” Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) is set aside for remembering the victims of the Holocaust and for reminding all people of what can happen when bigotry, hatred and indifference reign. ”
When I was a young teenager I use to have these vivid dreams, dreams that I was on a train, a cold damp crowded train, headed for a concentration camp, terrified, knowing that only death awaited me.
It is on this day, at sundown, that Jewish people everywhere, take a moment, and reflect on the utter devastation of the Holocaust. It is an opportunity to remember those who died, not just the Jews, but the millions of others who perished in the death camps, and to honor their memory by not allowing another genocide to occur. But sadly, the world has not learned. We have the examples of Cambodia, Rwanda, and the most recent atrocities in Darfur.
Last night, tears gently rolling down my cheeks, I sat quietly, alone, and watched a wonderful Hallmark movie about a brave woman, Irena Sendler. Risking her life, she saved 2,500 Jewish Polish children in the Warsaw Ghetto. It was an amazing story to watch. Having been to the Holocaust Musuem in D.C. several times, I will never understand the evil that lurks within human beings. The horror of Germany was that it was a modern society, steeped in culture and science.
Irena Sendler stands as a testament to the good that can reside within us. Torture and threat of death, could not break her resolve to protect the children, and the brave families who risked their lives to hide them from the Nazi’s. She was an ordinary person, brave enough, to do the extraordinary.
Today, even in the 21st century, you still have Holocaust deniers, like the President of Iran, who proclaimed at the U.N. Conference in Switzerland, “the state of Israel had been founded “on the pretext of Jewish suffering” during the Second World War.”
Around 20 delegates, including envoys from the UK, France, Canada and Finland stood up and left the room at what was considered an anti-Semitic remark by the Iranian leader, who has repeatedly called for Israel to be wiped off the map.
Very nice post, Elena. I recorded all but the first 15 minutes of the Hallmark show. Maybe this would be a good afternoon to watch it. Yes, its a good day for a hero.
Agreed… good post Elena.
Great post. Too bad we don’t also have a remembrance day for the many tens of millions more who were killed as a result of communism in Russia, China, Cambodia and Cuba.
agreed here’s an educational resource guide on the holocaust http://www.findingdulcinea.com/info/holocaust-resources
John Doe, why can’t they be included in this day?
Stalin never gets the blame for killing over 20 million Russians. There are certainly others than China, Cambodia and Cuba also.
Africa has its fair share groups who have been killed and are still being killed, for whatever reason.
It is not a well known fact, but more than 1 million Jews were killed in Russia during the Holocaust. Most of them were not killed by the Russian gov’t however, but by their neighbors.
Elena, is that true you had this dream growing up. How truly haunting. I am also inspired by people who stand up in the face of hatred and orchestrated fear.
Gainesville, will you elaborate on your last statement? I guess I am confused. I didn’t realize that Russian Jews lived amongst non-Jews during that time.
Welcome Nic, thanks for the great link!
Witness Too,
Yes it’s true.
Whenever someone starts to deny the holocaust–any holocaust, but in particular the WWII holocaust–I have to stop myself from becoming enraged. Then I start to wonder about people who delude themselves.
I know we each live our own realities, but at what point are we allowed to deny other people’s realities if we are in positions of power?
I saw Auschwitz on a tour to several countries behind the Iron Curtain a few months before the Berlin wall fell. The (in)famous gate with “Arbeit macht Frei” was standing and the railroad tracks were there. It was so real I could see the cattle cars coming in, emptying out these innocent people.
We were taken to the room with the ovens. I cried while some in the group eagerly took pictures. It was awful. We saw the barracks, we saw the suitcases which, I believe, are now in the Holocaost museeum.
In an anteroom there were pictures of thousands of people who died there. They weren’t just Jews. The Gypsies were also “taken care of”. Our Polish guide tried to gloss over the fact that there were Poles working alongside the Nazis in the camp. No, I’m not blaming the Poles but I believe the natives didn’t have much chance to say NO to the SS folk.
To actually see this, is to get an unbelievable feeling of what happened.
Well, I will say I’m proud of everyone here for not blaming Greg L, Stirrup, or Stewart for this. Then again, we’re just getting started with this thread.
Quite true – there were others besides Jews taken to Auschwitz and other concentration camps.
As far as 1 million Russian Jews killed inside Russia during the holocaust time period – I only know of it from older relatives who grew up in that area but left before that time – although their relatives were still there, or other friends of the family. At this point those people that told of this are no longer alive, but I’ve also heard references to it on the news from time to time.
