We can’t forget World War II. I have long believed, and still believe today, that World War II was the moment where it was all on the line. We could have lost civilized, free society entirely to fascism and totalitarianism. It was the turning point, and it could easily have gone the other way had we (civilization) failed to rise to the challenge.
It is worth keeping this in mind constantly. We must study how Hitler and the Nazi party came to power in Germany, and how they managed to go as far as they did with their racist, totalitarian doctrine.
A touching story appeared in today’s Washington Post about a Ukrainian Jewish woman who, through her ingenuity and quick thinking, managed to survive the Nazi occupation and the greater holocaust that took the lives of her family and most of her entire community. It is an incredible story, and calls to mind other stories of survival like it . . . and the absolute horrors that so many were not able to escape.