As you watch this video of Jacob Bronowski’s cautions, think for a moment about what it must be like for him to stand on the ground where his slaughtered ancestor now rest. Mr. Bronowski explains from his own personal experiences, the devastating effects of trying to gain ‘absolute knowledge’ and ‘absolute power’. The interview, when conducted by Michael Parkinson in 1973 was said to be his [Parkinson's] most memorable interview.

When I heard Carol Browner quoted as saying, “the science is settled”, I could not help but think of Bronowski’s words as he stood atop the ashes of his family and loved ones.  You see, for any one man or organization to gain supreme or absolute power, a portion of that power must be relinquished or overturned from somewhere else. In Nazi Germany’s case, the power was ‘taken’ from the Jews with force. This type of genocide has never taken place in America for obvious reasons; a)the people in America have always (in our history) maintained more power than their government (until now). b)A governing body has never been able to execute an agenda contrary to popular request (until now).

Our system of government (The Constitution) has protected its people for years, until now. I can assure you that when government is ‘allowed’ to make decisions based on what ‘they’ think is right for the people as opposed to what ‘the people’ think is right for themselves, it is surely the beginning of something terrifyingly similar to Bronowski’s lesson from Auschwitz.

God Bless America

Thanksgiving Day 2009 has come and gone. Across America, people have pushed back their chairs, loosened their belts a notch or two, and thought of the things for which they are thankful – and of the things for which they would LIKE to be thankful.

Dina Babbitt had many thoughts of gratitude during the years she waited for the return of her property from the current administrators of the camp  where the denial of her human rights began over sixty years ago.

Dina was particularly grateful for the USA and the freedom it offered her after her ordeal in 1940s Europe. She was grateful for her family and the security they could enjoy in a society that respects human beings and their universally recognized rights.

There was one thing, however, for which she would have liked to be grateful. Dina Babbitt longed for one thing that was not to be granted in her lifetime. She longed for the return of her possessions, for the respect of her own human right to possess the things she made and owned.

The  small collection of  Gypsy portraits forced from her hands under  conditions of incomprehensible moral and ethical depravity,  and now denied her by the museum administrators at Auschwitz and their protectors, were to haunt Dina Babbitt to the end of her days. All she asked for was the return of seven little pieces of paper that belonged to her.

The irony in her wish was that the very institution that tried to dehumanize her and to replace her name with a number, although eventually ‘liberated’ and turned into a museum, has maintained its underlying extremist ideology that the work carried out on the grounds of the Auschwitz camp is more  important than the rights of any individual. This argument was in vogue when Auschwitz opened its doors for business and it remains in vogue today. That’s a bloody shame.

Someday, I hope to  be grateful that  human rights denial is no longer an official practice anywhere on the globe.  For today, I am grateful that I do not understand humanity’s potential for evil to the degree that Dina Babbitt came to understand it throughout her life.

MOSCOW (WJC)–At a meeting at the Kremlin President Dmitry Medvedev, leaders of the European Jewish Congress (EJC) asked Russia not to sell the S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Iran and to push for new sanctions against the regime in Tehran.

“We asked that Russia stop supplying the S-300 to Iran,” said EJC President Moshe Kantor after meetings with the president and the foreign minister of Russia, Sergey Lavrov.

“Minister Lavrov told us the sale did not contravene international law. We were also told [by President Medvedev] that while the system represents a sophisticated means of protection, Russia was within its rights in selling Iran a defensive system. It was not endangering global security,” Kantor told the ‘Jerusalem Post’. He pointed out that the current Iranian regime “has declared openly that it wants to destroy other countries – not just Israel, but also the United States and Britain.”

The EJC president said that Iran was reportedly planning to sue Russia over delays in the shipment of S-300 systems that were ordered as far back as 2005. Iran believes the delays are deliberate; Russia has faced pressure from Israel and other countries to cancel the shipment altogether. “I think we should encourage Russia’s doubts, and support its delays,” Kantor said.

Medvedev told the EJC delegation that the Iranian threat “is very real and  should be treated seriously.” However, according to the ‘Jerusalem Post’, he warned that “a military strike [on Iranian nuclear installations] would be catastrophic, and that we must continue to negotiate and maintain constant contact with the Iranians in order not to push them into a corner, a situation that could lead to disastrous results.”

The Jewish leaders also called on Russia to observe International Holocaust Day (27 January), starting next year.  “We submitted our proposal and await his decision,” Kantor told reporters at a press conference after the meeting with Medvedev in Moscow.

“It’s important people realize that xenophobia is horrific.” Kantor said in Russia the day would be renamed “Day of the Soviet Army and the Liberation of Auschwitz” in order to honor the role of the Red Army in freeing the Auschwitz death camp on 27 January 1945.

*
Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

Ricevo e pubblico

°°°

L’iniziativa promossa dalla Provincia di Milano per alunni e docenti delle scuole superiori.
Treno per Auschwitz 2010. Registrato il tutto esaurito. Con gli studenti parte anche l’assessore Lazzati.

Venerdì 27 novembre primo intervento di formazione per i docenti coinvolti nell’iniziativa.

Milano, 23 novembre 2009 – Con due mesi di anticipo, il “Treno per Auschwitz” è pronto a partire. Per l’edizione 2010 le adesioni hanno già registrato il tutto esaurito. Dal Binario 21 della Stazione Centrale di Milano il 27 gennaio 2010, in occasione della ricorrenza della “Giornata della Memoria” partirà il treno della Provincia di Milano con alunni, alunne, docenti delle scuole superiori aderenti all’iniziativa.

(Nota di Pao: Vedi anche > http://paoblog.wordpress.com/2009/03/04/il-binario-21/)

Per questa quinta edizione, con loro – e per la prima volta nella storia dell’evento – salirà sul treno anche l’Assessore all’Istruzione ed Edilizia scolastica, Marina Lazzati per condividere l’esperienza con tutti i partecipanti. “Non posso nascondere una certa emozione nel partecipare a questo viaggio – dichiara l’Assessore Lazzati –. Sicuramente il primo pensiero è rivolto al popolo ebreo sterminato in uno dei periodi più bui della storia dell’uomo.

Visitare il campo di concentramento di Auschwitz-Birkenau sono certa sarà un’esperienza di forte impatto emotivo, acuito dalla condivisione di questo percorso di memoria e riflessione con i nostri giovani e i loro professori. Non dobbiamo e non possiamo permetterci di dimenticare cosa significa vivere in totale assenza di libertà.

Visitare il campo di concentramento di Auschwitz significa quindi Ricordare quel terribile momento storico, Riflettere sul privilegio di vivere in un paese libero, Contribuire a evitare che gli orrori dell’Olocausto possano ripetersi nel futuro”.

L’edizione 2010 di “Un treno per Auschwitz” è promosso ed organizzato dall’Assessorato all’Istruzione ed Edilizia scolastica della Provincia di Milano in collaborazione con INSMLI, CGIL E CISL di Milano, Comunità ebraica, Associazione Figli della Shoah, CDEC e Fondazione per il memoriale della Shoah.

“Un’iniziativa che rinsalda i legami di amicizia di questa amministrazione con la comunità ebraica. Un contributo necessario per  perpetuare la memoria degli orrori consumati dal nazifascismo – commenta il presidente della Provincia, on. Guido Podestà. -.  Un’occasione che cade il 27 gennaio decimo anniversario, peraltro, della legge istitutiva del Giorno della Memoria, e che dà agli studenti la possibilità di riflettere su quel momento storico”.

Come per gli anni precedenti si tratta di un viaggio della Memoria, a bordo di un treno, che darà la possibilità agli studenti delle scuole medie superiori della Provincia di Milano di visitare il Campo di sterminio di Auschwitz per riflettere sulle atrocità commesse dalla barbarie nazifascista.

Come ormai la tradizione vuole, anche il 27 gennaio 2010 il treno partirà simbolicamente dal Binario 21 della Stazione Centrale di Milano, luogo dove il 30 gennaio del 1944 più di seicento persone, dopo aver attraversato la città partendo dal carcere di San Vittore, vennero caricate su vagoni bestiame con destinazione Auschwitz.

Per consentire la partecipazione a più studenti, la Provincia di Milano si fa carico dei costi di viaggio e dei servizi annessi per un importo di oltre 100.000 euro. Studenti e insegnati sosterranno il costo del soggiorno.