Actually, in Russia well before the Holocaust in the late 1800’s, Russian Jews were often the victim of pogroms, where Russians attacked Jewish areas and basically looted and plundered. In those cases I’m not sure if many Jews were killed, but a lot of damage was done. My grandparents from Latvia used to talk of this.
Thanks Gainesville. I had read some accounts of SS going into Russia and doing dastardly deeds to Jews who lived in villages in the country. I confuse my areas there. The sad thing is, those of us who have parents and grandparents of the WWII era and who want first hand information had better ask questions really fast because soon there will be no one left to ask. There is so much I wish I had asked my own.
Punchak, thank you for that haunting account of your visit to Auschwitz. You gave me cold chills. I don’t think that the Poles or the Uraines got much of a chance to say no either. Life then was about survival.
Elena, I understand even better now.
We are cautious creatures, we humans. It is not in our nature to respond with courage when someone in our midsts attempts to take advantage of our trepidation, using tactics that make us afraid.
We may see others stand up, and this can inspire courage. But if we see a retaliation, where the brave ones are confronted with consequences that are unpleasant and intimidating, our caution takes hold of us again. We feel it is safer to be silent and stay on the sidelines.
The question is, how far do we let the intimidation go on before there is a real cost? At what point is the cost of NOT standing up greater than the cost of standing up?
Or could it be that this is the wrong question to ask? Perhaps it is our duty to stand up to those who use intimidation and fear tactics SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY USE THOSE TACTICS, regardless of their ultimate aim, even if the aim is no where near as nefarious as the most notorious historical examples.
You don’t have to respond. But I do sympathize with you feeling as you must an added responsibility in such situations.
Elena, thank you for posting this moving piece and thank you Punchak for capturing an emotional moment of your trip.
Somehow, it’s hard to imagine people taking pictures of Auschwitz. I know I might want to if I visited, but for some reason, it seems wrong.
Then again, maybe we need the constant reminder.
Gainesville,
My grandfather came through Ellis Island, a mere two years old, escaping the Porgroms of Russia with the rest of the family. He has long ago passed away, my son is named after him. If memory serves me correctly, my great grandfather was a beer brewer, until the pogroms that is.
Elena – my grandfather also came through Ellis Island, but he was around 10 years old at the time I believe. I know when he was 18 he fought in the US Army in WWI in Germany. Unfortunately, I don’t really know what my great-grandfather did for a living in Latvia. My father might know perhaps. Of course my grandfather also passed away many years ago (about 35 years ago roughly). I visited Ellis Island some years ago (roughly 15 years ago) – it was very interesting.
Find out everything you can now. Sometimes it takes parents and grandparents a long time to even remember, if they ever knew. Sometimes it is just stuff they remember hearing as a kid. My mother was my only living link to the civil war. She had talked to people who fought when she was a child and of course they were old men. She has told me bits and pieces. I know almost nothing about the immigrants who were ancestors on my dad’s side and it is too late to find out.
I guess I am saying, Gainesville, call your dad and ask him!!! I always scoffed at all the old people’s stories when I was younger. (rolling my eyes, wondering if they were ever going to change the subject) Now I wish I had it all back. Until all those sources are dead and gone, you just don’t realize the vital history you lose.
“I had read some accounts of SS going into Russia and doing dastardly deeds to Jews who lived in villages in the country.”
Moon-howler, I believe what Gainesville Resident is explaining is that, in fact, genocide against the Jewish people was actually an organized process in Russia LONG before Hitler came to power and introduced it into Germany. The term “pogrom” is, in fact, a Russian term, coined and perpetrated LONG before WWII. The segregation of Jews into Jewish “ghettos” (actually a term coined by the Russians) was also a common practice in Russian, as well as some of the Eastern European countries.
Prior to the rise of that sick [expletive] Hitler in Germany, Germany was, in fact, the only European country which allowed uncontrolled Jewish immigration and emigration and, when Hitler and his thugs rose to power and it became obvious the Jewish people would be targeted (they still had an opportunity to leave), the vast majority of them either would not, or were unable to, leave because other countries refused them sanctuary…including the United States. Few who applied were admitted, unless they had a great deal of money, connections, or family already there. All these circumstances combined to make the Jewish people in Germany the most vulnerable of any single, LARGE segment of the population upon which Hitler’s government could lay blame for the economic woes of the country, and away from the realities of the war into which they were plunging Europe…and eventually a good part of the rest of the world.
Elena, some of the local police departments and military supervisory schools have a mandated trip to the Holocaust museum to learn about power and its potential for corruption, how otherwise decent people can fall into the trap of following corrupt leadership blindly. Its quite a learning experience.
“Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn.”
Robert Burns
Hi Lucky Duck,
Is it the one led by ADL? It sounds like an incredible program, ALL elected officials should be urged to go.
Yes, it is. I have been to it several times – I have accompanied several groups down to the visit. Its amazing that some young people only have a passing knowledge of what took place. Its a experience seeing their reactions.
Elena, one of my former co-worker’s father had served in the US Army in WWII and was part of a unit that liberated a death camp. His son took him to the museum when he was very elderly. When the staff found out he was a “liberator” – part of a unit that liberated a camp – they took the old man around as a hero. It was a complete surprise to the family and even though the gentleman has passed away, his family still speaks of the event and the impression that was made.
@Lucky Duck
You know, I had the most amazing student when I was a middle school counselor, really gifted, ESOL, raised by single mom, and yet had such an “old” soul. If he did well in school, me and a teacher promised him a special outting. We assumed dinner, ice cream, a movie…… Nope, he wanted an outting to the Holocaust Musuem in D.C. What an amazing child.
Lucky Duck, what an amazing heart warming story. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hi AWC, yes, that is what Gainesville is saying. I am commenting from way up….something he said earlier…more or less agreeing. I was trying to think of the deaths of the Kiev Jews at Babi Yar. At any rate, according to answers.com, 2 million Russian Jews were killed.
http://www.answers.com/topic/history-of-the-jews-in-russia
The Babi Yar name was driving me crazy.
Oh I gave Stalin credit for the deaths of 20 million people. Actually, that is probably a conservative estimate.
Lucky Duck, I think that will be a good thing for all the departments to do. I went to the Holocaust Museum when it first opened. I felt it to be a chilling experience.
AWC – yes you are correct about the pogroms against the Jews – they existed in the late 1800’s in parts of Russia. You explained it a lot better than I could have. Thanks.
Oh Lucky Duck, what a wonderful story! Thanks for putting it on the blog.
I just saw your latest post MH – that’s a good link you found and it explains a lot of what happened in Russia. I did not know the bit about them mandating Yiddish replace Hebrew. My grandparents spoke Yiddish as did a lot of Jewish people from Eastern European countries. They and my mother spoke it around me and my siblings when we were young when they didn’t want us to know what they were talking about!
The article also confirms one thing I said above, that some local residents in the German occupied areas took it upon themselves to commit genocide against the Russian Jews. This was in addition to any gov’t sponsored genocide. This is during the WWII time-frame. The Russian pogroms occurred earlier – generally in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s. Of course that’s why my grandfather spoke of the pogroms, as he came to the USA around 1908 give or take a year. That is an interesting article, I only skimmed it as it is getting late, I will have to read it in more detail. Thanks for finding it.
Finally, yes everyone (especially here in the DC area) should get to the Holocaust Museum. Unfortunately I do recall some foreign leader (I can’t remember who) that was anti-Israel visiting the Holocaust Museum and afterwards his statements seemed to suggest nothing sank in. I wish I could remember who it was, but it escapes me.
If he got past the section with the piles of shoes that had belonged to survivors and nothing sank in, then he is considerably less human than anything I want to imagine. I don’t know why, but those shoes just will haunt me forever.
Gainesville,
My stepmom emmigrated from Russia, in the 70’s, when they finally let some of their Russian Jews leave. I’ll never forget, when her mother finally came over, a few years later, my dad’s mom (my Bubbie)and she would communicate by speaking Yiddish. It’s sad, Yiddish is a dying language.
I watched Ahmadinejad’s speech today and it made me sick. Iran is a grave threat to the Israelis, and what this Iranian leader understands is nothing short of brute force. While it’s no secret that I have enormous differences with our current President, it makes me ill to hear our articulate, Harvard-educated President put himself on an equal plane with some of these animalistic world leaders during his worldwide “apology” tour. Sorry, but we cannot “reason” Ahmadinejad any more than one can “reason” with a two-year-old. They are not moral and intellectual equals by a long shot.
Obama needs to understand that Mr Ahmadinejad means what he says about Israel, and no amount of “I’m sorry America has been so arrogant” talk is going to soften that.
I have not been to the Holocaust museum yet–would it be too intense for a young teenager?
The shoes, the human hair, the walkways with pictures, entire jewish towns, obliterated. And yet, you see today, in Darfur, genocide, and the world is quiet.
