Ukraine war begs the question -- will we ignore our 20th century vow of 'never again'?

The world has witnesssed terrible atrocities in Ukraine since Russia began its invasion of the country this year. Have we forgotten the lessons of World War II?

The main entrance at the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland, with the inscription, 'Arbeit Macht Frei', which translates into English as '"Work will set you Free", Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019. On Jan. 27, 1945, the Soviet Red Army liberated the Auschwitz death camp in German-occupied Poland. Auschwitz was the largest of the Germans' extermination and death camps and has become a symbol for the terror of the Holocaust. ( ) The railway tracks from where hundreds of thousands of people were directed to the gas chambers to be murdered, inside the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz Birkenau or Auschwitz II, in Oswiecim, Poland, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019.  ( ) A wagon stands on the railway tracks from where hundred thousands of people were directed to the gas chambers to be murdered inside the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz Birkenau or Auschwitz II, in Oswiecim, Poland, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019. ( ) A resident looks for belongings in an apartment building destroyed during fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in Borodyanka, Ukraine, on Tuesday. (AP/Vadim Ghirda) Gravedigger Alexander, digs a grave at the cemetery of Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, on Wednesday, April 27, 2022.  ((AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)) Orthodox Sister Evdokia gestures in front of the crater of an explosion, after Russian shelling next to the Orthodox Skete in honour of St. John of Shanghai in Adamivka, near Slovyansk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Tuesday, May 10, 2022.  ((AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)) Local resident Oksana walks through the destroyed second floor of her multi-generational home while searching for salvageable items on Monday, April 25 in Hostomel, Ukraine, outside of Kyiv. ((John Moore/Getty Images)) William McNulty is a Marine Corps veteran and currently serves as the Head of Mission for White Stork, an aid organization in Ukraine.

The goal of this Russian invasion is not simply to eliminate a military adversary, but rather to eliminate an entire culture. The dark history of the last century required us to invent a new word for this sort of war: genocide.