A reflection on Auschwitz

[hereidrawtheline]

Seeing this news article brought back some very vivid memories to me, and I felt compelled to share them with you.

This reminded me, because of the tattoos the prisoners were given. When I was about... 9 or 10 my teacher was a much older lady who had a funny accent and the children sort of were a bit frightened of her or thought she was weird. She was very conservative, very serious. Anyway one day she showed us this tattoo of numbers on her arm, and told us about the Nazis. She had been in one of their prison camps, I think it was actually Auschwitz as that was the only name I knew for years so makes sense that was what I heard first. I remember this utter bewilderment of what she was telling me. I couldnt believe it was true. I just couldnt process it. And then I did. I just got it. I felt it all and it was so real to me. And awful. Anyway I have to say she was so kind, and after that I always tried to be extra good for her. She was very young in WWII, she told us of her and her brother trying to escape Germany. It was just amazing but not in the "good" amazing way.

Anyway she must be dead by now she was grey haired at the time.

Writing this has brought some more memories back.

Her hands were curled over quite a bit. Like fingers clenched in a fist. And she explained to us that it was because the Nazis broke her fingers when she tried to escape the camp (unsuccessfully, she was released at the end of the war with the others) and of course she wasnt given any treatment for the finger breaks so they healed in that horrible way. She said they still hurt.

I dont know how she ended up in America. And teaching as well, she clearly didnt sink down and wallow in her misery as she would have had the right to. I cant remember her name, I wish I could. But she made a huge impact on me, as you can see, I am 30 and I can still see her tattoo and fingers and hear her slow methodical voice with that strange accent.

As it happens I have always felt history in a very real, intimate way. I often sit back and look around me and just wonder that so much is happening, has happened, will happened and it feels like trying to quantify eternity. That is the feeling this woman gave me.

yes I know there are countless other examples of genocide now and in history, but this was different, in that it happened in the "civilised" part of the world, under the nose of sophisticated people, within living memory, on our doorstep.

It is equally horrific but somehow less shocking when the genocide happens further away from you. I know if we take a moment to comprehend these other awful situations we feel the full force of them as we should do, but the Holocaust was so in your face and so near and so much entwined with our own identity.

To me it would be the same as if somehow Britain decided to immediately murder anyone who was not born on British soil. It just couldnt happen. It couldnt ever ever get by, not in any reasonable amount of time in the future. Something very extreme would have to happen in the world to make that remotely acceptable to carry on before people stopped it.

It is all mind boggling. Cruelty is cruelty and I dont think by any means that some people have suffered more than others because their fate is better known.

To add to hereidraw's list, I think the two crucial factors about the Holocaust are the scope of it and the industrialisation of murder. Not sure any of the other genocides, horrifying though they are, has involved six million people (am sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong).

And the mechanisation of death... the whole cruel infrastructure of it.

Plus the fact that it was part of a World War, with fighting on every continent bar the Americas, of course.

I am going on a trip to Poland on Friday.

I have debated long and hard (with myself) about going to Auschwitz but I am going to go...

I want to pay my respects and learn more about it.

Flappythebat - "history might be in our past, but it lives on because of peoples experiences & memories" - you are right that is just how I feel...

The stories on this thread are so but should never be forgotten iyswim...

I've been to Auschwitz and I agree that, although it's not really a "tourist" destination, it's a very sombre place that makes such an important impression on you and teaches you so much about human nature and tolerance.

You can buy biographies in the shop written by people who were imprisoned. I have one called "Hope is the Last to Die" which was very moving.

It would be easier to imagine it never happened but it did. And similar crimes are still commited today. We are lucky to live as we do and knowing what others suffered gives you more perspective on life.

To me, tne Holocaust has a unique place in the history of human cruelty due to the scale of the murder and the calm, well organised nature of it. I've only read books and seen documentaries to date, but I feel some sense of duty to one day visit a concentration camp.

I have been to a concentration camp near Berlin, when I was 17yo. It was certainly not a tourist destination, but a place for reflection and rememberance. And a warning.

Every German school child goes to a concentration camp, it is part of the school curriculum.

Phatcat
How horrific, I had the same thought as Edam. Why would they insist on him having a shower?

hereidrawtheline
What a sad story. How many lives that teacher touched, how many children she influenced.

I wish I could say thank you to that teacher. But I dont remember her name and she has probably passed away it was over 20 years ago I think.

I watched a really powerfull and informative dvd tonight called The Case for Israel www.thecaseforisrael.com/screenings_media/screenings.html

The last section was a chilling warning about Ahmadinejad and the Iranian nuclear program "This is a man who denies the Holocaust while systamatically preparing for the next"

And the moment Israel goes - we're the next targets.