It is never helpful or compassionate to minimize someone’s pain just because someone else has gone thru worse. your pain is valid even if there’s someone who’s been thru worse. the holocaust analogy, to me, is bizarre.
that being said, i personally feel that even when i’m dealing with something extremely difficult, it helps me put things in perspective to see others who are dealing with something much worse. for example, i had a very difficult family situation recently, probably one of the hardest things i’ve dealt with in my adult life, and when it was at it’s most intense, i felt like i was breaking. but when i look at several of my friends who have teens at risk and are really struggling, i will take my peckel over theirs, any day. personally, i think it does help me to see that things could always be worse. but i would NEVER tell someone to get over themselves because someone else has it worse.
i do also feel that many ppl are burdened with their past, and can’t move forward without properly dealing with it.