April 11-18: Yom Ha-Shoah (Holocaust Days of Remembrance)

[Ian David]

The annual observance of Yom Ha-Shoah, Days of Remembrance, began Sunday, April 11. This year, the time is especially important, as 2010 marks the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi camps.

For the event, PBS offered a Masterpiece Classic program, the Diary of Anne Frank (WFYI will repeat this several times during the week). Diaries were one form of resistance to the Nazi scheme. They had to be hidden, so there is likely a treasure trove of material yet to be found. A recent collection, Alexandra Zapruder’s Salvaged Pages (Yale University Press, 2004), contains portions of several diaries of younger people and is highly recommended.

<snip>

It’s often heard that history repeats itself, especially if we don’t learn its lessons. This leads to another point. It’s often forgotten that Jews were only one of several targeted groups, others included Slavs, Roma, and people with disabilities. It’s the latter who are of interest at this point. We hear a lot about the need to cut budgets and reduce government, and Hitler’s minions embarked on precisely such a program. Posters, advertising and articles of the Nazi period prominently featured the “costs” of disabled people and how these would never be able to earn enough to cover their expenses. In the face of heated rhetoric, it’s easy to forget that a good part of so-called “entitlements” go toward people with disabilities. Those who proclaim their “pro-life” status would do well to keep in mind that “life” is more than just being born. People with disabilities need support — including access to health insurance that has often been denied them, either by refusal of companies to accept them, or the cost (this is so even when they’re able to find employment). We may shrink in horror at the Nazi atrocities, but some of those who accuse others of replicating them today may do well to look in a mirror.

More:
http://www.examiner.com/x-42243-Indianapolis-Religion--Politics-Examiner~y2010m4d12-April-1118-Yom-HaShoah


Krystallnacht vs TeaNacht

[Hawkeye-X]

1. I still know many Holocaust survivors

that are still living today.

I know someone who the Bielski brothers have rescued/saved. She lives here in Denver and tells her stories prominently.

She is also a very talented artist, here is one of her works:

[BurtWorm]

2. Exremism sukcs.

[applegrove]

3. I just finished reading Sarah's Key about a girl who escaped deportation from France during the

war. very sad.

[struggle4progress]

4. never again