Eventi correlati

Partire non è sufficiente, occorre anche essere informati su quello che si va a vedere. Soprattutto in un viaggio come quello  diretto al campo di concentramento di Auschwitz. Per conseguire tale obiettivo, i docenti coinvolti nell’iniziativa parteciperanno a 3 laboratori di formazione tenuti da relatori qualificati in materia di deportazione, persecuzione, sterminio. Ovvero tutti gli orrori commessi dal nazifascismo.

Il programma della formazione è articolato in 3 incontri.

Venerdì 27 novembre 2009 – ore 9,30-13,30
Convegno/seminario “Il quadro complessivo delle deportazioni e delle persecuzioni” c/o Camera del Lavoro Metropolitana Milanese – C.so di Porta Vittoria 43 – Milano

Interverranno:

Marina Lazzati, Assessore all’Istruzione ed Edilizia scolastica
Maurizio Laini, Segreteria CGIL Lombardia
Brunello Martini e Rosa Corbelletto, Università di Torino
Michele Sarfatti, Fondazione CDEC
Alessandra Chiappano, INSMLI
Nedo Fiano, deportato ad Auschwitz

Mercoledì 2 dicembre 2009 – ore 15
Seminario “Il campo di sterminio di Auschwitz-Birkenau fra storia e memoria”. A cura di Fabio Maria Pace collaboratore CDEC

Venerdì 13 dicembre 2009 – ore 15
“Le deportazioni femminili dall’Italia e la memorialistica femminile sul campo di Auschwitz-Birkenau”. A cura di Alessandra Chiappano, INSMLI

Gli incontri si terranno presso la sala “Cisem” dell’Assessorato all’Istruzione – via Petrarca 20 Milano.

Inoltre, si ricorda l’iniziativa promossa dai Figli della Shoah

Giovedì 10 dicembre 2009 – ore 9,15-18,00
Seminario “L’insegnamento della Shoa nell’educazione alla cittadinanza” c/o Università del Sacro Cuore (Aula magna) – Largo Gemelli 1 – Milano

Comunicato stampa a cura di: Maria Vittoria Loaldi
Addetta Stampa
Assessore Marina Lazzati
Assessorato Istruzione ed Edilizia scolastica – Provincia di Milano
e.mail: mv.loaldi@provincia.milano.it

Porque é na tomada de consciência dos mais novos e dos mais jovens que se evitam repetições dos erros na história, este site é de visita obrigatória para não apenas para educadores e professores, mas igualmente para os pais que igualmente devem partilhar essa responsabilidade. Como já referi em relação a Auschwitz, todas as informações sobre o holocausto, assim como todos os locais devem ser preservados, pois o património da humanidade é feito das suas conquistas, mas igualmente dos seus erros mais cruéis, de onde as lições devem permanentemente emergir.

Témoin de mémoire – Témoin de vie  (  source ici )

Auschwitz, Pologne, 13 novembre 2007

Auschwitz parle, Auschwitz se souvient. Voici le discours prononcé à Auschwitz par le Dr Rath à l’occasion de cette journée du souvenir.

Chers survivants du Camp de Concentration d’Auschwitz
Chers gardiens de la mémoire d’Auschwitz
Chers Dignitaires
Chers invités
Mesdames et Messieurs,

Au nom de notre Fondation, Je vous souhaite les bienvenus. Je voudrais remercier également August Kowalczyk, Helena Wisla et la Fondation Oswiecim Hospicjum pour l’énorme effort fourni pour la tenue de cette rencontre.

Il y a plus de quatre ans je fis connaissance avec August Kowalczyk pour la première fois à La Haye, c’était lors d’une conférence organisée par notre Fondation où il partagea son expérience d’Auschwitz.

Depuis nous nous sommes rencontré à plusieurs reprises et j’ai eu l’honneur de rencontrer d’autres survivants et gardiens de la mémoire d’Auschwitz. Aujourd’hui vous avez décidé de passer le relais de l’avenir le «relais de la vie» à la future génération.

Porter votre mémoire à la prochaine génération, vous survivants d’Auschwitz, est le plus grand honneur qu’une organisation peut recevoir.

Mais nous ne sommes pas seuls ici. Nous sommes avec la mémoire de millions de personnes brutalement martyrisés et tués dans les camps de concentration d’Auschwitz I, de Birkenau et dans celui d’IG Farben Monowitz.

Nous sommes avec la mémoire des Peuples Polonais, Tchèques, Belges, Anglais, Grec, Néerlandais, Yougoslaves et ceux de beaucoup d’autres pays.

Nous sommes avec le Peuple Juif, les peuples d’origine Slave et tous ceux qui ont été massacré juste parce qu’ils étaient une autre race ou d’autres nationalités.

Nous nous inclinons devant vous et nous sommes ici aujourd’hui pour célébrer cette mémoire.

C’est également un honneur particulier pour moi d’être ici parmi vous, les gardiens de la mémoire d’Auschwitz car je suis né en Allemagne. Avant d’aller plus loin je souhaiterai m’incliner devant vous et je vous demande pardon en raison des crimes commis par le peuple Allemand ici à Auschwitz et dans le monde entier.

Nous sommes ici aujourd’hui pour protéger la vie, la santé, la dignité, ces valeurs qui, par le passé, ont été les plus bafoués et par conséquent doivent être les premières à être protégées au bénéfice des générations à venir.

Cette conférence a lieu au moment ou le monde est à la croisée des chemins, un tournant historique. D’une part, vous, survivants d’Auschwitz avez décidé de passer le relais du souvenir, le «relais de la vie» à la génération à venir.

D’autre part l’humanité est arrivée à un point ou le risque d’éclatement de la Troisième Guerre Mondiale est ouvertement au centre des débats. Il n y’ a pas l’ombre d’un doute que cette guerre déclenchera un holocauste nucléaire qui plongera l’humanité entière dans l’abîme. Cette conférence exposera ces intérêts qui sont entrain de préparer ouvertement la Troisième Guerre Mondiale et a également comme but de lancer un message de paix qui sera entendu dans le monde entier.

Vous nous avez beaucoup appris, vous les gardiens de la mémoire d’Auschwitz, une information inestimable qui a besoin d’être sauvegardée et protégée pour les générations futures. Nous avons également découvert toute une mine d’informations et de faits historiques dans les rapports du Tribunal de Nuremberg sur les crimes de guerre et d’autres documents historiques. Nous, ainsi que les générations futures, ne serons capables d’éviter la répétition des crimes commis au cours de la 2^nde Guerre Mondiale ici à Auschwitz que si nous tirons les «les leçons de l’histoire».

En effet les intérêts corporatistes ont commencé à préparer la 2^nde Guerre Mondiale déjà dès 1925 lorsque Bayer, BASF et Hoechst et d’autres multinationales Allemandes formèrent le cartel de «IG Farben». L’objectif déclaré de ce cartel était d’exercer son contrôle sur le marché mondial dans les secteurs clé de la chimie, des produits pharmaceutiques et de la pétrochimie. Déjà en 1925 quand le cartel fut créé sa valeur dépassait les 11 milliards de Reichsmark avec plus de 80.000 employés.

L’un des secteurs stratégiques dans lequel IG Farben cherchera à exercer le contrôle fut le secteur de l’investissement pharmaceutique. Ils savaient d’avance que l’industrie pharmaceutique n’était pas fondamentalement une industrie pour la santé mais un investissement économique qui définit le corps humain comme un marché exploitable. Alors qu’il se présente comme une industrie pour la santé, la survie et l’existence de cette industrie ne sont basées que sur la perduration et l’expansion des maladies considérées comme source de milliards de dollars provenant des produits brevetés.

La condition préalable à cette réalisation d’un monopole mondial sur les médicaments brevetés est la tentative d’éliminer systématiquement du marché tous les produits thérapeutiques d’origine naturelle par définition non brevetables.

En 1993 IG Farben devint le principal pourvoyeur de fonds en vue de la montée en puissance des Nazis. Au cours des années qui ont suivi, ce cartel chimico-pharmaceutique allemand devint complice et prêta main forte aux préparatifs de la conquête militaire de l’Europe.

