Auschwitz Anniversary

[Edward]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...s-of-auschwitz-anniversary-is-on-50-survivors

Seeing the coverage of this, I'm so pleased the focus has been not on the heads of state and the politicos, but the survivors themselves. There's a real sense that this could be the last time they're all able to attend an event of this nature. Their voices really need to be heard - and recorded now, before they recede into history.

I did have the chance to attend an event a few years ago at work, where an elderly Jewish lady, originally from Poland, spoke of her experiences. She evaded capture as a child of four, her father was in the Polish resistance. Harrowing story. I hope as those who were there pass on, their story is neither forgotten nor twisted to suit any particular agenda, but remains standing as a warning from history.

 

[Turnip]

As rightful Auschwitz is to be the crystallization point of the Holocaust it though oversshadows sometimes those „Aktion Reinhardt“ extinction camps where about 1,8 million people have been killed in gas chambers within about a year during the liquidation of the polish Jewish ghettos in 1942/1943.

 

[Trenchfriend]

And always mentioning DACHAU, the "germ cell".

 

[Edward]

As rightful Auschwitz is to be the crystallization point of the Holocaust it though oversshadows sometimes those „Aktion Reinhardt“ extinction camps where about 1,8 million people have been killed in gas chambers within about a year during the liquidation of the polish Jewish ghettos in 1942/1943.

Inevitably this sort of event requires a focal point, but I agree we should be careful to remember all aspects of these terrible events.

The thing I've noticed recently is that we're seeing more focus on other elements of what went on - not "only" the deathcamps, but also the earlier ghettoisation and otherisation of the Jewish community particularly, but also the long list of other people who were subjected to similar treatments. I'll never forget listening to a local commercial radio station back in the 90s in Belfast when they discussed issues of gay rights - late night, but still perceived as quite radical back then. A caller phoned in - giving his name and everything, no shame about it at all - and openly advocated that "all gay men" should be treated "like Hitler did to the Jews". Of course it was pointed out what did happen, but it did make me realise there's a lot a lot of people remain unaware of that went on. Particularly too I think we need to be reminded often of the early stages - how this sort of thing starts. The death camps could never have happened without the complete dehumanisation which was born of otherisation of "people who are not like me, and like whom I will never be".

There's a great series on streaming currently called We Were The Lucky Ones, a true story about the experiences of one Polish Jewish family who all managed to survive the war in various ways. It does - of course, and importantly - mention the death camps, but it focuses more on so much else that was done at locations other than Auschwitz, how it all started, how people did get stuck because it was something that came about slowly as the threat ramped up gradually... I think it's a good thing we see more of this sort of thing as the warning from history that this sort of horror starts subtly and not immediately with the deathcamps.