors.

Islam is a faith that teaches peace. The radical Muslims? What they do is NOT about their faith. What they do is political. They may claim that they are bombing people in the name of Allah, but that's a distorted perspective of their faith. True followers of the Koran don't condone the radicalism of their faith. My co-worker and his family behave more Christian-like than a lot of Christians I know. You know what they do on Easter? My co-worker, his family, and their mosque collect food and then spend the day at the Seattle Union Gospel Mission serving meals - the food they have collected. They bring clothing, blankets, etc, and donate them to people in need.

Have you ever spent your Easter doing that? Any day of the year? I haven't. It's too bad this isn't what is spread about Muslims. Instead people latch on to the negative, false aspects and then perpetuate false information.

Muslims probably contribute more to society than Trump and his kids ever have.

Sephia, I told you I am no authority. I also did not say all Muslims. I also said radial, the Muslims that distort the teachings of the Koran. The question was could what happen to the Jews during WW ll happen again. How could a nut case like Hitler become so powerful, but he did because the conditions were right.

Well said, Mr. Fudd.

Those who ignore history are destined to repeat it. I know that's not the exact quote, but it's pretty close.

The biggest problem this country faces is from homegrown terrorists. Dylan Roof, Timothy McVeigh and many many more. We have a mosque in our town and an activity center for muslins and never has there been a problem. They are a peaceful people except for the radical ones. Of course, we saw our own homegrown radicals at Charlottesville last year.

Yeah, this country needs to solve the problem of why angry, white men shoot up schools and theaters because it has been that demographic of people who have been committing those crimes. Not Muslims, not Mexicans, etc. Who was the shooters of Columbine? Sandy Hook, Las Vegas? etc. All white men angry about something. The people being targeted with bans aren't the people committing those atrocious crimes.

Yes, there is nothing so special about the US that it can avoid man's baser instincts to destroy others in search of power as he has in Germany, Cambodia, Rwanda, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Croatia, Bangladesh, Darfur, East Timor, etc. It is for this reason that we must protect and safe guard the rule of law and our Constitution which respects the rights of all minorities, including the most minority of all -- the individual.

Let's be clear: radical violent Muslims are to Islam what the Westboro Baptist Church is to Christianity.

"I am not by any means an authority on radial Muslims. But isn't radial Muslims trying to do the same to the infidel as Hitler did to the Jews?"

What is a radial Muslim?

"But isn't radial Muslims trying ..."

*aren't*

Hard to interpret the point you are attempting to make when I read the post several times and still thinking, "huh?"

Haha, angela. I gave that a pass, a careless typo.

"Hard to interpret the point you are attempting to make when I read the post several times and still thinking, "huh?""

Really, Angela? One missing letter typo and "isn't" instead of "aren't" caused you to have to read it a few times to understand? I had no problem comprehending it the first time.

By all means, comment on the content of someone's post but picking on someone for minor spelling and grammar mistakes is petty. And if you must do it, at least make sure your own grammar is correct first!

Angela, I think you know exactly what functionthenlook is saying.

Don't be petty and pick at someone's writing. It's a simple typo. No need to be snarky. The world needs less of that.

radial muslims are into fancy car tires...

:)

Sadly yes, it can happen again. Maybe the methods are different, but in the end, it is atrocious. Look at the atrocities and heritage destruction that ISIS has done. Another example: Bin Laden cheered when told of the destruction of the twin Trade Towers in New York City with the loss of approximately 3000 lives. When the opposition deposed the Shah of Iran and took over the government, afterward, 20,000 Baha'is were killed. Oppression of Baha'is and denial of higher education for them continues today.

Yes of course it can happen again. Genocides happened before and they HAVE happened again. Even if the actual genocides don’t happen, the dehumanizing of entire populations that is one of the steps towards that process still happen in even North America and IS happening. As does apparently the tearing apart of families without care or regard for the consequences, the lack of an ability to empathize and understand what persecution and violence others may be seeking refuge from (because no, they are just coming to steal jobs and mow down people in outdoor concerts and nightclubs (oh, wait, those were white Americans!)

The German people did not just wake up one day agreeing to contain and murder millions of Jews, homosexuals, Gypsies, political activists. It was a slow boil - years of inciting and encouraging racism, intolerance, violence, marking and verbally attacking those who were “different” (labeling entire populations with stereotypes) that led to that point where genocide was just the new normal. So yes, it can happen again, and as I said, it does.

Yes of course it can happen here. Some are so comfortable with the status quo that they do not realize that broad economic shifts due to trade blocks, sudden pervasive widespread fatal contagious illnesses or nuclear disaster can change the comfort into fear and then atrocity in a short time. Vigilance is our friend, comfortable denial is our enemy.

Those who do not learn are doomed to repeat history

It's already happening, in a sense. Since Trump was elected, we keep getting shocked at each thing he does. There's an uproar for a little bit and then we move on to the next crazy thing.

The result is then we become numb to scandal and injustice because it's now the status quo. So each new event is a little less shocking, and our reactions are a little less because it's the new normal, and we only have so much energy in a day.

That's how it happens.

I read the op's post as referring to Trump--am I wrong Seniorgal? And yes, the similarities are frightening, especially the fact that so many people follow Function, I was sorry to see that there are still people in this country who are afraid of an entire group of lovely people because of some crazy idiots, whom we all have.

I read a blurp last week that stated 60% of Americans think the Holocaust was made up, a fake story. If this is true, it certainly can happen again and happen here.

This mess predates Trump. IMO the downhill within America began with a nation that accepted the establishment of Homeland Security -- a knee jerk reaction that excused such 'little' things as a suspension of the law of habeas corpus and support for radicals and waterboarding.

Look back further to US invasions disguised as 'nation building'. Are you surprised that those we invaded retaliated -- attacked our 'homeland'?