Les rapports du Tribunal de Nuremberg sur les crimes de guerre parlent d’un don de plus de 80 millions de Reichmark offert aux Nazis et aux organisations affiliées à Bayer, BASF et Hoechst. En retour de cet «investissement» IG Farben obtint le contrôle et la gestion de toutes les industries chimiques, pétrochimiques et pharmaceutiques des pays occupés pendant la 2^nde Guerre mondiale avec comme objectif final la création d’un vaste marché allant de Lisbonne à Sofia.

Selon les rapports du Tribunal de Nuremberg sur les crimes de guerre, Knieriem, directeur de l’IG Farben adressait le 20 Juillet 1940 une lettre au gouvernement Nazi – quelques temps après la victoire sur la France – dans laquelle il soulignait les instruments qu’IG Farben entendait utiliser afin d’asseoir son emprise en Europe. La lettre d’IG Farben évoquait l’existence d’une monnaie commune européenne, des lois communes et même un système juridique commun et tout cela sous le contrôle et la supervision de la coalition Nazi/IG Farben.

A Auschwitz, IG Farben y érigea le plus grand complexe industriel européen destiné à la production des produits chimiques et explosifs destines à être utilisés sur le front Est au cours de la 2^nde Guerre Mondiale. Ce complexe industriel de 24 km² de superficie – y compris son énorme camp de concentration, réservoir d’esclaves travailleurs – fut financé par les crédits d’environ 1 milliard de Reichsmark fourni par la Deutsche Bank.

Les milliers de prisonniers de ce camp furent utilisés par la section pharmaceutique de Bayer à de pseudo expériences médicales en testant les produits brevetés comme la «chimiothérapie».

Au cours des procès du Tribunal de Nuremberg sur les crimes de guerre 24 dirigeants de IG Farben ont été traduits en justice et beaucoup furent condamnés.

Voici comment le procureur américain Telford Taylor résuma le rôle joué par le cartel chimique au cours du procès du Nuremberg: «la seconde guerre mondiale n’aurait jamais été possible sans IG Farben».

Pendant plus de 6 décennies les rapports des procès du Tribunal de Nuremberg contre les dirigeants du cartel de IG Farben ont été tenu secrets au sein des archives de Nuremberg. En juillet de cette année (2007) notre fondation eut accès à ces archives et publia plus de 40.000 rapports sur Internet. Aujourd’hui tout le monde, les enfants aussi bien que les adultes peuvent avoir accès à ces archives quelque soit l’endroit où ils se trouvent au monde.

Avec le début de la Guerre Froide, quelques uns des dirigeants de IG Farben ayant été traduits en justice furent reconduits dans des postes de responsabilité dans l’industrie allemande.

Karl Wurster, président de Degesch – le fabricant du produit Cyclone B ayant servi dans les chambres à gaz d’Auschwitz – redevint le Directeur général de BASF.

Fritz ter Meer, le directeur de IG Farben et de Bayer coupable de génocide et de crimes d’esclavage commis ici à Auschwitz fut libéré de prison après seulement 4 mois. Dix ans après avoir été jugé coupable comme criminel de guerre à Nuremberg il devint à nouveau président du conseil de surveillance de Bayer.

Hans Globke fut coauteur de lois racistes de Nuremberg et fut également auteur des nouvelles lois sur la Grande Europe, le «Reich» dans les pays occupés par les Nazis pendant la seconde guerre mondiale.

Après la 2^nde Guerre Mondiale Globke devint ministre chancelier au sein du cabinet du Chancelier allemand Adenauer. En tant «qu’éminence grise» et en dehors de tout contrôle parlementaire, il eut la haute main essentiellement sur tous les aspects politiques de la période d’après guerre en Allemagne de l’Ouest, allant des services secrets jusqu à la poursuite des plans du cartel pharmaceutique et pétrolier en vue de la conquête de l’Europe et de la toute nouvelle Union Européenne fraîchement construite.

Walter Hallstein, un éminent professeur de droit à l’époque des Nazis disait en 1939: «l’une des principales lois dans (dans les pays conquis et occupés) sera la ‘loi de protection de l’honneur et du sang allemands’…».

En 1957 l’avocat de «l’honneur et du sang allemands» devint le personnage clé et l’architecte de la mouture de la future Union Européenne et le premier responsable de «la commission européenne», ce fut le premier responsable exécutif de l’Union Européenne désigné dès le début en dehors de tout contrôle démocratique.

En résumé, les Nazi et IG Farben nommèrent la commission Européenne comme «Politburo» du cartel pharmaceutique de l’après guerre pour diriger l’Europe.

Résultat de l’influence de ces intérêts, les décisions du parlement européen n’ont que peu de cas si aucune influence n’est exercée sur les lois, sur ce que l’on nomme «directives de l’union européenne» imposées par la «commission européenne» sur la vie de plus de 400 millions d’individus en Europe.

Au même moment les élections en vue de mettre en place le Parlement européen ne sont qu’une vaste mascarade, décevante et destinée à montrer l’Union Européenne comme une structure démocratique.

La base de toute démocratie est le pouvoir appartenant au peuple. Dès le moment ou le pouvoir exécutif n’est plus contrôlé par la volonté du peuple la démocratie n’est plus rien de plus qu’une dictature.

Aujourd’hui des silhouettes d’IG Farben subsistent toujours en Europe. Les objectifs des successeurs d’IG Farben sont rejoints par les multinationales pharmaceutiques et pétrolières européennes. Leurs objectifs ressemblent étrangement à ceux d’IG Farben pendant la seconde guerre mondiale :créer et mettre sous son contrôle un marché de produits pharmaceutiques brevetés et autres produits brevetés de haute technologie, un marché allant de «Lisbonne à Sofia».

L’énorme espace géographique que ces intérêts corporatistes veulent contrôler concerne tout le monde et tout habitant de ce continent. Ces intérêts concernent également les brevets sur les gênes – visant à exercer tout contrôle sur la vie et le système génétique des individus – les brevets sur les organismes génétiquement modifiés avec comme objectif de mettre sous contrôle quotidien notre système nutritionnel.

Le plus connu des ces industries cherchant à exercer un contrôle sur notre vie est «le commerce des maladies fait par le secteur pharmaceutique». Comme je l’ai précédemment mentionné, l’industrie pharmaceutique promet la santé mais toute son existence n’est basée que sur la promotion des maladies constituant ainsi une source de revenus. Nous savons aujourd’hui que les maladies cardiovasculaires, le cancer, les maladies immunodéficientes et d’autres maladies peuvent être évitées. La perpétuation délibérée des maladies par les intérêts corporatistes de l’industrie pharmaceutique est un crime.

Résultat de cette pratique industrielle pour le moins éthique :le nombre de victimes de ce commerce frauduleux a dépassé un milliard de personnes et déjà dépasse le nombre de victimes des guerres que l’humanité ait connu jusques là.

Sous le prétexte de lutte contre le terrorisme, la même Commission Européenne au sein de l’Union Européenne a émis une directive qui risque de transformer l’Europe en un «continent Orwelien»¹.Selon cette directive de l’UE désormais tous les appels téléphoniques que vous ferez, toutes les adresses emails que vous cherchez à contacter sont susceptibles d’être brouillés. Pas seulement pour vous mais également pour les 400 millions d’européens. Ce n’est pas difficile de comprendre ce que ces instruments veulent signifier une fois aux mains de ces intérêts corporatistes qui ont si souvent abusés de leur pouvoir par le passé. Notre rencontre a lieu à un moment historique, le monde est à croisée des chemins. Les responsables politiques des principaux pays leaders en matière de production et d’exportation des produits pharmaceutiques et pétrochimiques comme les Etats-Unis, le Royaume Uni, l’Allemagne ainsi que la France ont déjà publiquement parlé de la Troisième Guerre Mondiale et de leur volonté de faire usage de l’arme nucléaire.

A la suite d’un holocauste nucléaire et la proclamation d’une loi martiale à large échelle ces intérêts corporatistes qui soutenaient la seconde guerre mondiale pourraient abuser de leur puissance encore une fois.

Ces plans innommables ne peuvent être mis en pratique que s’ils restent secrets ou si nous n’en parlons pas et restons indifférents.

Si nous exposons ces projets au grand jour, alors ils n’auront plus de chance d’être exécuté. Dès aujourd’hui même, s’il advenait qu’une guerre aussi impensable quelle celle là puisse commencer elle ne pourrait jamais être gagnée car elle serait dénoncée par le monde entier.

