The systemic genocide of six million Jews carried out by Nazi Germany continues to loom large in the lives of Jews around the world.
Dunedin member of the Jewish community Daniel Fridberg said it was still important to talk about the Holocaust today.
"It is important to talk about it because things are not necessarily getting better in how minorities are scapegoated worldwide."
Dr Fridberg is the programme head for the graduate diploma in conflict resolution at Otago Polytechnic.
"Intolerance towards ethnic minorities has a lot to do with our subject matter, as you can imagine."
"Radicalisation is apparent all over the world, and very strong social divides are emerging, while shared societal values are decreasing."
A growing number of countries were following right-wing, divisive extreme leaders.
The effectiveness with which authoritarian leaders have shifted their countries’ public opinion to support nationalistic and xenophobic ideologies between the world wars was striking, Dr Fridberg said.
Instead of resisting the type of manipulation that took place in Germany, Italy and Spain in the 1930s, a new generation and a new type of media seemed to nurture intolerance, hatred and division.
"It looks like people are only yearning for information that confirms what they think.
"Instead, we should be engaged in a critical observation of these trends and those who are trying to manipulate us.
"The memory of the Holocaust should serve as a reminder of what happens when we legitimise and enable hate speech towards the vulnerable and marginalised members and groups of our society."
The Holocaust
The Holocaust refers to the genocide of six million Jews carried out by Nazi Germany and its allies between 1933 and 1945.
The Jews were not the only victims of Hitler’s regime, but they were the only group that the Nazis sought to destroy entirely. Nazis sought to murder every Jew everywhere — regardless of age, gender, beliefs or actions, and they utilised a modern government bureaucracy to accomplish their goal. This reached its deadliest point in the Nazis’ "Final Solution" and the establishment of extermination camps where Jews were systematically murdered in gas chambers.
— Holocaust Centre of New Zealand
