holocaust museum, Washington

[jeanne]

My thesis, should I ever finish, is about war letters so I tend to read about WWII and/or Vietnam War vets.  I saw this article yesterday and it just brought tears to my eyes.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/10/28/acevedo.holocaust.soldier/index.html?iref=allsearch

[Carol P.]

Thanks Jeanne.

[MAK]

 

[Kris G.]

    A very sad time in history.

[valhalla]

One of the museums that I can't do.  Although my family immigrated from Germany (very near the Polish border) in 1905 and Daddy and all my uncle were stationed in Europe in WWII, the very thought of deliberate human extermination chills me on one hand and boils my blood on the other.  Greenwood Lake back in the 1960s had (and still does have) a very large population of German immigrants - some of which were/are Jewish.  As a little kid, we'd go to Breezy Point for dinner, and I saw the numbers on some of the customers arms and wrists.  Being nosey, I'd go up to them, look, and ask why.  I was always given a gentle answer (thank God), but by the time I was 10 (ish) I did know.  Then I began asking real questions.  I got the answers from the "horses mouth" so to speak and I heard the stories while they were still pretty new.  The shame and horror simply overwhelms me.  I can read the accounts, but I don't want to experience them.

[anneintoronto]

I never cease to be appalled by what humans can do to other humans.  I read my father's war letters to my mother and wonder how he, a kind, gentle person, survived his experience in Europe, mentally as well as physically...  But in the midst of all these horrors, I look around and constantly see good people doing good deeds for others and I still have much hope for our world.  Otherwise it would be too horrendous to contemplate...  Thanks for this reminder, Jeanne.  It does pay to never forget.  And it also pays to be aware, vigilant...to look to the future carefully, kindly...

Anne in Toronto

[Patti from Kentucky]

...  But in the midst of all these horrors, I look around and constantly see good people doing good deeds for others and I still have much hope for our world. 
Anne in Toronto

I visited the Holocaust Museum quite a few years ago, and spent the rest of the day in a severe blue funk; it was unbelievably disturbing.  But to your point, there is one exhibit dedicated to the "heroes", the people that took incredible risks helping Jews escape, or hiding Jews in their houses, or otherwise risking their own well being to rebel against the "horrors".  That exhibit had the biggest emotional impact on me of all...from goose bumps to tears...I was in awe of their courage...and wondered if I would be brave enough in a similar situation...

It bothers me to think I could be complicit in some future persecution simply by turning my face away and failing to act, to protect my own skin.  That portion of the exhibit was a small thread of hope and goodness to hang onto.

[anneintoronto]

It bothers me to think I could be complicit in some future persecution simply by turning my face away and failing to act, to protect my own skin.  That portion of the exhibit was a small thread of hope and goodness to hang onto.

 
Patti -- I think that most of us do fear what we might do in any given threatening situation.  But I find, in general, that those who have ever previously stopped to considered such a situation seriously, are the first to do what is morally right.  And fortunately, the majority of us do have a solid moral code, which we trust to carry us through...  That is our "small thread of hope and goodness".  On the other hand, those who do become part of the problem, instead of part of the solution, somehow lack that moral code or are at least so weak, that they don't stop to consider the seriousness of the choices in front of them and readily become tractable.  That's why it is so vitally important for each generation to pass on to the next, the lessons of what has previously happened, when a detrimental situation has occurred, so that that generation is aware that they must stand up for what is right, moral...even in the face of adversity.  Hence the soundness and the strength in the saying, "Lest we forget"!

Anne in Toronto

[jeanne]

I wonder the same thing.  Would I risk my life to protect someone from such  atrocity.  Simon Weisenthal, the late Nazi hunter, came to my school many years ago.  He lost close to 90 members of his family and yet was so gentle.  He just believed in justice.  I marvelled at that.  I went to the memorial in LA and understand how you felt, Patti.  I was so very sad through it all. We each got a "ticket" with a young child's picture on it and at the end, found out what happened to the child.  It was chilling.  My dad's army unit went through Dachau.  I often wondered how this poor farm boy from upstate new york, could see such horror and yet come out intact, good and decent.  In the research I have been doing for this thesis, I read where the generals, Eisenhower included, vomited when they went through the camps. 

[Kris G.]

A friend of mine sent this to me tonight and thought I'd share. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlccsLr48Mw

[Patti from Kentucky]

A friend of mine sent this to me tonight and thought I'd share. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlccsLr48Mw

Thanks, Kris; she's an amazing woman!