Nous sommes réunis ici car Auschwitz a été un symbole pour un des crimes les plus abominables que l’humanité ait connu.

En nous associant au lancement du «relais pour la vie» nous vous promettons que nous ne nous lasserons pas tant qu’e Auschwitz ne devienne une «porte d’entrée dans l’avenir».

Si et seulement si nous dénonçons les intérêts corporatistes ayant contribué au déclenchement de la seconde guerre mondiale, nous ainsi que les générations à venir seront capables de garantir la paix à notre planète. Si et seulement si, nous parvenons à identifier le «commerce des maladies» fait de nos aliments, de l’énergie fossile comme le plus grand obstacle à la création d’un monde meilleur, nous serons alors capables d’édifier un monde sain, pacifique et un monde respectueux des droits fondamentaux de l’homme.

Comme première étape nous prendrons la constitution de «l’Europe pour le Peuple et par le Peuple» pour vous, survivants d’Auschwitz comme le meilleur gardien de la mémoire, le plus crédible de notre temps et l’utiliser pour construire une Europe du peuple et par le peuple.

Avec ce «relais pour l’avenir» que nous recevons de vous aujourd’hui, nous faisons un appel à tous de nous rejoindre, vieux et jeunes de l’Est et de l’Ouest, les peuples et les organisations.

Rejoignez nous afin de créer un «mouvement pour la vie» pour saisir «le relais de la vie» pour la mémoire d’Auschwitz et l’utiliser pour construire un monde sain pour une paix durable.

(Dr Matthias Rath)

¹ Dans son livre «1984» George Orwel s’inspirant de Staline dépeint la société totalitaire ultime. Dans une contre- utopie cinglante, Orwel propose une réflexion sur la ruine de l’homme par la confiscation de la pensée et la prolifération de la technocratie. Ce roman nous dévoile une société plongée dans «l’hypnose sociale»ou la perversion du langage prédomine: la paix c’est la guerre, l’amour, la haine…

Yesterday I visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, about 50km west of Krakow, Poland. It is a place I have always wante to visit, indeed it is a place, that personally, I have told myself I must visit, owing to the significant historical and humanitaria (or lack of it) story that the site has to tell.

Our visit (I went with a small group of like minded friends) started at 10am in the main ‘mother camp’ Auschwitz I. It is this camp that has the iconic gate with the infamous motto ‘Arbeit mach frei’ (Work makes free). The original gate is still there, along with the barrier and ‘halt’ signage. Standing under that sign, and knowing I was about to enter one of the most tortured places in Europe, if not the world, did send a shiver down the spine…

Arbeit Mach Frei - Auschwitz I

We were lucky enough to have a supremely knowledgable tour guide to take us around both Auschwitz I and Auschwitz-Birkenau. His knowledge and wisdom really did bring the whole place to life.

Auschwitz I is a living museum. It is still very much in tact as it was in the 1940’s. Many of the original baracks have been transformed into exhibitions about various aspects of camp life: for example working conditions, sanitary conditions and punishment. There is also the original crematorium (Crematorium I) that has still survived. This particular structure resembles an air raid shelter (because that is what is was used for after the construction of the huge gas chambers/crematorium of Auschwitz II).  Walking into this crematorium, standing in the exact same place where thousands of people were gassed, looking up to the roof to see the holes where the zyklon B was poured in by the SS guards and then seeing the furnaces that burned the bodies is something that will stay with me forever.

Block 11 of Auschwitz I is the ‘prison within a prison’ where any inmate who fell foul of the numerous camp regulations would end up. This was (and still is) a particularly brutal place, for me it was the standing cells that hit home. These were tiny cells (about 1.5m square) with a metal hatch at the bottom where the prisoners climbed in. Upto 8 (yes, eight) prisoners were confined in each cell, squashed right up against eachother – with absolutely no choice but to stand up all night. Ventilation was offered by a tiny hole in the wall, it must have been hell. Image standing in one of these concrete cells all night, pitch black, squashed against 7 other stinking souls, no ventilation, no air, then, when morning comes you go to work – hard manual labour for 12-15 hours, then back in to the standing cell for another tortuous night. Some inmates suffered this for a whole week. Brutal. Unimaginable to you or I. Next door to block 11 is the execution yard, with its wall of death where thousands of prisoners were executed at the whim of the camp SS guards, or strung up with their arms behind their back on wooden posts – which still survive today.

Execution Courtyard - Auschwitz I

For me the most distressing part of the whole tour was learning about the individual stories and seeing the evidence of inmates…One room has a display of suitcases – thousands and thousands of suitcases, all with the name and address of the owner painted on them. Our guide pointed out a few names and told us the stories about the people behind the names…a girl of 3, a baby boy of 1, teenagers, pensioners, veterans of WW1…all exectued on arrival. Then there was the huge pile of shoes (the exhibit was about 20m long and 3 or 4m high…just think about that for a second..thousands upon thousands of shoes. There were other similar exhibits, pots and pans, a mountain of spectacles, then the one that did it for me…..an enourmous mountain of human hair – womens hair. There is approximately 7 tonnes of hair in this one exhibit, evidently that is about 140,000 people. All the hair was grey, caused by the passing of time, apart from one lock which was still vibrantly red.

The hair from one hundred and forty thousand women. You can clearly see the plats, curls etc…until you have seen such a thing it is difficult to imagine, but let me tell you it is a harrowing, harrowing site. It becomes even more distressing when you realise these items are just a tiny fraction of the total that was generated in this camp. These were only the items that were discovered by the Russians in 1945. The vast vast majority of hair had been sent to manufacturers in Bavaria and Germany to make items such as blankets/uniforms for the war effort.

Suitcases of prisoners

A short drive to Auschwitz-Birkenau and we were face to face with that guard tower and that railway track…seeing it in the flesh kinda knocks the wind out of you. Trying to comprehend how many trainloads of people passed the very spot you are standing straight to their death is simply not possible for my little feeble brain. It is not until you see Birkenau for yourself you understand the sheer scale of the place. It is enourmous. There isnt much left of it now: the crematoria were destroyed by the SS in 1945 and the majoity of the wooden barracks were destroyed by a mixture of the SS and Russian army. However, the brick chimneys/heating system of each hut is still there and acts as a kind of individual memorial for those poor souls that lived, suffered and died in each of the barracks.

Auschwitz-Birkenau

Tracing the route of the railway line you come to the siding where the selection process took place. It was here where the SS Doctors decided the fate of the prisoners. Those they thought could work were sent to the camps, those who were too old, too young, or disabled were sent straight to the gas chambers. We traced those tragic footsteps – 380 metres from the siding to crematorium 2 – silent in our own thoughts.

Earlier this month I was lucky enough to cycle in the footsteps of heroes whilst cycling the WW1 Western Front. Now, I was walking in the shadows of death.

Ruins of the gas chamber: Crematorium II

Several months ago I posted a question on Linkedin about the ruins of the Crematoria in Auschwitz-Birkenau. I asked whether they should be preserved or left to rot as nature intended. My gut feeling at the time was to keep them and preserve them as much as possible. By preserve I dont mean rebuild, but try to stop the natural erosion of the relics. The online discussion was very intense with many people having strong opinions one way or another. After visiting the site my view is now equally as strong. We have to preserve as much as we can. We have to teach future generations of the awful atrocities that were carried out at Auschwitz with the hope that they learn from the mistakes of the past.

Forgetting is not an option.

Okay so what is the next news out of Iran..? Weapons of mass destruction..? Importing aluminum tubes for uranium enrichment..? Invading Kuwait..?

Other than a dead ‘Jacko’ the other story getting play is the ‘turmoil’ in Iran… They are clearly trying to prepare the American people for what they want next… Iraq # 2. The second installment of the proxy war for Israel at the expense of (“who cares”..say the jews) how many gentile lives…

I am tired of ZOG trying to justify killing thousands of military Americans for the sake of the crappiest country in history – Israel. LEAVE IRAN ALONE !!

If it weren’t Iran hating Israel it would just be somebody else because EVERYBODY hates the jews… They themselves are to blame for recrimination against them. They themselves could stop it… But NOT by using force the way the zionists are doing it now…

Nothing good will come out of American involvement in Iran… No more war for Israel!