Emma,
There is an exhibit just for children. But it is hard to look at, to comprehend the utter devastation. The most disturbing pictures are somewhat hidden so that you must be at least four feet tall to watch. Before I took a young person, I would do alot of “prep” work. I know, for me, the bad dreams began after I saw the Holocaust mini series on T.V. when I was a young teenager.
I don’t think Obama underestimates Ahmandinejad. Obama’s actions will further isolate him from his neighbors, and that is what we need to happen.
Holocaust and Sophie’s Choice both gave me nightmares, too.
If the teenager is mature and you have talked with him/her about the Holocaust, it is intense but something I would not rule out. Let’s put it this way…with a parent fine. I would not recommend it for a field trip for kids in elementary or middle school–high school only if upper grades (for the main museum). I think kids need parents for something that intense.
There used to be a mini museum called Daniel’s room if memory serves me right. It was extremely well done. Serious but not horribly frightening.
That’s good to know. One of my kids is on the sensitive side, so it might be best for me to preview it first.
Emma, I think that President Obama knows exactly what he is dealing with. I think he has seen non-communication fail. I feel he is attempting to find some sort of common ground, much like Bill Clinton did. Amazing things can happen when people discover common ground. You never find out what that common ground is if you aren’t at least talking.
I must ask, what has not talking to our enemies ever gotten us?
Maybe a trip to the WWII Memorial might set the stage for Holocaust Museum. I think that is the most wonderful memorial! Emma, I sure wouldn’t take a sensitive youngster to the main Holocaust Museum without some prep work. You can go to the children’s one without going in to the main one. It is extremely well-done in my opinion. Of course I haven’t been in quite a few years, but even so, I doubt if much as changed.
correct M-H, it’s Daniels room.
Emma,
Sophie’s Choice, did you read the book? Meryl Streep is amazing in the movie, but the book…..that is a must read.
MH – I don’t know what the WWII memorial would do. I found it utterly sterile, not evoking any feelings – for me anyway. And I don’t see it would do much for a teenager. Must say too, that Americans tend to coddle their teens. A 15-16 year old is old enough to, if not understand (who does?), grasp what happened during WWII. Young people can cope a lot better than their parents think, IMHO.
We hear protests when pictures are shown from the African continent with its horrible events, yet it’s OK to see shootings and murders in movies and on TV shows. Stark reality – nono!
Punchak, I find the WWII memorial beautiful and a fabulous dedication to a generation of people, many who didn’t live to see it built. Did you go look at the relief work on the momument side? Each panel told its own story. The gold stars? the fountains?
I must also confess that you are the first person who I have ever heard say it was sterile. To me it embodies all those people in my life who were grown ups when I was a kid.
The WWII Memorial might help a younger person understand the enormity of that war and how it was necessary to press the entire nation into service to overcome enemies on so many fronts. Oh hell, at least the War and the Holocaust were related.
I think the WWII memorial is very nice. Indeed, if you look at each panel there is a lot to see. The first time I was there I spent at least an hour going around it and looking at everything. The detail in the panels is really amazing.
Elena – you are really right about Yiddish. It probably is one of the more interesting languages as it drew from a lot of East European languages. I took a year of it in religious school but that was very long ago and I don’t remember much of it other than the more common words that a lot of people know. Then again I took many years of Hebrew and don’t remember a lot of it either, other than to be able to read and pronounce it. It is too bad that many of the fluent Yiddish speakers are dying off.
MH,
It is the shoes that still haunt me today, about 12 years after my visit to the museum. My brother brought his 12 year old to DC and that was the #1 museum on his “must tour” list. I thought it was strange for a 12 year old to be interested in it, but he is a really smart and intellectual kid. Now that I know him better, I wouldn’t really have expected anything less!
Informative article in this month’s Atlantic Monthly magazine -“Hitler’s Co-Conspirators” by Benjamin Schwartz.
“New histories reveal that the Nazi Regime deliberately insinuated
knowledge of the Final Solution devilishly making Germans complicit
in the crime and binding them, with guilt and dread,
to their leaders.”
As others have asked: How could a modern,
highly educated, 20th century society, rich in culture and
western civilization, do such a thing?
I saw the WWII memorial for the first time after the urn setting (don’t know another word)of the ashes of a family friend (a Distinguished Flying Cross recipient) at Arlington Cemetary. His two children had hired a minibus with guide/driver to take their families (and me) around the mall to see the various monuments.
Most in the group felt like me about the WWII memorial. To much gray stone. The Vietnam and Korean War memorials got top rating.
Gainesville,
On my list of “to do”s when the kids are older is learn Yiddish. I only remember a few words from my grandmother.