Holocaust Memorial Day

My late friend and colleague Liesl was on the last Kindertransport to the UK. As an adult she made an important contribution to health and care in the UK and I remember her with fondness and gratitude. The rest of her immediate family perished.

I have lit a candle for all who perished especially members of my mothers family. She was lucky and got out just in time with her mother and always remembered those who didn't.

Sarnia

The Zone of Interest is on at cinemas at the moment. A very disturbing film which shows Rudolph Hoss, his wife, 5 children and assorted servants who lead a very comfortable life in a lovely house and beautiful garden. On the other side of the garden wall is Auschwitz and Hoss is Commandant, overseeing the slaughter of Jews. The cold detachment Hoss and his wife display to the horrors going on next door is chilling. Worth a watch if you can stomach it and no surprise it features on the Oscars nominations lists.

This sounds very similar to the book and film of ‘the boy in the striped pyjamas’ where the commandants house and garden were next to the camp and his son makes friends with a young boy in the camp .
Thank you for mentioning the new film .

I am watching Survivors Portraits of The Holocaust on BBC2 at the moment. Unbelievably harrowing stories of survivors chosen to have their portraits done. I've seen it before but it's worth watching again.

Chocolatelovinggran

Years ago, when my children were young, we visited the house which hid Anne Frank. Whilst queuing we commented on the church bells which she mentions in her diary.
What seemed so poignant was that some passers by were older ladies- shopping, chatting to grandchildren etc and it was suddenly so clear to me that Anne and her sister should have been amongst them.

That made me gulp Chocolatelovinggran. So poignant.
I was only at the Anne Frank House a few weeks ago, and was asked to come in and do two lessons with 10/11 year olds at school this last week.
The Holocaust is such a sensitive subject, but we can't ignore it. Treading so very carefully, I asked the children to work on the following quote from the diary.
I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness; I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too. I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more.

www.hmd.org.uk/learn-about-the-holocaust-and-genocides/

I visited Auschwitz last year and the thing that I wrestled with then and remains with me now is that the atrocities were carried out by ordinary people, primarily men, who had their own children or families and friends, people who, pre-war, had normal occupations. The prevailing groupthink allowed them to ‘other’ and therefore dehumanise the people in the camps.

When avoidable tragedies/atrocities occur the phrase, “lessons have been learnt”, is often trotted out, but have we really learned lessons from the holocaust? The recent examples of ‘genocide’ are proving contentious even on this thread. On the Holocaust Memorial page linked above the writers themselves make reference to more recent genocides that:

….represent a failure of humanity to learn from the holocaust and are a reminder for all of us that we must be prepared to guard against genocide happening again in the future.

The holocaust demonstrates that we, ordinary people, can, under some circumstances, be persuaded to ‘other’ people who are ‘not like us’ with disastrous consequences. I shall light my candle this evening and pray that I never succumb to such thinking.

Years ago, when my children were young, we visited the house which hid Anne Frank. Whilst queuing we commented on the church bells which she mentions in her diary.
What seemed so poignant was that some passers by were older ladies- shopping, chatting to grandchildren etc and it was suddenly so clear to me that Anne and her sister should have been amongst them.

I can never get my head around Holocaust deniers, wilful and blatant disregard forcl the truth imo, all the evidence is catalogued and there are umpteen films of so many corpses and the evidence of allied forces who went in to liberate those camps. Even if the numbers are disputed, the intent to wipe out a race of people was there, don't try and dispute that at least! The Jews that survived it will have been meticulous in their forensic investigations. It's recent history for heaven's sake, we're not talking 1066 here

Denials of the Holocaust has risen by 104% , we must not remain silent

I shall just be thinking of the Jewish and other victims of the holocaust in Nazi Germany and in the many concentration camps.
Any other genocides to me are completely different, usually different tribes or religions murdering each other.
What happened in Nazi Germany was like nothing either before or after in scale or sheer awfulness.
I have a special candle for this day.

I never forget from childhood those awful concentration camps but the day I spent at Auschwitz and Birkenau. The little suitcases, the spectacles of the victims and the horror of those constant killings was made worse by thr silence of all those of us who felt we just had to visit.. While we were in Germany we made a visit to Dachau and whiles awful it did not affect me like Auschwitz and Birkenau. And now Jewish families living in UK are fearful for the future in our country. There are no words.

🙏🙏🙏🙏🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️

I’m watching the film of the Diary of Anne Frank on BBC2. I had a Dutch friend who knew her.

We must remember the victims of the Holocaust🕯️

Man’s inhumanity to man is Alive and well in this world today and doesn’t look as if it’s going to change any time soon.

At dusk I shall light a candle.

Being driven into gas chambers 🕯️

For me the most lasting image of the Holocaust is the concentration camps. Today I think of all those who suffered back then. 🕯

I watched a snippet of a beautiful, elegant 100year old+ (I think) Jewish lady, who was in a concentration camp with her family. She was searching for her mother. When she asked, the little girl was told by a guard, I guess, to look up at the smoke from the gas chambers . That’s where her mother was. How cruel ! Let us think of those poor people today . I will be lighting a candle.

Yes time to reflect on the Holocaust and other genocides, one that is often forgotten is that of Armenia in the early 20th century.

It is also a day to remember other genocides as well as the dreadful holocaust, Oreo.

Oreo

Anniebach

Holocaust Memrial Day takes place every year on 27 January, and marks the liberation day of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp.

In the years since, this date has become internationally recognised as the day we remember the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, and the millions of other innocents killed under the Nazi regime

I will be lighting a candle today and thinking of them all.
Please don’t bring any other conflicts or wars or miseries into this day whitewavemark2 as this day is just about remembering the holocaust victims.

I think that if you actually listen to the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, you would understand that they fervently support the reflection of all genocide on this day.

If we refuse to do do man has learned no lessons.

Holocaust Memorial Day 🕯️

Anniebach

Holocaust Memrial Day takes place every year on 27 January, and marks the liberation day of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp.

In the years since, this date has become internationally recognised as the day we remember the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, and the millions of other innocents killed under the Nazi regime

I will be lighting a candle today and thinking of them all.
Please don’t bring any other conflicts or wars or miseries into this day whitewavemark2 as this day is just about remembering the holocaust victims.

biglouis

Let us not forget that many others were killed as well - gypsies, communists, gay people and the disabled as well as members of other groups.

As someone else has also said.