Message to CIA and Mossad… Leave Iran alone…
__________________
…the Jewish community has reached a kind of critical mass in politics that guarantees that many of the gains of the Clinton years will remain, no matter who occupies the White House. Jewish Week, January 24, 1997

The only reason zionists have had success in white society is because they look white, they are willfully dishonest and people feel very sorry for them.. Turbo Hog, March 1993

[...] En 1993 IG Farben devint le principal pourvoyeur de fonds en vue de la montée en puissance des Nazis. Au cours des années qui ont suivi, ce cartel chimico-pharmaceutique allemand devint complice et prêta main forte aux préparatifs de la conquête militaire de l’Europe.
Les rapports du Tribunal de Nuremberg sur les crimes de guerre parlent d’un don de plus de 80 millions de Reichmark offert aux Nazis et aux organisations affiliées à Bayer, BASF et Hoechst. En retour de cet «investissement» IG Farben obtint le contrôle et la gestion de toutes les industries chimiques, pétrochimiques et pharmaceutiques des pays occupés pendant la 2nde Guerre mondiale avec comme objectif final la création d’un vaste marché allant de Lisbonne à Sofia.
Selon les rapports du Tribunal de Nuremberg sur les crimes de guerre, Knieriem, directeur de l’IG Farben adressait le 20 Juillet 1940 une lettre au gouvernement Nazi – quelques temps après la victoire sur la France – dans laquelle il soulignait les instruments qu’IG Farben entendait utiliser afin d’asseoir son emprise en Europe. La lettre d’IG Farben évoquait l’existence d’une monnaie commune européenne, des lois communes et même un système juridique commun et tout cela sous le contrôle et la supervision de la coalition Nazi/IG Farben.
A Auschwitz, IG Farben y érigea le plus grand complexe industriel européen destiné à la production des produits chimiques et explosifs destines à être utilisés sur le front Est au cours de la 2nde Guerre Mondiale. Ce complexe industriel de 24 km² de superficie – y compris son énorme camp de concentration, réservoir d’esclaves travailleurs – fut financé par les crédits d’environ 1 milliard de Reichsmark fourni par la Deutsche Bank.
Les milliers de prisonniers de ce camp furent utilisés par la section pharmaceutique de Bayer à de pseudo expériences médicales en testant les produits brevetés comme la «chimiothérapie».
Au cours des procès du Tribunal de Nuremberg sur les crimes de guerre 24 dirigeants de IG Farben ont été traduits en justice et beaucoup furent condamnés.
Voici comment le procureur américain Telford Taylor résuma le rôle joué par le cartel chimique au cours du procès du Nuremberg: «la seconde guerre mondiale n’aurait jamais été possible sans IG Farben».
Pendant plus de 6 décennies les rapports des procès du Tribunal de Nuremberg contre les dirigeants du cartel de IG Farben ont été tenu secrets au sein des archives de Nuremberg. En juillet de cette année (2007) notre fondation eut accès à ces archives et publia plus de 40.000 rapports sur Internet. Aujourd’hui tout le monde, les enfants aussi bien que les adultes peuvent avoir accès à ces archives quelque soit l’endroit où ils se trouvent au monde.
Avec le début de la Guerre Froide, quelques uns des dirigeants de IG Farben ayant été traduits en justice furent reconduits dans des postes de responsabilité dans l’industrie allemande.
Karl Wurster, président de Degesch – le fabricant du produit Cyclone B ayant servi dans les chambres à gaz d’Auschwitz – redevint le Directeur général de BASF.
Fritz ter Meer, le directeur de IG Farben et de Bayer coupable de génocide et de crimes d’esclavage commis ici à Auschwitz fut libéré de prison après seulement 4 mois. Dix ans après avoir été jugé coupable comme criminel de guerre à Nuremberg il devint à nouveau président du conseil de surveillance de Bayer.
Hans Globke fut coauteur de lois racistes de Nuremberg et fut également auteur des nouvelles lois sur la Grande Europe, le «Reich» dans les pays occupés par les Nazis pendant la seconde guerre mondiale.
Après la 2nde Guerre Mondiale Globke devint ministre chancelier au sein du cabinet du Chancelier allemand Adenauer. En tant «qu’éminence grise» et en dehors de tout contrôle parlementaire, il eut la haute main essentiellement sur tous les aspects politiques de la période d’après guerre en Allemagne de l’Ouest, allant des services secrets jusqu à la poursuite des plans du cartel pharmaceutique et pétrolier en vue de la conquête de l’Europe et de la toute nouvelle Union Européenne fraîchement construite.
Walter Hallstein, un éminent professeur de droit à l’époque des Nazis disait en 1939: «l’une des principales lois dans (dans les pays conquis et occupés) sera la ‘loi de protection de l’honneur et du sang allemands’…».
En 1957 l’avocat de «l’honneur et du sang allemands» devint le personnage clé et l’architecte de la mouture de la future Union Européenne et le premier responsable de «la commission européenne», ce fut le premier responsable exécutif de l’Union Européenne désigné dès le début en dehors de tout contrôle démocratique.
En résumé, les Nazi et IG Farben nommèrent la commission Européenne comme «Politburo» du cartel pharmaceutique de l’après guerre pour diriger l’Europe.
Résultat de l’influence de ces intérêts, les décisions du parlement européen n’ont que peu de cas si aucune influence n’est exercée sur les lois, sur ce que l’on nomme «directives de l’union européenne» imposées par la «commission européenne» sur la vie de plus de 400 millions d’individus en Europe.
Au même moment les élections en vue de mettre en place le Parlement européen ne sont qu’une vaste mascarade, décevante et destinée à montrer l’Union Européenne comme une structure démocratique.
La base de toute démocratie est le pouvoir appartenant au peuple. Dès le moment ou le pouvoir exécutif n’est plus contrôlé par la volonté du peuple la démocratie n’est plus rien de plus qu’une dictature.
Aujourd’hui des silhouettes d’IG Farben subsistent toujours en Europe. Les objectifs des successeurs d’IG Farben sont rejoints par les multinationales pharmaceutiques et pétrolières européennes. Leurs objectifs ressemblent étrangement à ceux d’IG Farben pendant la seconde guerre mondiale :créer et mettre sous son contrôle un marché de produits pharmaceutiques brevetés et autres produits brevetés de haute technologie, un marché allant de «Lisbonne à Sofia».
L’énorme espace géographique que ces intérêts corporatistes veulent contrôler concerne tout le monde et tout habitant de ce continent. Ces intérêts concernent également les brevets sur les gênes – visant à exercer tout contrôle sur la vie et le système génétique des individus – les brevets sur les organismes génétiquement modifiés avec comme objectif de mettre sous contrôle quotidien notre système nutritionnel.
Le plus connu des ces industries cherchant à exercer un contrôle sur notre vie est «le commerce des maladies fait par le secteur pharmaceutique». Comme je l’ai précédemment mentionné, l’industrie pharmaceutique promet la santé mais toute son existence n’est basée que sur la promotion des maladies constituant ainsi une source de revenus. Nous savons aujourd’hui que les maladies cardiovasculaires, le cancer, les maladies immunodéficientes et d’autres maladies peuvent être évitées. La perpétuation délibérée des maladies par les intérêts corporatistes de l’industrie pharmaceutique est un crime.
Résultat de cette pratique industrielle pour le moins éthique :le nombre de victimes de ce commerce frauduleux a dépassé un milliard de personnes et déjà dépasse le nombre de victimes des guerres que l’humanité ait connu jusques là.
Sous le prétexte de lutte contre le terrorisme, la même Commission Européenne au sein de l’Union Européenne a émis une directive qui risque de transformer l’Europe en un «continent Orwelien»¹.Selon cette directive de l’UE désormais tous les appels téléphoniques que vous ferez, toutes les adresses emails que vous cherchez à contacter sont susceptibles d’être brouillés. Pas seulement pour vous mais également pour les 400 millions d’européens. Ce n’est pas difficile de comprendre ce que ces instruments veulent signifier une fois aux mains de ces intérêts corporatistes qui ont si souvent abusés de leur pouvoir par le passé. Notre rencontre a lieu à un moment historique, le monde est à croisée des chemins. Les responsables politiques des principaux pays leaders en matière de production et d’exportation des produits pharmaceutiques et pétrochimiques comme les Etats-Unis, le Royaume Uni, l’Allemagne ainsi que la France ont déjà publiquement parlé de la Troisième Guerre Mondiale et de leur volonté de faire usage de l’arme nucléaire.
A la suite d’un holocauste nucléaire et la proclamation d’une loi martiale à large échelle ces intérêts corporatistes qui soutenaient la seconde guerre mondiale pourraient abuser de leur puissance encore une fois.
Ces plans innommables ne peuvent être mis en pratique que s’ils restent secrets ou si nous n’en parlons pas et restons indifférents.”[...]

lisez cet article en intégralité, c’est énorme !!

