Holocaust Memorial

There is a film out currently called Denial. It's based on the true life story of an American academic who was sued by David Irving because she criticised him in one of her books.

She was interviewed on Women's Hour this week and was impressive. Evidently David Irving offered to allow her to settle the case, providing she gave £500 to a charity of his choice. Some holocaust survivors wanted her to do this, to avoid giving David Irving's denial the oxygen of publicity. The case was heard over several months, int the UK , where our libel laws were evidently more favourable to DI, or so he believed. He lost and the Judgement against him sounds to have been strong. (of course it would be)

As well as that,*whitewave*, they had an elected extreme right govt. which passed laws enabling them to punish severely anyone who dissented, or tried to help or hide any of the non-accepted groups.
As well as laws denying those groups their rights as citizens.

27th January

I for one will be giving some thought to this day and what it means for our future.

It happened because a large majority of the population accepted the politics of division. From an initial programme of Identifying the "other" and a gradual slid until full blown termination They accepted the false fact that Jews, gypsies, special needs, disabled and mentally ill were something to be disposed of.

I've also visited the Anne Frank house, Anya and Tricia. I found it quite harrowing, a very strange atmosphere, everyone very subdued. Made us feel sad.

Anya same here - we visited the Anne Frank house during a visit to Amsterdam.
We lived in a Jewish community in NE England for 10 years, (my husband is a Jew,) and some in the older generation were survivors of the Holocaust, or their descendants. Many stories.
A dear friend across the road from us had been in Bergen Belsen as a very young child. She was from Holland, a big family, all the children survived, but her parents died of typhus towards the end.
I once read about two Jewish doctors in that camp who kept the children separate and the adults contributed any food they could find to keep the children alive.
As for Auschwitz, that's another story.
But as others have said, we never learn and similar things are still happening .

Unfortunately, Irving is still believed:

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jan/15/david-irving-youtube-inspiring-holocaust-deniers

I have never read anything about David Irving. How can such a flat earther be believed, there are so many first hand eye witnesses both sufferers and guards and those who brought release?

I've never visited any of these death camps, but it was bad enough seeing the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. There is a small exhibition there which reduced me to quiet tears and everyone else seemed very subdued. Something I'll never forget.

I have no wish to visit any of these places. I am not Jewish, but I was 12 years old when the war ended. I will never ever forget the cinema newsreels, of the skeletal inmates of the Belsen camp. They are indelibly imprinted in my mind. I don't need to visit these places, to be reminded of, mans inhumanity to man. Which still exists and always will.

May I remind anyone interested that there is the National Holocaust Memorial www.nationalholocaustcentre.net - it's a very moving tribute to all the people who have lost their lives - be it Krakow, Birkenfeld etc. as well as a very informative display to how it all began. It's a centre which is frequently visited by school children - there is a special tour for younger visitors. Well worth a visit if you're in the Newark / Notts. region. I've visited to listen to a talk given by Ivy Knill and will never forget listening to a survivor who also happened to be one of the Kinder Transport.

My late father was one of the first soldiers to enter one of the smaller concentration camps to liberate it. One of the last things he said before he passed away was that he had never forgotten the sight and smell of the place and the sadness that for all the fighting he still couldn't save all those poor people. Coming as he did from a very small country village and working on a farm at only 17 years of age I simply cannot imagine how he and his comrades dealt with all the horrors they must have seen On a slightly lighter note he was posted to India and I have a photo of him on an elephant - not many of those in rural Devon at that time.

Exactly. Lest we forget.
The fact that the holocaust denier, David Irving seems to feel his lies are now being accepted as truth is terrifying.

Exactly when that is why it is so important to remember this day as I think it serves two very important things. The first is to remember all the millions of dead as a result of these atrocities and the second is to recognise the symptoms of a potential disaster happening again, but it undoubtedly begins with "the others"

When the DC were young (so about 30ish years ago, I suppose), we went to a travelling exhibition in Aberdeen. It was put on by the Anne Frank Foundation (I think - it was certainly the Anne Frank something) and explained very clearly just how easily these things can come about. First there is the fear and distrust of "the other" which creeps insidiously into society, then measures to remove their rights and so on. It was quite frightening, and more so now when "the other" seems to be immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. We all need to be very careful in what we think about what we hear and read, and also about what we say. It could happen here too, dreadful as that is to contemplate.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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....

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.

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.

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 .

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.