Things are great this morning. I have a ton to blog about and a long list of "good" chores. God, I'm happy that February is done. Which is a weird way to lead up to this story.
The New York Times reports that researchers have finally counted up the number of death camps, slave labor centers, ghettos, and brothels that existed in Nazi Germany. The number? 42,500.
Why didn't anybody properly document these numbers before?
This number is important for a lot of reasons. First, it shows that nobody in Germany could honestly claim that they didn't realize that Nazi were killing Jews. Second, it helps survivors and their relatives in court. Third, it shows how much resources the Germans devoted towards genocide. Could they have won the war, if they hadn't been so hell-bent on killing people? Fourth, numbers are important. It gives a way of conceptualizing the horror.
The Times put this article online on Friday and we've been talking about it for four days.