J’hallucine complètement quand je lise cela : ” en résumé, les Nazi et IG Farben nommèrent la commission Européenne comme «Politburo» du cartel pharmaceutique de l’après guerre pour diriger l’Europe.”
En effet le dailymail a dit exactement la même chose il y a de cela 5 mois : ” The document, also known as the Red House Report, is a detailed account of a secret meeting at the Maison Rouge Hotel in Strasbourg on August 10, 1944. There, Nazi officials ordered an elite group of German industrialists to plan for Germany’s post-war recovery, prepare for the Nazis’ return to power and work for a ’strong German empire’. In other words: the Fourth Reich. ”

Ce texte confirme des tas de choses que j’ai lu ces derniers mois, c’est vraiment excellent !!

Voila comment elle définit l’industrie pharmaceutique : ” le résultat de cette pratique industrielle pour le moins éthique :le nombre de victimes de ce commerce frauduleux a dépassé un milliard de personnes et déjà dépasse le nombre de victimes des guerres que l’humanité ait connu jusques là. ” Comme ça c’est claire !!!!

Elle n’oublie rien, la preuve : ” Sous le prétexte de lutte contre le terrorisme, la même Commission Européenne au sein de l’Union Européenne a émis une directive qui risque de transformer l’Europe en un «continent Orwelien»¹.Selon cette directive de l’UE désormais tous les appels téléphoniques que vous ferez, toutes les adresses emails que vous cherchez à contacter sont susceptibles d’être brouillés. Pas seulement pour vous mais également pour les 400 millions d’européens.”

Lisez l’article en entier, il est vraiment bien, elle n’invente rien, les élites dégénérées nous ont pris en grippe (lol), après nous avoir exploité et manipulé, ils vont nous exterminer.

Eric Hunt is suing [see PDF of complaint] über-Holohoaxers Irene Weisberg Zisblatt (Chana Seigelstein; actually, she’s more of a sad old lady who just needs attention; perhaps her family treats her like an oxygen thief and are just waiting for her to die so they can grab her royalties, so she needs attention … I really don’t know; but what kind of sickos would use this poor old lady’s delusions for profit?) and Stevie “Schwindler’s Mist” Spielberg, producer of The Plucky Duck Show and director of Hook, for their hate-propaganda.

Elie Wiesel, King of the Holoaxers, who sought refuge from the Red Army with his Nazi protectors, accused Eric Hunt of assault, after Hunt tried to ask Wiesel some embarrassing questions about his infamous atrocity-porn. So Auschwitz inmate Nikolaus Gruner [video] came to Hunt’s defense in the following letter. Since the vermin Wiesel is so close to the grave, I pray that he’ll come clean and atone for his crimes before he has to face the dread judgement seat of Christ. May God have mercy upon him.

ZÜNDEL:

A SKEPTICAL LOOK AT ‘SCHINDLER’S LIST’ | Part 1 | Part 2

From back when Canada was relatively free.

From Dissecting the Holocaust:

Feature films such as Holocaust, Shoah and Schindler’s List…naturally have no evidential value whatsoever, but their psychological impact on the masses is immense and powerful. Even though the establishment historians’ assessment of the movie Holocaust – namely, that it is factually untenable – applies equally to the other movies as well, they are nevertheless gladly received for the welcome effect they have on “public education and opinion steering”! One example shall suffice to demonstrate the historically unacceptable nature of such movies. Illustration 19 shows a scene from Schindler’s List where Camp Commandant Göth, standing on the balcony of his house, takes random potshots at the inmates of the Plaszow Camp. Air photos from that time, however, reveal that the Commandant’s house was located at the foot of a hill, while the camp itself was on top of that hill. The scene shown in the movie…was thus impossible, if only for geographical reasons. And this is certainly not Steven Spielberg’s sole forgery.

Schindler’s List, which is based on a novel going back to historical events, was deliberately filmed in black-and-white and with unsteady camera work in order to convey to the audience the false impression that the film is a documentary; contributors to the movie have freely admitted this. This clearly shows the intentions of the film-makers and of those who take school classes and even entire schools to see this movie, and not only in Germany and Austria. What is particularly perfidious about this film is that whenever German soldiers or SS-men give orders, yell and scream and engage in any kind of violence, this is not shown in English or in whichever other language the film is dubbed, but in German. In this way the entire world is made to feel that German is the language of cruel subhumans. And the German viewing public is the only one not to notice this, because in Germany, Schindler’s List is dubbed entirely in German. In this way, underhanded psychological tricks incite the peoples of the world against the Germans, their language and their culture, and the Germans themselves never even notice what is going on.

Besides of this, Spielberg is hiding the fact that the commander from Plaszow concentration camp was prosecuted by the SS:

“Individual criminal acts – in these cases having broad implications – included: the assumption of a license to kill by commandants and subordinates concealed through falsification of medical death certificates.

“Arbitrary conduct, chicanery, unlawful corporal punishments, acts of brutality and sadism, liquidation of no-longer-convenient accomplices, theft and black-market profiteering.

“All of these offenses were committed both alone by prisoners as well as by personnel of the SS, most however in conspiracy between SS personnel with Kapos (Jewish concentration camp guards).

“The intervention of SS jurisdiction in the concentration camps commenced with the initiation of my investigations in July 1943 and lasted until the conclusion of the war. It could not have started sooner, because there were no suspicions in this regard.

“Arrested were the commandants of Buchenwald, Lublin, Warschau, Herzogenbosch, Krakau-Plaszow.”

“Spielberg certainly wished to conceal these investigations and punishment of perpetrators from his gullible movie audience since he was and is not interested in an historically accurate film, but rather in molding public opinion to accept the establishment Holocaust ideology. Audiences may be gullible and dumb, but Spielberg is a deceiver and denier of historical reality.”

[Affidavit SS-65 by SS Judge Konrad Morgen, IMT, vol. 42, p. 556. -Udo Walendy]

Wiesel: “Don’t fuck with us! We got all these niggaz in line.”

The Mercy Seat by Nick Cave

It began when they come took me from my home

And put me in Dead Row,

Of which I am nearly wholly innocent, you know.

And I’ll say it again

I..am..not..afraid..to..die.

I began to warm and chill

To objects and their fields,

A ragged cup, a twisted mop

The face of Jesus in my soup

Those sinister dinner meals

The meal trolley’s wicked wheels

A hooked bone rising from my food

All things either good or ungood.

And the mercy seat is waiting

And I think my head is burning

And in a way I’m yearning

To be done with all this measuring of truth.

An eye for an eye

A tooth for a tooth

And anyway I told the truth

And I’m not afraid to die.

Interpret signs and catalogue

A blackened tooth, a scarlet fog.

The walls are bad. Black. Bottom kind.

They are sick breath at my hind

They are sick breath at my hind

They are sick breath at my hind

They are sick breath gathering at my hind

I hear stories from the chamber

How Christ was born into a manger

And like some ragged stranger

Died upon the cross

And might I say it seems so fitting in its way

He was a carpenter by trade

Or at least that’s what I’m told

Like my good hand I tatooed E.V.I.L. across it’s brother’s fist

That filthy five! They did nothing to challenge or resist.

In Heaven His throne is made of gold

The ark of his Testament is stowed

A throne from which I’m told

All history does unfold.

Down here it’s made of wood and wire

And my body is on fire

And God is never far away.

Into the mercy seat I climb

My head is shaved, my head is wired

And like a moth that tries

To enter the bright eye

I go shuffling out of life

Just to hide in death awhile

And anyway I never lied.

My kill-hand is called E.V.I.L.

Wears a wedding band that’s G.O.O.D.

‘Tis a long-suffering shackle

Collaring all that rebel blood.

