GMB reporting on liberation of Auschwitz (minus the Jews!)

[TheRewritingOfHistoryBegins]

I couldn’t see another thread on this but if there is, let me know.

AIBU to be absolutely outraged about the report on the liberation of Auschwitz of GMB without one mention of the fact they were Jewish people who were killed?

https://x.com/antisemitism/status/1883921202416345358

What the hell is going on in this country where we can’t even speak of the victims of the greatest atrocity ever taken place in this world?

Jews they were Jews.

It’s just poor wording, but I’m not entirely sure what you’re so offended about. Everyone knows who (mainly) got killed.

If anything, I’d say the Roma are the most overlooked group in that respect.

It’s very poor that a flagship programme like GMB got this so wrong today. All the other main channels managed to have far more appropriate coverage. I have also complained to ofcom.

'but they didn't all die there, did they?', carries a risk of implying it 'wasn't as bad as all that'.

That certainly wasn't my intention. But lazily lumping them all in the category of "died in concentration camps" is:

(i) untrue,

(ii) offensive to the memory of those who died in other ways and who deserve to have the facts of their deaths accurately known,

(iii) doesn't broaden people's knowledge of the manner of deaths and spread of locations across Europe, and

(iv) opens the door to scepticism about the "real" facts when people realise the statement isn't true, possibly leading to wondering if Holocaust deniers or revisionists have got a point.

One thing I've learned over the years is that the Holocaust isn't one story of how 6 million people died, it's 6 million stories of how an individual died. They were individual people with individual lives and individual deaths. It's a dishonour to not accurately acknowledge that. And that goes for all the other victims too, whether Romani, gay, political prisoners, handicapped, mentally ill, Jehovah's Witnesses etc.

It’s sad that many people have tried to derail on social media sites that it’s Holocaust Memorial Day. I’ve seen a couple of attempts on my Facebook groups today where people have referenced our thoughts being with the people murdered at Auschwitz only for some pro Palestinian groups coming on there ranting about the Palestine situation being similar. It sickens me that it is being uttered in the same breath as the Holocaust. What happened at the hands of Hitler was beyond anything else in history, and certainly not comparable in any way to what has happened to the Palestinians. Why can’t they just let people remember today all those who were murdered by Hitler, instead of making it all about Palestine.

But it wasn't just Jews though was it? It was gays, gypsies, disabled, people of colour etc
Never forget means never forgetting all who suffered.

Historians estimate that around 1,1 million people perished in Auschwitz during the less than 5 years of its existence. The majority, around 1 million people, were Jews. The second most numerous group, some 70 thousand, was the Poles, and the third most numerous, about 21 thousand, the Roma and Sinti. About 15 thousand Soviet POWs and some 12 thousand prisoners of other ethnic backgrounds (including Czechs, Belorussians, Yugoslavians, French, Germans, and Austrians) also died there.

As a member one of the 'next most numerous' groups I am perfectly happy to have Jewish people mentioned first and often. Yes, many others died, but when talking about Auschwitz-Bikenau, the genocide was of Jewish people.

Today of all days.

If you had been a Palestinian living in Palestine this last 12 months I'd suspect your opinion would be different.

Break it down to basics. One group who have tripled in size in the past 70 ish years want to push another group who have been there centuries out of the area and claim it as their own. Can we think of any recent occurances that sound similar?

@Livelovebehappy one of the programmes I watched said it commemorated other genocides too, as 30 years from Bosnia genocide, and they had a report from 2 people who had been children then, both from Muslim families.

The issue I see with it is, the holocaust memorial groups quite rightly say it is a rememberance of the jews and the other persecuted groups who were sent to that horrible place.

The likely ommision of saying Jew by ONE news network, as a mere mistake becomes a big thing. It is akin to one group saying our grief is greater than yours.

What happened at the hands of Hitler was beyond anything else in history, and certainly not comparable in any way to what has happened to the Palestinians.

The problem with that sentiment is that, if the Holocaust was so uniquely abhorrent in human history, then there is no "lesson to learn" from it because it's unlikely to happen again.

I'll attempt to paraphrase a comment I heard today which was attributed to a survivor of Auschwitz: the lesson to learn about the Holocaust isn't about concentration camps, it's about being vigilant when people start targeting other groups, because it can escalate.

In other words it's the early days of Nazi anti-Semitism we should be learning from, and be vigilant in today's world.

A little ironic that you're linking to x here, when it's owner just did a nazi salute in front of the world.

Pushing someone out of an area they ‘own’ is very different to being taken to a concentration camp, being deliberately starved, experimented on, tortured, murdered and all the other barbaric actions. Nine million people were murdered by Hitler over a five year period, vs 139,000 Palestinians over a 77 year period. I repeat, not comparable at all. Besides which the posts were started by people wanting to remember those who died as a result of the Holocaust (you know because it’s Holocaust Memorial Day…), and people should have respected that, and should have chosen to comment on the dozens of daily posts on Palestine instead of derailing the one day posting by others who want to show their respects.

Exceptionally well put. Thank you.

To those saying that the vague reporting was correct because of the other groups of people also targeted, I sympathise, but this is not the moment. Antisemitism and holocaust denial is on the rise, we cannot afford to have major, national television programmes shying away from the reality of the holocaust and the fact that the vast, vast majority of those targeted were Jewish.

And I say that as someone who is both gay and disabled, and, if it matters, pro-two-state-solution with regards to Israel and Palestine. I know how often our holocaust history as gay and disabled people is overlooked, but that is no justification for this reporting, and we cannot pretend that it is.

As another poster pointed out about the people murdered by the Nazis. Each and every one of those Palestinians are people with their story to tell. Surely that epitomises the need to learn from the past.

Imagine I turn up at your door. Give you an hour to pack your stuff and do one. Saying, well this house was my great (x10) grandparents land they were forced out of. I am taking it back.

I don't think it was omited by malice, rather perhaps poorly considered words. But as said, even Jewish people point out it is a chance to remember ALL the shit that was going on to many groups.

Today there was a lot of focus on Auschwitz being 80 years ago and the survivors, as for many it will be the last time they can travel there.

Did anyone see the full report?

I do think that the omission of Jews in that particular paragraph reads like an inadvertent error (on the basis that the sentence simply did not make sense) but I'd be curious to know is they referenced Jewish people at all.

Missing them from one sentence wouldn't be as egregious as missing them from the entire report.

That has shocked me.

You think you have seen it all...

wasnt solely Jewish people though was it? I think everyone knows the history of those who died in the camps and they are honoured and remembered and also to the men who died in service to liberate all the camps.

Most of the reports on BBC involved memories from some of the few remaining Jewish survivors from Auschwitz-Birkenau. Did GMB not include anything like that?

Good point. If anything that makes it all the more important to highlight all persecution. Sadly these poor men and women aren't going to be around much longer to tell first hand stories of the atrocitites.

How many of these grew up not blaming individual German people for a bunch of nutters. How many do not want to see people removed from their homes to make way for incoming settlers by way of war spoils.

I agree with the quote you shared from the Holocaust survivor.

This is happening actively in the UK and America - politicians trying to convince us that immigrants are the reason why our our public services are suffering. All to distract us from the fact that we are actually suffering because our government officials serve the interests of the super rich and public service cannot complete.

I am not saying that this is Nazi Germany all over again. But we should indeed be vigilant when the scapegoating rhetoric about groups of people becomes so commonplace.

It is a big shame that reference to Jews was omitted from a report about the Holocaust. Seems mad that that could happen. I hope this is apologised for.

But let's not make this more divisive than that. It won't do anyone any good.