Think of the many cultures throughout history that have disappeared, some for which we've no account, and others now only known by artifacts or bits and pieces of written history. Rather than focus on the cultures that have been lost, First Nations can focus on the one that has survived thousands of years,

As we remember the six million Jewish victims of the Shoah -- defamed, demonized and dehumanized, as prologue or justification for genocide -- we have to understand that the mass murder of six million Jews, and millions of non-Jews, is not a matter of abstract statistics. For unto each person there is a name, an identity; each person is a universe. As our sages tell us, "whoever saves a single life, it is as if he or she has saved an entire universe." Conversely, whoever has killed a person, it is as if they have killed an entire universe. Indifference in the face of evil is acquiescence with evil itself.

With so many international atrocities committed against women on a daily basis, I as a woman in the west sometimes feel that there is very little that we can do. But living in the lap of luxury doesn't remove the sadness one feels when they see the news reports. I feel overwhelmed by the state of women and believe we should act more. This International Women's Day let us educate ourselves and the society at large.

I am sitting in the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre in Toronto, with Ve'ahavta Street Academy (VSA) students. VSA is a school for the homeless and near homeless. As a Holocaust survivor begins to relay her tale of struggle, I wonder, what are the addicts and former addicts thinking when the presentation is summed up with, "This isn't a very happy story"? But they are alike: They have all survived one more day.

Being hunted like animals is an indelible memory for me. One day, the Germans came to our factory unannounced as part of their relentless search in pursuit of prey. I distinctly remember Papa and Mama hurrying us up to the attic of the factory. This happened often. My father finally declared, "I cannot tolerate this any longer. We will go voluntarily to the trains rather than hide and wait to be captured." He was either completely nuts or incredibly courageous.

Many people who are affected by war don't make it into the history books. One of them walked into my home the other day to install California shutters. He was born in 1960, the same year as I was. His name is Thic and he remembers well the corpses piled up outside his home after America changed her policy and pulled out her troops. Our world is populated by Thics.

It was a cool spring day, and the sunlight shone kindly down on Auschwitz. Beyond the barbed wire, villagers walked briskly to church in their Sunday finest. Eva walked in queue with the other women and children toward "the showers," a place the adults knew was the gas chamber. They were 200 meters away.

Thursday is Holocaust Remembrance Day. While governments knew about the Holocaust, many kept the details hidden from their citizens. Had the digital age existed and had enough individuals been encouraged by mass social activism, one hopes the outcome would have been different.

Women's crimes are seen as something that falls beyond the 'normal' scope of violence. Male criminals in the Second World War and Rwanda were painted as brutal, thuggish. The female criminals were brutal too, but also sexually-perverted, diabolic, and often mad.