And the mercy seat is waiting

And I think my head is burning

And in a way I’m yearning

To be done with all this measuring of truth.

An eye for an eye

And a tooth for a tooth

And anyway I told the truth

And I’m not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is burning

And I think my head is glowing

And in a way I’m hoping

To be done with all this weighing up of truth.

An eye for an eye

And a tooth for a tooth

And I’ve got nothing left to lose

And I’m not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is glowing

And I think my head is smoking

And in a way I’m hoping

To be done with all this looks of disbelief.

An eye for an eye

And a tooth for a tooth

And anyway there was no proof

Nor a motive why.

And the mercy seat is smoking

And I think my head is melting

And in a way I’m helping

To be done with all this twisted of the truth.

A lie for a lie

And a truth for a truth

And I’ve got nothing left to lose

And I’m not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is melting

And I think my blood is boiling

And in a way I’m spoiling

All the fun with all this truth and consequence.

An eye for an eye

And a truth for a truth

And anyway I told the truth

And I’m not afraid to die.

And the mercy seat is waiting

And I think my head is burning

And in a way I’m yearning

To be done with all this measuring of proof.

A life for a life

And a truth for a truth

And anyway there was no proof

But I’m not afraid to tell a lie.

And the mercy seat is waiting

And I think my head is burning

And in a way I’m yearning

To be done with all this measuring of truth.

An eye for an eye

And a truth for a truth

And anyway I told the truth

But I’m afraid I told a lie.

Miracles

For 15 months Chana re-swallowed and re-defecated her diamonds over and over again. She was a favorite of Dr Josef Mengele, who performed experiments and surgeries on her and other prisoners without anesthesia. Mengele injected chemicals into her eyes in an attempt to change their color. He removed the ID-number-tattoo on her to find a way to remove the numbers tattooed on her arm. He ordered a nurse to administer a lethal injection, but the nurse worked for the underground and was able to free her. She survived the gas chamber, and just missed being turned into a lampshade.

“Mengele was the most good-looking man,” she said. “He could have been the one scientist in the world who could have developed extraordinary things for humanity, but he became a murderer. He would look at me and smile and at times I could not believe this man could ever hurt me, he could be so charming. But the next minute, he was cutting me up into little pieces.”

Mengele had given her watery soup filled with chemicals to destroy her reproductive organs, but she miraculously gave birth to a son and a daughter in the 1960s.

She vowed that if she survived, she would be a voice for her fellow prisoners. “For 50 years, I didn’t say a word.” she said.

Michael A. Hoffman, from “The Psychology and Epistemology of ‘Holocaust’ Newspeak”

“It is not a matter for the public to debate the literal truth of Jewish beliefs. Every religion has a right to its own story. It only becomes a public matter when Jews attempt to establish as criteria for human decency, good citizenship and public morals, the demand that non-Jews must believe Jewish fables and accept them as a matter of scientific historiography.

“It is a telling commentary on the modern era that the apocryphal and expiational langauge and agenda of partisan religious dogma has been enthusiastically embraced as the objective description of an entire epoch of world history in public newspapers and airwaves and the lecture halls of secular universities.

“It is an apparent, though not widely admitted fact, that Judaism, through the “Holocaust” cult, has become the informal state religion of the West, with the distinction of being the last truly believed religion in the otherwise agnostic West; the end-result of this reactionary hegemony being the same as that of the Big Brother party in Orwell’s 1984, “to extinguish once and for all the possibility of independent thought.”"

Holoco$t Accounting

Regarding the Holohoax profits that Wiesel claimed fellow Jew Madoff scammed off of him: were these funds he’d collected “on behalf of” H-Survivors, and then allowed Madoff to launder, and then they split the proceeds?

Wiesel Fraud

By Nikolaus Gruner in Sweden

In 1958 history tells us, that 50 years ago in Paris, the writer and Nobel Laurate Francois Mauriac, discovered a Jewish survivor’s autobiography, written in Yiddish and entitled ‘Un di velt hat gesvign’, copyright 1955, Paris.

He decided to get into the Holocaust business by using this story, written from the beginning by survivor Lazar (Eliezer) Wiesel. Mauriac translated the book into French between 1955 and 1958, making substantial alterations to it and created a new book called ‘Le Nuit’.

The alterations were in order to introduce Christian theology into the narrative. The book, called ‘Night’ in English, was then given to his partner, a new persona called “Elie Wiesel”. They kept the second name Wiesel, but were forced to change the first name from Eliezer, the Yiddish for Lazar, for copyright reasons and in 1958 invented the new name “Elie Wiesel”.

Now, in the year of 2008, the same man who advanced to Nobel [Peace] Prize Laureate, “Elie Wiesel”, has been exposed by the under signed survivor, A-11104, from the former labor camp “Buna” (a sub-camp to Auschwitz), I claim that “Elie Wiesel” has never been a prisoner of Auschwitz. Further I the undersigned A-11104, claim that they stole Lazar Wiesel´s manuscript with Lazar’s identity A-7713, in order to change the message by mixing in Christian theology, in order to suit his own and Mauriac’s purposes. This was to convert young Jewish survivors coming from the camps into good Catholic souls.

It is of historical evidence that should be mentioned here, that the Nobel Peace Prize winner “Elie Wiesel”, was honored with the “Great Cross of Hungary”, in New York in 2004 (probably for being a self-appointed spokesperson and spinner of tales about the extermination camps), and even dared to maintain in public that he is the original owner of the tattooed number A-7713. However the evidence shows, that neither in the archives of Auschwitz, nor in Buchenwald, has the name “Elie Wiesel” any connection what so ever to Lazar Wiesel´s tattooed number A-7713. Regarding his identity, I can vouch for his own privately produced DVD, entitled “Elie Wiesel Goes Home”. The movie was filmed in Maramorossziget and Auschwitz-Birkenau, reveals that on his left lower arm, there is no trace of the tattooed number he claims to have, namely A-7713. If he did have one, then it would cover approx. 9 cms in length, and 10 millimeter in height on the surface of his skin. In the film his arm has nothing on it.

When it comes to “Elie Wiesel´s” birth date, he has three, and the fourth one is known only to himself. The archives of Buchenwald confirm that: Lazar Wiesel who was born on the 4th of Sept.1913, left Buchenwald for Paris with the HIAS transport S-414, carrying 675 Children on the 19th of July 1945. On his transport document he appears under the running number 405 named Wiesel Lazar, born 4.10.1928 Maramorossziget. He is the same Lazar Wiesel who is registered at Yad Vashem as an inmate of Buchenwald, who perished in the Shoah. Regardless of his death, he is still on the lists of the perished at Yad Vashem, though his details have been altered illegally recently.

Perjury: Elie Wiesel appeared as plaintiff on Monday July 7, 2008, in the Court of San Francisco, USA, Department No. 23. Court No. 2315810. He lied when he gave his testimony under oath. He alleged that his original tattooed number on his left lower arm was A-7713 and that his father’s was A-7712. I here state that all my accusations against “Elie Wiesel”, are based on my personal contact with my old friend Lazar Wiesel, from the former labor camp “Buna” and are from verified official documents, from the state archives of both Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.

With the evidence above, I represent myself as being a heavily affected and racially abused survivor A-11104. My last wish in life is to present the truth, including my bitter past to those who want to listen and to learn about the cannibalized and exterminated Jewish brothers, likewise the 6 million martyrs, who were slaughtered with modern efficiency and bestial cruelty. With the evidence in my possession, I am able to prove, that “Elie Wiesel’s” crime against my friend Lazar Wiesel (4. 9.1913), to whom I have an eternal debt for protecting me from a certain death, most likely occurred in Europe. Therefore I demand for myself, and for all of us survivors and martyrs, that the European Court of Human Rights, without pity, malicious interest, nor political profit, should examine the case of “Elie Wiesel’s” real identity and if possible his supposed religious leanings.

On the outside looking in.

(Miramax) David Thewlis, Vera Farmiga, Rupert Friend, Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon, Richard Johnson, Sheila Hancock, Jim Norton, Henry Kingsmill, Amber Beattie, David Hayman. Directed by Mark Herman

Evil can be a difficult thing to pin down. We would all like to think we would know it if we saw it, but that isn’t always true. The most insidious evil takes place in the home, with the people we love. When our role models are knowing participants in evil, how can we have any sort of compass to navigate through the stormy waters of morality at all?

