In a monologue commemorating the 75th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation, Dennis Prager urges listeners to read at least one book about the Holocaust, arguing that such knowledge is life‑changing and essential for understanding the industrialized nature of the genocide perpetrated by a highly sophisticated society. He contrasts the Holocaust’s systematic extermination with other genocides, mentions his focus on communist atrocities, and warns that contemporary threats, such as Iran’s hostility toward Israel, echo historic antisemitic annihilation. Prager cites the Passover Haggadah’s ancient warning of perpetual attempts to annihilate the Jews, linking it to modern dangers. He references President Eisenhower’s directive to photograph the camps to prevent denial, expresses deep loathing for Holocaust deniers, and characterizes antisemitism as uniquely exterminationist, rooted in a divine element he ties to biblical narratives. He highlights Ernest von den Haag’s concise, persuasive explanation of why Jews have been targeted, noting that some Jews have even abandoned Judaism in response. The piece concludes by marking the date as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, underscoring the need for remembrance and vigilance.
Chapters
I've never understood why everybody does not feel an obligation to read one book on the Holocaust. It will change your life. To realize what happened in Europe, engineered by one of the most sophisticated societies in the history of the world, it has to make you think. Families rounded up, put in boxcars, and sent to be murdered. There, there is nothing quite like it. It's not the only genocide, but it's an industrial genocide. I speak frequently about the communist genocides. This was Russian. Iran targets Israel for extinction. In the Jewish liturgy for Passover, in the book called the Haggadah, Jews read— it's a very old book, it's thousands of years old— and in it is a phrase that I remember from the Passover Seder in my home. And of course, set to this day in my home. But I remember as a child, in the Hebrew, I won't bother with the Hebrew, but I'll translate. In every generation, somebody rises up to annihilate us. Not to oppress us. So interesting. To annihilate us. That was written almost 2,000 years ago. And I remember as a child thinking, well, not after the Holocaust, nobody's gonna wanna do that anymore. And then there's the trusty, the trusty text was right. And now Iran wants to do it. And not only Iran. 75 years ago, President Eisenhower, then General Eisenhower, to his great credit, said, take pictures. People won't believe if we don't have pictures. I have a particular loathing for the Holocaust deniers. They're among the lowest of the low. There's really gradations, you know, I've always said. Then somebody says, "No, it didn't happen." It's the most documented event probably in history. Called Why the Jews, and it is a unique hatred because it's exterminationist. Everybody hates some group or dislikes some group. Human bigotry is unfortunately quite ubiquitous. But none of them are exterminationist. We so hate you, we want to exterminate you. That's reserved for Jews. And I believe ultimately it comes from Sinai and the Bible, and I believe that there's a God element to it. Ernest von Den Haag may have written the most persuasive explanation of the Jews that I've ever read, and it's a very brief book, and he's a non-Jew. He wrote for National Review. He's a brilliant man. Ernest von Den Haag. Jews brought a judging world into the world and they've never been forgiven for it. He's not the only one to say it, but he said it really well. That's why Jews, many Jews have left Judaism entirely, have become anti-Jewish themselves. That's Trotsky was an example. And there are others whose names I will not mention at this time because I don't want to get into politics. Anyway, that's the date today, 75th anniversary, and it is Holocaust— International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
