On January 27, 1945, the largest mass murder in history officially ended. But this is not the only great holocaust that has occurred. According to Woir, 180 million Native Americans died due to the colonizers, as a consequence of the wars of conquest, due to the loss of their habitat, due to the forced change of their lifestyle and due to the diseases brought by the Europeans against which the native peoples had no immune defense.
“Alongside the drama of the Shoah, there are other massacres that no one talks about, tragedies like that of the American Indians, which led to the extermination of a large part of the indigenous ethnic groups,” points out Viola Lala, press officer of the World Organization for International Relations, an international organization that promotes social progress and human rights.
October 12, 1492, with the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the American lands – mistakenly called the discovery of America, since naming it like this denotes a Eurocentric vision – was the beginning of the end for the natives. That date marked the beginning of a massacre that ended only after the First World War: over 500 years of wars during which, in the name of colonization, millions of human beings were mistreated and killed.
“And not only the natives died, but also their traditions and their culture and a pristine natural habitat was destroyed forever,” explains Lala.
Indeed, the European invasion brought with it disease, death, desolation, plunder of resources and natural wealth. The remaining native populations were enslaved, tortured, stripped of their land, their culture and evangelized.
Native Americans, an open wound
More than five hundred years have passed since the European conquerors landed in America and unfortunately little has changed since then regarding the situation of the Native Americans. Today as yesterday, some descendants of the indigenous people of the region are forced to move to the poorest areas of the continent, or, on the contrary, receive “occupation permits” from the States so that they can live on lands that were illegitimately usurped from them in the past.
Remembrance Day is an important date that allows us to understand how and why the Holocaust occurred and can facilitate a better understanding of mass violence in general, as well as highlighting the importance of promoting human rights, ethics and civic engagement in order to strengthen human solidarity.
The question we should ask ourselves on this Remembrance Day is: why do we remember some genocides and ignore others? Why is there a Day of Remembrance for the Holocaust but not for the 180 million exterminated Native Americans? Why in 2026, 534 years after Columbus’ arrival, are Native Americans still arrested on their land, still discriminated against, still considered “other”?
Memory cannot be selective. “Never again” cannot only apply to some. Until we have the courage to look all the genocides of history in the face, we will continue to repeat them.
We also make their pain visible by reconstructing historical memory, which is fundamental for becoming aware and never making the same mistakes again.
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