UK National Holocaust Memorial Day

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day. The 58th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

A day to remember the Jews, Roma and Sinti (‘Gypsies’), Poles, homosexuals, disabled and others who were murdered by the Nazis.

Regardless of the name; Holocaust, Shoah or O Porrajmos - This is a day that all the victims should be remembered.

It is also a day to think of other genocides that have been, or are being, commited and try to strive to ensure that “Never Again” means that.

To all posters who are decended from peoples who had genocide commited against them: By your very existence, your lives, just being here and sharing your views with all of us; you honour your ancesters.

thank you for the reminder, kal.

In Poland, in Silesia, along the river Sola, there sat a little town named Oswiecim. It was a quiet place, and the people there kept to themselves, for the most part. Nothing of note ever really happened there, and it was ignored by the outside world. Finally, just before the First World War, the Austrians brought a railroad spur to Oswiecim, with the station in the neighboring village of Brzezinka. The village was called Brzezinka, because, in Polish, Brzezinka means “birch trees”, and there was a birch forest next to the village. The railroad came, but things didn’t change very much.

The town had a Christian majority, but by 1935, almost half the population was Jewish. The two communities got along reasonably well, by all accounts, and everyone was sure that they would for the near future, because, after all, nothing exciting ever happened in Oswiecim.

Then, in 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The Germans were fighting, not just for more land, but also for an idea, a new order based on race. Because, you see, these Germans didn’t hold with the “all men are created equal” idea. No. Germans were superior…naturally. It was in their genes. But, if Germans were superior, who in Europe was inferior? Slavs, of course. They were just natural slaves…unfit to do anything else. As for other races, Jews and Gypsies, they were worse than inferior. They were diseased. No, they were diseases. Homosexuals? They were just deviants. The seriously mentally and physically ill? Unfit to live. Jehovah’s Witnesses? Religious fanatics. Socialists and Communists? Insane traitors. This was what the Germans thought. But what was the answer?

“Throughout the lands we control, lets build camps and centers, to hold these unfit people, so we can get rid of them easily.”

One of these camps, which would be the model for all the rest, the camp that the German government could point to as an example of the way the camps should be, was placed at Oswiecim. The camp had everything neccesary to get rid of undesireables. There were large gas chambers, to kill the unfit upon entering. Of course, these camps were expensive, and the prisoners, even though they were “inferior” and “parasites”, still could work. So, the camp also had barracks, and the big German industries, places like Krupps, Siemens, and I.G. Farben, as well as many smaller industries, set up factories there. Oh, the workers were all going to die anyway, but at least this way they could work themselves to death, and help the economy, so to speak. Of course, the Germans, being German, used German names, instead of Polish ones. So, Polish Oswiecim became German Auschwitz. Polish Brzezinka became German Birkenau.

Auschwitz ran from 1940-1945, until it was liberated by the Russians, and over those five years, about 2 million people died there, about 1 to 1.6 million of those Jews, and about 500,000 Roma and Sinti. The people murdered there committed no crime except for being what they were, which is to say, people that the German government decided should die.

In Poland, in Silesia, along the river Sola, there sits a little town named Oswiecim. It is a quiet place, and the people there keep to themselves, for the most part. Nothing of note ever really happens there, and it is ignored by the outside world.

On a related note, if any of you live in, or are going to be passing through, the DC area - go see the Holocaust Museum. You might want to give yourself at least 2 days to do so.

I went shortly after it opened several years ago and it was… well, nevermind. Words cannot do it justice, you have to see it. It’s an experience that defies description.

The first day of high school, I made a chance remark to the guy who had the locker next to mine. This guy went on to become one of the few friends I had in high school. Some time during those four years, I found out he was Jewish and that he had family who died in the Holocaust. His best friend is a homosexual, the guy I’ve mentioned a few times around here. My best friend, as I’ve said, had handicaps. The standards imposed by Nazi Germany would have robbed me of three close friends, and I’m probably just awkward or ornery enough to go with them.

To all those who perished, all those who survived, their families, and those who remember them, I raise a glass, and I promise that I will do whatever I can, how ever little it may be, to make sure it never happens again and that you are not forgotten.

I wish this could be more eloquent.
CJ

Recently there was an exhibit about Anne Frank here in Fort Worth sponsored by a group of both Jews and Gentiles who are attempting to make sure that the Holocaust is not forgotten.

Each week during the six or seven weeks of the exhibit they had a speaker who had some connection with the Holocaust. Either a survivor, someone who helped hide Jews during the war or a GI who was with the American army that liberated Dachau. Their stories described the horrors endured by those considered sub-human by the Nazis and showed what can happen when hatred and prejudice escalate to mass murder.

I have done a lot of reading and studying about World War II and the Holocaust but it was a real eye-opener to listen to and actually meet people who lived through it or saw it first hand. I still can’t fully comprehend the magnitude of the atrocities committed.

Thanks for starting this thread Kal.