I visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, yesterday. It was sobering. The thing that surprised me most was the degree to which individuals were the bright spots, while governments—even the “good guys” (the Allies)—were passively complicit.

On a Greek island, the Gestapo asked the local Orthodox priest for a list of Jews on the island. He wrote his own name, handed it to them, and said, “Here is your list.”

In late 1944, the Allies were aware of what was happening at Auschwitz. Humanitarian groups begged the military to bomb the gas chambers and crematoria. The Allies bombed a nearby petroleum processing facility but left the killing chambers intact.

I walked into one room and saw a pile of hundreds of shoes taken from the condemned as they were about to die.

As the Nazis turned up the pressure in the 1930s, many Jews tried to leave Europe. A few, including Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud, got out. Most didn’t. There was an international conference to discuss the problem, yet there were no significant increases in immigration quotas in the US, the UK, or most of the rest of the world. England resisted calls to allow immigration of Jews to Palestine. Boats of refugees were turned away. As the camps were liberated, there were moralizing speeches, and generals (Eisenhower) toured the carnage. Trials were held, but the damage was done. “Peace in our time.”

When the Nazis increased pressure in Denmark later in the war, individuals risked their lives to evacuate Jews to neutral Sweden.

A sign posted near the entrance of the museum says (paraphrasing), “This museum is not an answer, but a question.” My takeaway is that the problem is not “them” (Nazis**, Jews, etc.), or even “us” (the “good guys,” whoever that is), but me. The Orthodox priest nailed it. Individuals are the problem. Individuals are the solution.

** Note: This is rhetorical. The Nazi’s were a big problem.