Through horrendous bloodshed and visceral action, World War II wove itself into the fabric of history. For those living amongst the despair and carnage, their story went beyond the front lines.

The Holocaust, also referred to as the Shoah, was a genocide in which six million European Jews were killed by Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany. In somber remembrances of those who suffered, the Ellsworth Diversity Council hosted the second annual Holocaust Remembrance Week April 23 to 28.

“The Holocaust is a sad story, something terrible that happened in history that we want to make people aware of,” said Staff Sgt. Natasha Wohlwend, noncommission officer in charge of diagnostic imaging assigned to the 28th Medical Group. “It seems with the newer generation the Holocaust is just another part of history, like the Civil War. What we want to do is show that this bit of history is still affecting people today.”

Each year, Holocaust Remembrance Week is recognized by local governments, military instillations, workplaces and schools. According to Wohlwend, this is the second year Ellsworth Air Force Base has been involved in the event. For this year’s event the Diversity Council handed out quote cards, set up a remembrance hike and had Adam Blackler, an assistant history professor at the Black Hills State University, speak on the Holocaust.

“This is important for a series of reasons,” Blackler said. “We need to remember those who went through the horrors and the trauma of this time in history. I think in a larger sense that in learning on the Holocaust and by engaging in these kinds of historical events, we actually understand the dangerous potentials that made it possible.”

The U.S. Congress established the Days of Remembrance as our nation’s annual commemoration of Holocaust victims and opened the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington D.C., in memory of them.

According to Blackler, One of the reasons America continues to remember the Holocaust is that throughout history, hatred against particular groups of people has led to genocide. It is something that has followed mankind into modern times and there are societies today whose lives are in danger by circumstances of their birth.

“These presentations in particular help with raising awareness for the potentials for what made the war possible,” Blackler explained. “The Holocaust is the most well-known genocide but is by no means the only one that occurred in the 20th century; I think these talks raise awareness to other conflicts and tragedies in the world today.”

The Holocaust took place more than 70 years ago, and people are still affected by it today. Families were affected by it, communities were affected by it, and its effects will continue for years to come. According to Wohlwend, it’s a very important piece of history that had a lasting impact not only on the German and Jewish people but Americans as well.

“I tell my students frequently that the war, the Holocaust, they were not inevitable things, they were products of hatred,” Blackler explained. “Ethnic bigotry and nationalism and all of these factors ultimately brought out the most violent war in history, so learning about those factors I think that we can prevent this from happening again in our lifetime.”