I've been thinking a lot about WWII & the Holocaust lately. These have been my favorite topics to learn about since elementary school. I think I am so drawn to these horrific events because I want them to be burned into my soul. I don't ever want to forget.
I started thinking about the topics more lately after watching the following film:
This is a wonderfully tragic story about a young German boy who befriends a Jewish boy in a work camp (where the father's soldier works). The message in the story is unforgettable. I recommend it to everyone.
After watching this movie, I started watching various documentaries about the Holocaust. Some documentaries spoke about the rise of Hitler's power and how it came about because the German people were experiencing difficult times (economically and also regarding national pride after WWI). Hitler seemed to have "all the answers" (I seem to hear that a lot lately). The film went into details about how there were several in Germany who resisted in the beginning. As time went on though, Hitler was granted more power (or rather forced more power). The people's ability to speak openly about their opinions were prohibited. There was massive propaganda to force Hitler's ideals. There was incredible censorship on the radio and in the newspapers.
Another documentary I've watched recently was regarding the concentration camps. It always makes my heart wrench to see the photos and actual film of the people being dragged from their homes, families being separated once at the death camp, images of the gas chambers, crematoriums, massive pits where bodies were carelessly thrown, or where bodies were bulldozed. The images of the enormous piles of clothes, personal items, shoes, brushes/combs, etc. is a visualization of just a fraction of how many people were murdered. Over 6 millions persons were murdered...why? Simply because they were different. A man, whose father fled and was able to survive the horrible ordeals of this time said, "They disliked the unlike".
A third documentary discussed specifically the "scientific" aspect of the Holocaust. A large portion of the film was discussing the experiments that were conducted on mainly twins, but really, on just about anyone they wanted to test on. Josef Mengele is one of the most recognizable doctors who would conduct "experiments" to simulate battle-field wounds (create the wound on an innocent child and then leave the young man, or young girl with no pain medication, no dressings, nothing at all) and then see how long it took them to die. They also conducted experiments on twins. Typically they would experiment on one twin and use the other as a control. An example of the types of experiments they would do include injecting the first twin with a certain chemical/bacteria. Then they would kill both twins to compare organs to see what the chemical had done. (They would often do several "tests" before the twin would die.) Of course another major "scientific work" that was being conducted was sterilization of the Jews and Gypsies so that the Nazi party could simply sterilize those who were not Aryan, and who they did not want to reproduce. As a scientist, I am mortified at these "doctors" and the lack of ethics they had. They inflicted some of the worst cruelties on God's more precious children. It makes me absolutely sick.
This last Monday I had the opportunity to attend the "Anne Frank: A History for Today" exhibit at the Salt Lake City Public Library. The exhibit had several large screens detailing the timeline of WWII, the Holocaust and Anne Frank and her family. The exhibit also featured a film regarding Anne Frank and the Annex, and showed a model of the Annex as well. The exhibit was beautifully done and I am so happy I was able to see it. I have read the publication of Anne's diary many years ago, and do not remember much about it. I have made it a goal to reread it, and soon. It was amazing seeing the many pictures of Anne and her family. There was also a short clip in the film that shows the only film with Anne actually in it. It makes it all so real - seeing a little girl waving and smiling from her window. These atrocities were committed on real people. They were not un-human as Hitler led many to believe. It astounds me how far we can get as a human race. There is such a lack of respect for life.
I want to share a quote from Anne's diary. It says;
"'For in its innermost depths, childhood is lonelier than old age.' I read this saying in some book and I've always remembered it, and found it to be true. Is it true then that grownups have a more difficult time here than we do? No. I know it isn't. Older people have formed their opinions about everything and don't waver before they act. It's twice as hard for us young ones to hold our ground, and maintain our opinions, in a time when all ideals are being shattered and destroyed, when people are showing their worst side, and do not know whether to believe in truth and right and in God" - Anne Frank (July 15, 1944).
This quote struck me as appropriate for today. The world we live in has a profound lack of wholesome values and respect for others. Parent's no longer feel they have any responsibility to raise their children into responsible and caring adults. Children today learn their opinions all too often from tv, or a famous athlete, or the other 10 year old kid instead of learning from their parents the fundamental truths about life.
Another quote that was in the paper we all received says the following:
"Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it." - George Santayana
I agree wholeheartedly with this quote. This is one of my greatest fears. My cousin out in Hawaii said that a local school district was going to remove history from its coursework. I was appalled. If we do not learn from the past we WILL repeat it. I can already see many things in society that are happening which would not if people would have a firm remembrance of events that have happened throughout history.
It is my firm hope and prayer that we can all have the courage to remember the past. We must not bury the past out of shame, fear or sadness. We must remember the past always. We must remember what things have happened and how the events have changed humanity forever - or at least that they SHOULD change humanity forever. Let's work together so that the tragedies of the past do not repeat themselves.
How appropriate that music from Schindler's List started playing as I wrote this post...
