This is Czesława Kwoka, 14 years old. Her only crime was to have lived as a Pole in the wrong place at the wrong time. (this list could be continued indefinitely) Because the self-appointed representatives of a so-called master race did not know what to do with her, she and her mother were summarily disposed of in Auschwitz like garbage. She did not survive this for long...... It is by far not enough to say, "Something like this must never happen again!" - one must also be willing to accept unpleasant disadvantages in order to really prevent such a thing. For it was seldom the deeds of a few that made evil possible - but the silence of the masses. And THAT is indeed a German hereditary guilt, which "we" will rightly bear for a long time to come. (If I have violated the masonic rule with this - I don't care, sorry that) regards Olli
My elementary school teacher, Rachel, was one of the lucky few to escape. When the war broke out she was a little girl living in Antwerp with her mother. The family had moved to Belgium from Poland to escape the antisemitism in that country, so they knew very well what Hitler meant. When the Germans invaded Belgium Rachel and her mother took to the roads, fleeing westwards to find safety with the BEF and maybe get to Britain. They were just two of the hundreds of thousands of refugees clogging the highways, and though Rachel never talked about it to me I imagine she and her mother must have seen their share of the horrors of that time. They weren't able to get to Dunkirk so they finally had to make their way back to Antwerp. There they lived in mounting fear under German rule for two more years. Then one day Rachel's mother went into the local German office on some routine matter. There was a German official there who was kinder than the others, and he said softly to her: "You must get out of Antwerp. Something terrible is about to happen to the Jews." Rachel's mother was highly intelligent and she believed him. So she fled with Rachel once more, out of Belgium, across the occupied zone of France, and into the Vichy zone. I don't know the details of how she did this yet, but Rachel's mother was a very attractive and forceful woman and she had connections in the Antwerp diamond business so perhaps she bartered some stones for safety and transportation. She knew she wasn't safe in the Vichy zone either so she crossed into Spain and eventually reached Lisbon, where she was able to get her daughter and herself a passage to Cuba. They reached Cuba and spent some time in a refugee camp before finally getting passage to New York, which is where Rachel lived for the rest of her days. She was a remarkable person, always sunny and optimistic despite--or perhaps because of--her narrow escape. She never thought her own story was very special, perhaps because all the refugees from Hitler could tell similar ones.
Just watching The Last Survivors documentary on BBC2. Some very poignant stories. I had school friends who had ancestors that were lost in or had experience of the Holocaust - we must always remember.
There is no boycott in Germany, as every year, the Bundestag and many local parliaments, churches and of course synagogues had some event. Stefan.
Holocaust Memorial Day Trust January 27 is now the day the world remembers the Holocaust, its victims and those of other attempted acts of genocide throughout history. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z49mrj6 Holocaust Memorial Day (UK) - Wikipedia
In 1990, not long after the fall of the Berlin Wall, my wife and I and a few friends visited the nearby 'small scale' Concentration Camp at Sachsenhausen in the former East Germany, where it is believed as many as 100,000 inmates may have been killed. The memories of that visit have stayed with me for ever. 1936-1945 Sachsenhausen concentration camp | Gedenkstätte und Museum Sachsenhausen Gus
A really good interview on BBC Breakfast this morning with one of the last Holocaust survivors, Arek Hersh, aged 93, and the artist who painted his portrait, one of seven recently commissioned by Prince Charles. 'Didn't know I would live’ Holocaust survivor Arek Hersh details escape from Auschwitz The Prince met the survivors and artists and was very moved by their stories. The paintings will be a permanent reminder of some remarkable people having gone through unimaginable horrors and survived. There will also be a documentary on BBC 2 at 9pm this evening called "Survivors: Portraits of the Holocaust", which goes into more detail.
Not read a book specifically relating to the Holocaust for years, despite a longish period of reading little but. Seems not uncommon that people hit a wall of grim fatigue when attempting to more fully understand events. My congratulations to those that remain engaged with the subject. The conclusion I drew was that we'll never really 'understand' it, but we mustn't stop looking at & remembering what went on. There's some right fucking bastards in the world, and there always will be... Watch out for 'em.
