Has there been any mention of Holocaust Memorial Day on Mumsnet today?

[Tobleronehouses]

I've just watched an incredibly moving and horrific documentary about Auschwitz. Some of the testimonials and scenes were hard to hear and see but at the same time, incredibly profound and important. Particularly in the context of the rise of far right nationalist organisations across many countries in Europe of late.

Despite studying the Holocaust at school many years ago, I'm still reeling from the brutality, the elimination of normal emotion towards fellow human beings, the unadulterated evil evidenced in this programme. And depressed by the fact that it has happened and is still happening in relatively modern times, in Rwanda, Myanmar, Srebrenica etc.

I'm Roman Catholic and I'm ashamed to say that I had never heard of inspiring women like Roza Robots. I had no idea that there were attempts at resistance within the death camps themselves.

And after surviving all of that, one elderly woman survivor being able to say "love is not what you feel, but what you do".

Not sure why I am posting really. Perhaps I've had too much gin tonight ( two is too many for me atm) but I just thought it was worth posting about. Sorry to be depressing but I suppose I have a sense that we are going through uncertain times in the world atm owing to Covid, and that profound evil can sometimes emerge out of unpredictability and economic hardship.

I'm not sure if there have been any other threads.
i think it's hard to have the mental space for this when there's a pandemic.
However we should still mark the day somehow. What has struck me most - and does every year- is how hollow 'never again' is. Again and again we stand by and see genocide. It was good that the Chief Rabbi ( I think- or another Jewish authority) called attention to the genocide of the Uighar people. Often people ask themselves 'what would I have done' about the Holocaust. But what have we done ever since, and now?
No answers I'm afraid as I have no idea what I can or should do about the persecution of the Uighars. I probably have even spelt them wrong.

My Great Grandfather was a Polish Jew who was interned and died in Auschwitz - my Grandmother kept letters from him - Amidst all the Covid drama, the day has sort of been lost a bit - James O Brien did a thoughtful short piece on his show today on LBC - especially pertinent because of the genocide currently taking place at the hands of the Chinese government.

Thanks for posting ladies :)

Thanks Stillwerise yes I thought perhaps that people can only handle so much misery ATM.

It is very depressing about the fate of the Uighars.

And yes indeed about "never again". I've just looked on the Memorial Day website and it makes that very point. Also, how we should never be complacent when the world feels vulnerable and fragile.

MadameTuffington Thank you. That is horrific about your great grandfather. How close to us it all is still.

I'll look on the LBC website to see if they make JO'B's piece on the subject available to access.

I noticed it's been marked a lot more, this year than in previous years. We had it on screen savers at work and the hospital was lit up purple. But I agree with a PP about not having the mental space at the minute.

Yes I saw on the news, subsequent to posting here, about landmarks across the country being lit up purple. Really moving gesture.

I totally get that people only have so much head space this year.
But what struck me from some of the testimonies from survivors (who are very few in number and by definition are now very elderly) was how in the midst of terrible cruelty and unspeakable conditions, some people were still able to help others at great risk to themselves. And in many cases that help saved lives. And without wishing to sound preachy, that is quite an important lesson for the world currently. Lest we forget and all of that.

You might like this - it brings thing closer - iremember.yadvashem.org/?p=6229

Thank you so much Steamfan what a brilliant idea. I will try and get myself and my teen DD "matched up" over the weekend if it's not too late for this year. What an amazing (and as you say, very immediate way) to learn more.

I saw The Windermere Children for the first time this week, which was excellently done. The accounts at the end from the adults who were those children were so well expressed, remarkable people, all of them.

I'm halfway through The Eichmann Show which I need to process in small bits. It's an interesting counterpoint to Gitta Sereny's book re her interviews of him.

Just returned to this. Thank you very much MichelleofzeResistance for all of those references which I will follow up on.

I was listening to Jeremy Vine in radio 2 today. A lady survivor gave her account of the holocaust. Incredibly powerful and I’ll never forget what she said.

The holocaust was amongst some of the most terrible atrocities on recent history, and it should be remembered, lessons learned. The suffering and horror was freadful.
Every year right now 3 million children a year die from starvation in this world.
Suffering is not a competition.
But we need to be aware of the current issues.
And remember that many powerful leaders of the catholic church were pro- Nazi.

In Israel they mark the Holocaust on their own Memorial Day called Yom HaShoah. It is same day as the Warsaw uprising, when the Jews fought back whereas the international HND for is on the same day as the liberation of Auschwitz. The whole country stand in silence to remember in a way that I have never seen elsewhere, as sirens blast country wide. Look on YouTube for motorway traffic coming to a halt.