War In Our Time

. 'Never again' must apply to the Bosnian War.

Few issues are as explosive as those that involve the Holocaust. This year has already seen the issue of Holocaust revisionism brust into major controversies on the campuses of Brandeis and Georgetown universities. In both cases, decisions by student newspapers to print revisionist advertisements sparked outrage and protests.

The reaction to revisionism has its roots in the deep emotion with which most of us regard the Holocaust. It is something we treat with a combination of respect and horror, but above all, with remembrance.

Revisionist ads strike a nerve because they question the validity of something we not only know to be true, but something we know we must remember.

It appears, however, that we have forgotten why we must remember. If we truly understood, situations like that in Bosnia, where genocide continues every day, would not be met with the apathy and ignorance on display in the country, and here at Harvard.

Holocaust remembrance should be a living thing, something that makes us see the world around us, not merely look back. The true spirit of Holocaust remembrance is vigilance. Yet it is that vigilance that is missing across the country, and within Harvard Yard.

Students here are on the whole intelligent, humane people, who know about and care about the Holocaust. Yet the war in Bosnia is considered something obscure and distant.

While many felt obligated to see "Schindler's List," few feel compelled to learn about the horrors in Bosnia, much less construct coherent thoughts about what might be done.

The reasons we use to cover our ignorance are thin. "It's so complicated," we protest. Yet saving the Jews of German-occupied Eastern Europe would have been infinitely more complicated. After all, in Bosnia, U.N. troops are standing by as the killing continues.

"It's not the same," we argue. True, bullets and bombs are being used rather than gas chambers. But is this really our test? Are we so shallow that the situations must look identical before we act?

Millions have not yet died in Bosnia--only hundreds of thousands. Should we wait until the Muslims are fully exterminated before we consider the war worthy of our attention?

There is little sense, or justification, in trying to convince people that the Holocaust and the genocide in Bosnia are identical; they're not. But if Bosnia does not fit into the solemn declaration of "never again," what does?

The most eloquent of all Holocaust survivors, Elie Wiesel, made his feelings on the subject clear. In the midst of his speech at the dedication of the Holocaust museum, he turned to President Bill Clinton, who sat nearby.

"I have been in the former Yugoslavia last fall," Wiesel said. "I cannot sleep remembering what I have seen. As a Jew I am saying that we must do something to stop the killing in that country...Mr. President, it will not stop unless we stop it."

Wiesel spoke some other words that day which apply particularly well to Harvard, with its diverse student body:

"We have learned that though every human being has the right to be different, none has the right to be indifferent to suffering," he said.

If we do not end our indifference soon, we will have new holocausts to mourn.

David L. Bosco's column appears on alternate Wednesdays.