On 1 October 1933, the "Disciplinary and punishment regulations for the prison camp" came into force. The "Dachau School" was based on it as the ideological foundation for the (deliberately inhumane) treatment of the prisoners. From these beginnings, one by one, things have escalated into the unimaginable: Disciplinary and punishment regulations for the prison camp, issued by the commandant of the Dachau concentration camp, Theodor Eicke, on 1 October 1933. (incompletely handed down) State Archives Nuremberg Introduction Within the framework of the existing camp regulations, the following penal provisions are issued for the maintenance of discipline and order in the area of Dachau Concentration Camp. All prisoners of the K. L. D. [Konzentrations Lager Dachau] are subject to these regulations from the time of admission until the time of release. The camp commandant is responsible for the execution of the camp regulations and is personally accountable to the political police commander. Tolerance means weakness. Based on this realization, ruthless action will be taken wherever it appears necessary in the interest of the Fatherland. The decent, incited people will not come into contact with these penal provisions. But to the politicizing agitators and intellectual rabble-rousers - of whatever stripe - beware that you are not caught, otherwise you will be grabbed by the necks and silenced according to your own recipe. https://www.hdbg.de/dachau/pdfs/05/05_03/05_03_01.pdf
BBC two tonight 21.00 Portraits, survivors of the Holocaust Holocaust Memorial Day: Portraits of last remaining UK survivors unveiled BBC Two - Survivors: Portraits of the Holocaust
My Jewish ancestry (one eighth) is from a small town called Uhlirske Janovice, about 30 miles southeast of Prague. Jews first settled there in the 18th century. The family names included Stern, Taussig, Hoffmann, Dub, Schultz, Kaplan, Secora, and Kafka. The community was never huge but it had a synagogue and a cemetery. The community shrank in the late 19th century as people moved away to the cities and also (like my great-great grandfather and -great-great-grandmother) to America. By 1930, there were less than 60 Jews left in Uhlirske Janovice. The cemetery is still there, though the local teenage clods periodically vandalize it. The synagogue, too, is still standing. Most remarkably, the community Torah was saved. But there are no Jews living in Uhlirske Janovice today. They were all deported in 1942. Thanks, Neville. Thanks, Peace in Our Time.
Friday 27th January 2023 Holocaust Memorial Day Trust | HMD 2023 Theme And as a five year old, I could stand at the edge of the clearing where the trains were being loaded. People like sardines in those wooden trucks. And the people loading them in – they were railway men, they didn’t look terribly different from the railway men who check my tickets these days – they looked like ordinary people. Dr Martin Stern MBE, Holocaust survivor These railway workers, who looked so ordinary, were indeed ordinary people from all across Nazi-occupied Europe, working as train drivers, conductors, signal men. Some of these ordinary people were perpetrators, driving Jewish people to concentration camps; some were rescuers, hiding Jews.
I cannot understand the numbers, whether looking at the name of my Grandmother's first husband ( she remarried ) on the Menin Gate, or in Singapore captured lists: the lists are countless. "Pte Heinz Mendelsohn, fought as Johnny Melford - refugee from Berlin born 13.9.22 – 2nd Bn. Sussex reg. then 21st Independent Paras - volunteered for Paras in early 1943 - Arnhem - wounded (shot through cheek ) - escaped" A friend of my father I knew as "Uncle John." Educated at a minor English public school, he refused to join the Cadets. He had seen the real thing. So they made him scrub the parade ground with a toothbrush. He was the model of an English gentleman. So I think on the family of Jewish Berliners he lost.
I did a little research today it being Holocaust Memorial Day. I came across this article: Blog #Heinz Thannhauser - robertspublications Lt Bill Beadle attended Buxton School at this time and must have known him. Lt Beadle's younger brother spoke fluent German and may have learned the language with the assistance of the 30 or so German Jewish children to whom the headmaster offered places, some at his own expense. Buxton College - Wikipedia Both Lt Beadle and Heinz Thannhauser died in Italy in 1944.
BBC - Holocaust survivor using TikTok to share her experiences Lily Ebert, a 99 year old Holocaust survivor, takes to Tiktok with the help of her great grandson, to tell her story.