Holocaust Memorial

We visited Dachau many years ago and the experience has never left me.

I still visualise it all many years later and wonder at the horror of what humans can do to each other.

I also don't understand those who deny history. I reallise that 'history' is written by the victors but there has been much recently that undermines events in these camps. In time, will people forget or disbelieve?

realise

I found the Antiques Roadshow memorial very moving too, when they held up the yellow stars of David it brought a lump to my throat. I have visited Oradour sur Glane, a French village in the Limousin near where I live. All the villagers were massacred by the Waffen SS including the children. President de Gaulle decreed the village should be left just as it was after the massacre, childrens toys around, bullet holes in the church where people were shot, and the cemetery where whole families are buried who died on the same day. I can't tell you how moving it is and how respectful all the visitors are.
What lessons have we learned ?

This is part of our family history , DH lost family in both the Russian Pogroms and the death camps , I lost loved ones in the camps , we are unable to visit these camps because it would be too painful .. but it is good to know that some of you have . We dont believe that the world will ever learn from these sacrifices and horrors , the sadness sometimes overwhelms me .

*Cari *Yes I watched it too and was moved beyond words, tears or anything. Literally transfixed.

Like so many of you I watched the programme with a lump in my throat and with tears rolling down my cheeks. Of course I've seen reports and read of the atrocities throughout my life but I think I will make a point of watching/reading about it at least once a year. Lest we forget.

I visited Belsen over 45 years ago yet the utter silence stays with me. It was wintertime and the ground was covered with snow, somehow making the desolation beautiful, yet that is not a word I'm comfortable using in this setting. What amazed me was there were no footprints in the snow of birds, rabbits or anything else, only the human visitors who all kept to the footpaths. I'd previously poo-poohed the notion that the birds don't sing in that place - how could the birds possibly be affected? - yet it was as if the rest of the world had stopped at the gates.

My DH's Parents fled Austria in 1939, my FiL had witnessed dreadful scenes in the streets before WWII after the Nazis annexed Austria. DH's Uncle also came to the UK at around the same time (I haven't accessed his records yet). My FiL also had to apply for his & MiLs Passports to be amended from German Nationality back to Austrian. Both my DH & BiL were born in UK.

I too watched Antiques Roadshow & recorded it as I want to watch again, such a moving programme

This is a subject very close to my heart.

If you are interested, please read "If this is a man" by Primo Levi (Se questo è un uomo). It is one of the most important books of the 20th Century and written by a man who lived through the horrors , survived and felt he owed a duty to tell the story of those who did not.

This is the preface:

You who live safe
In your warm houses,
You who find, returning in the evening,
Hot food and friendly faces:
Consider if this is a man
Who works in the mud
Who does not know peace
Who fights for a scrap of bread
Who dies because of a yes or a no.
Consider if this is a woman,
Without hair and without name
With no more strength to remember,
Her eyes empty and her womb cold
Like a frog in winter.
Medititate that this came about:
I commend these words to you.
Carve them in your hearts
At home, in the street,
Going to bed, rising;
Repeat them to your children,
Or may your house fall apart,
May illness impede you,
May your children turn their faces from you.

One of the very sad truisms of History, is that mankind does not always learn from the last.

From the past

Sadly we don't seem to learn from the past. I too watched the Antiques Roadshow and I too had tears on my face. It was so incredibly moving and hearing what families had to say made it so very real. I really liked the 'boys' tapestry. What a wonderful idea. Also I didn't know that some fleeing parents were told to suffocate their children if they cried in case the Nazis in the locality heard and caught them all. It's so very hard to believe the cruelty that went on - and that cruelty in various forms is taking place today.

We need to show passion and anger when we see division and hate. We must never be afraid to defend our principles no matter how hard. We must always point to what we see as an injustice wherever it is taking place.

Sometimes whitewave I wonder if I'd be brave enough. I'd like to think I would but......?

At our age it wouldn't matter. We've lived. But those tinies who are suffering have an absolute right to expect us to speak out.

For those who may not know about Holocaust Memorial Day on Friday 27th January , its a day that all of us who lost precious people light a candle at dusk and place it in a window , we remember all the people who have died since The Holocaust in places like Rwanda , Cambodia and now of course Syria... The light from the candle is a glow to show we never forget .

We watched too, and were overcome at times by the sadness of it all. There must be members of the armed forces who were first to witness the atrocities which had taken place, and who will have the memory with them forever.

I've got connections as well through marriage to this subject.
To show that not everyone ignored what was going on, I was heartened to see this story today in our local paper:
www.ladepeche.fr/article/2017/01/16/2497375-les-deux-couples-ont-sauve-des-juifs.html
The village mentioned isn't far from us.

I will light a candle on HMD.

My father has always made the most of every moment in his life. He is now 90 and in pain with arthritis but still learns, explores, goes out to lectures, concerts, galleries, museums, goes away with my stepmother on short holidays. He has volunteered for years and helped out where he could, worked for various campaigns and still goes on anti-war marches. He is an inspiration to his children and grandchildren and he puts us to shame. When I asked him why he rarely stops, he said he owes it to his parents and family to make the most of his gift of life, to live it for them as well as himself. He has, and will do as long as he is able.
I'm not sure what I will feel when I visit Auschwitz. I'm not even sure of the practicalities of how to get there from Krakow too, or whether a day's visit is sufficient as I believe there are two sites - is that correct? I'm interested to know about the Jewish Museum in Berlin which was mentioned by another poster - thank you, I will include that in my itinerary.

I wonder why it is that we don't learn from history....

When I visited Oradour-sur-Glane on my way home from a visit to the UK there was no-one else at all there. It was an extraordinary and weird experience and I walked back down the deserted main street with tears streaming down my face. I had to sit in the car for quite a while before I could continue my journey home.

We watched the program too,how on earth did those people endure it all.
My son visited the camp in Germany, and he said most people were in tears.

I agree Cari. Krakow is beautiful and easy to walk around. the salt mine is fabulous. I went on my own and enjoyed taking in the big square.

There's a Jewish museum in London.

I found the Holocaust the most difficult thing to tell my children about when they were growing up. For them to learn about 'the evil that men do' (and not just men of course) seemed such a betrayal of all the virtues I had tried to teach them.

Rowan tree, we spent 4 days in Krakow which is a beautiful friendly city. We joined guided walks, which were excellent. We walked out to the Schindler factory, which is one of the best museums I've visited, much more interesting than I'd expected.

Our visit to Auschwitz was memorable, moving and as everyone has said, the other visitors were respectful. There were a number of groups of Jewish schools from Israel, the young people would have be 16 - 18 age I suppose. Some of them wore the Israeli flag on their shoulders, something I could understand and empathise with given many of them would have their own stories of loss.

A close friend went as escort to a group of older people who somehow survived Auschwitz. He lost every member of his family in Auschwitz, other than his parents who got out of Poland in time.