AS The Times itself has demonstrated with its recent Brief Lives of individuals who have perished in mass horrors, the path to remembrance lies in the personification of statistics. Six million is just a number. Rywka Statlender, who died aged 17 at the hands of the Nazis in Lodz, Poland, is an individual. Holocaust camp survivors speak of dehumanisation: with shaved heads, they were indistinguishable; as tattooed numbers, they lost their identities.

We can all visit www.yadvashem.org to learn about the darkest of periods in European history and to find out about the lives of some of its tragic victims. In rehumanising the dead, we will not forget them.

Melanie Angel,
Stanmore, Middlesex

Reliving the pain

I WAS a child during the Second World War and while it is still very clear in my mind at the age of 70, I feel that it is part of human nature to block out pain and hurt. Who wants to dwell on the tragedy that occurred in their lives and to relive it again and again?

While today’s young people sympathise and perhaps feel sad about the atrocities, I don’t think they can ever imagine what it was like; one actually has to live through it to know. It is never possible to feel other people’s pain.

Like all tragedies in the world, to protect ourselves we tend not to get too involved and I can understand why; otherwise we would live in perpetual misery.

Brenda McKone,
Chester-le-Street, Co Durham

Lessons well learnt

THE best way to ensure that the Holocaust is never forgotten is through education and learning about the systematic extermination of so many millions of Jewish people by the Germans during the Second World War; and indeed all the other acts of genocide perpetrated throughout history should be made compulsory in the national curriculum.

We have evidence from photographs, film footage and personal testimonies — a unique opportunity to turn the lessons we should learn from history into an enduring memorial to those who suffered and died.

Stephanie Barfield,
Chelwood Gate, East Sussex

Witness account

AFTER reading your articles on the Holocaust this week, I spoke to a friend who is a survivor. She says it is important for the liberators to give their side of the story (as did Harry Skeggs in T2, January 26), because then it cannot be denied; it is independent testimony.

Perhaps all schoolchildren should be taken to Beth Shalom, the Holocaust centre near Nottingham, to learn more. Recently, I went to see the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester — solely to educate some children in classical music, I see a visit to Beth Shalom as equally important.

Yvonne Harari,
yvonne.harari@virgin.net

No laughing matter

I HAD considered the recent Prince Harry escapade to be a bit of a storm in a teacup, but having read the article by the survivors in The Times (January 26), and after watching programmes on the BBC, I have been reminded of the terrible significance of a Nazi uniform when viewed by anyone who suffered.

We need to ensure that such insignia are never displayed in jest.

Tony Wickham,
tony_wickham@btconnect.com

History repeated

WE SEEM to have learnt nothing. Mass slaughter has happened in Cambodia and Rwanda and is probably still going on in Sudan.

The saddest comment in your recent articles comes from Harry Skeggs, a former British soldier who helped to clear up at Bergen-Belsen. He said: “Now it seems incredible that people could have done those things. I can’t imagine that happening in this day and age.”

Peter Woodcock,
Royston, Hertfordshire

Moving images

AS A teenager my parents told me to watch a film called The Mortal Storm and I have never forgotten the impact that had on me.

As for my children, it was seeing Schindler’s List. So I suggest that these films are made compulsory viewing for all children of 12 years and older.

Ruth Thompson,
Bristol

Strength and feeling

ALTHOUGH the Holocaust will never disappear from recorded history, it is possible that very little will remain in the world’s conscious memory. Of course, it will not be forgotten as long as it is in the mind of at least one human being; but commemoration ceremonies can bring the event to the fore. Perhaps the Holocaust might be combined with other events in a larger commemoration.

Remembering it reinforces our human feeling; remembering is a tool which we use to strengthen our social values. That is the goal we must keep our eyes on.

J. Shulman,
js006h1628@blueyonder.co.uk