Bruno (Butterfield) is the eight-year-old son of a colonel (Thewlis) in the army as World War II is about to unfold. Unfortunately, he’s a colonel in the German army and a staunch Nazi. He has just been given command of a work camp – for which he uses the euphemism “farm” – which means the family must move to the countryside, which suits his mother (Farmiga) just fine. His sister Gretel (Beattie), like Bruno, is not thrilled about leaving their friends and home for someplace new, especially when it turns out to be a cold, fortress-like structure that masquerades as a cozy, comfortable home.

We find out that Bruno’s grandparents are split, diametrically opposed on the subject of his dad’s new post. Grandmother (Hancock) doesn’t approve at all – in fact, there is a great deal about the new Germany that she doesn’t approve of. On the flip side, Grandfather (Johnson) couldn’t be prouder of his son’s standing in the new regime.

Bruno is an extremely bright and curious young man. He wants to check out the farm, but his mother forbids it. When they move in, he discovers he can see the “farm” from his window and asks his parents why all the farmers are wearing striped pajamas. His parents expertly evade the question as only parents who’ve been asked a question they’re not ready to answer can be and the next day Bruno’s window is covered with boards.

An elderly “farmer” works in the house from time to time by the name of Pavel (Hayman). He is a gentle, quiet sort and Bruno more or less ignores him. When his father’s adjutant, Kotler (Friend) – whom his sister has a mighty crush on – discovers that Bruno is seeking a tire to make a swing out of, he orders Pavel to drop what he’s doing and help the son of the commandant. Later when Bruno falls off the swing and cuts himself, Pavel treats the wound explaining that he used to be a doctor but now he peels potatoes. Bruno is incredulous; either the man must be a terrible doctor or a terrible fool. Pavel doesn’t quite know how to explain it to Bruno and dares not tell him the truth. It really doesn’t matter very much; after a seemingly harmless indiscretion at the dinner table a few nights later, Kotler – who had just been called on the carpet by his superior officer – delivers a terrifying beating on the nearly defenseless Pavel.

All of this fuels Bruno’s intellect and curiosity all the more so he figures out a way to sneak out the back into the woods between his home and the farm. There, behind a fence of barbed wire, he meets a sad, scrawny little boy with the funny (at least Bruno finds it so) name of Shmuel (Scanlon). Even though they are separated by barbed wire, the two young boys strike up a friendship. Bruno smuggles food to the starving little boy and in turn Shmuel plays checkers with him, relieving some of Bruno’s boredom.

Bruno is beginning to ask questions about the situation around him. A vitriolic Nazi tutor (Norton) is indoctrinating the two children in Anti-Semitic thinking which seems to be working with Gretel, who joins the Hitler Youth. Bruno is less persuaded; while Mr. Liszt his tutor and Kotler regard the Jews as less-than-human, his own experience reveals otherwise. Still, he is intimidated by the violent Kotler and when Shmuel, who has been brought into the commandant’s home to polish crystal glasses for a party is accused of stealing food (that Bruno had given him to eat), Bruno denies it leading to a vicious beating of the boy (which fortunately happens off-screen). Bruno feels awful about his own weakness but Shmuel, who shows up with a blackened eye, cuts and bruises on his face, forgives him.

As Bruno’s mother, who believed her husband presided over a work camp and not a death camp, discovers the nature of what’s happening on the “farm,” it leads to strain in the marriage and to her wish to leave her husband and to take the children with her. The commandant agrees this would be the wisest course of action and the children prepare to move again. Bruno, who once hated the idea of moving to this strange place, now is reluctant to leave his new friend but before he goes, decides to fulfill a promise to Shmuel which may have terrible consequences for his family.

Based on a young adult novel by John Boyne, the film sees the atrocities of the Holocaust and the Nazi regime in general from the vantage point of a family that is at its heart not evil but through their participation in evil events becomes that way. While most of the film revolves around Bruno and is seen from his viewpoint, much of the movie belongs to the mother who undergoes a transformation of her own. She goes from being proud of her husband’s achievements and supportive of his new posting to becoming horrified by his role in something unconscionable. She stands up for what she believes, understanding that when you take part in something so absolutely evil, so thoroughly without redemption that a part of you dies.

Farmiga is as good as she’s ever been in her role and in many ways it’s the pivotal role in the movie, but I was impressed with Thewlis who was able to make the commandant of a concentration camp, directly responsible for the deaths of thousands upon thousands, sympathetic in many ways, a decent father and husband who loves his children who is unable to grasp the simple truth that those he was oppressing were no different than he.

The role of Bruno is a difficult one and it requires an extraordinary juvenile actor to pull it off. While I would stop short of calling Butterfield’s performance brilliant, it nonetheless is praiseworthy. You never for a moment believe that he is acting, a cardinal sin of most child actors.

The role of innocence in something so heinous makes for a marked contrast. While the movie has been critisized for trivializing the Holocaust at the expense of the problems of a Nazi family, I disagree with these criticisms. Part of understanding what happened in Nazi Germany at that time means we must learn to understand a family precisely like this one – a family of otherwise good people who become thoroughly twisted into dong evil. It makes you realize just how petty the transgressions of people we have excoriated – such as the Octomom and the Goesslins – are.

WHY RENT THIS: A very different viewpoint of the Holocaust, one which may be a good jumping-off point for discussions with children about it. Some very strong performances, particularly from Thewlis and Farmiga are supported by a solid job by Butterfield.

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: The final scene is very difficult to watch, although it is filmed magnificently. Some may have difficulties sympathizing with the Nazi father.

FAMILY VALUES: Some mature subject matter regarding the Holocaust. The movie’s final scene is wrenching and may be a little too much for more sensitive children, but there are some important talking points in the movie that make this good viewing for the entire family.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Although it is never mentioned directly in either the movie or the book it is based on, the Concentration Camp referred to here is Auschwitz if the filmmakers are being historically accurate as it was the only camp which had four crematoria.

NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS: None listed.

FINAL RATING: 8/10

TOMORROW: 2012

Prima zi n-am simtit nimic, n-am reactionat la nimic. Prima noapte am plans pana la 6.

A doua zi n-am existat. Dimineata am iesit sa alerg (asa vizitez eu orasul) si ma simteam de parca as fi fost invizibila, iar oamenii priveau prin mine. Si priveau prin mine destul de insistent fiindca nimeni altcineva nu mai facea jogging pe arterele principale. Restul zilei am stat si am privit in gol, ascultam radio si nu auzeam decat ora exacta… Ma gandeam ca intr-o casa frumoasa te poti simti foarte bine ca la Aushcwitz.
Seara m-am drogat cu apa. (don’t ask…)

A 3-a zi am mancat (mere dezinfectate, rosii dezinfectate si alte cateva chestii dezinfectate. Mi-e dor sa mananc mere de pe jos din Romania…). Am scris un articol despre cum nu-mi prieste mie societatea asta atat de plictisitor perfecta…articol care a ajuns in cosul de gunoi fiindca acum scriu pe hartie intai iar geniului meu autodistructiv ii place hartia. Rupta!
Seara am citit si am scris mailuri. Am plans, am ras cu lacrimi si cu sperante, am mintit pentru ca altora sa nu le fie dor de mine asa cum imi e mie de ei.
Am cerut pe cineva in casatorie…(again, don’t ask…)

In ziua a patra am inceput sa imi revin si am trecut la facut planuri. Alte planuri. Alta tara?

Photo courtesy of USHMM

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Holocaust survivor Gabriele Silten through the Remember_The_Holocaust group moderated by Fred Kahn. She immediately sent me copies of her written work (see titles list below), including her autobiography Between Two Worlds. She also agreed to an online interview which we conducted by e-mail just this week. Below is the substance of that interview.

Q: Was writing your autobiography therapeutic? Is that why you decided to write it?  

A: No, it was not therapeutic. I decided to write it because a lot of people–friends– pushed me to do so and I thought it was a good idea. I had to relive that whole time, which at least meant that it all came to the surface and I could then deal with it.

Q: You talk about your family being assimilated and not practicing Judaism. Was your family not very religious?

A: Obviously not. Assimilated means just that; that they were NOT religious, did not keep the dietary laws, did not go to temple, did not keep the holidays, etc. We practiced nothing at all.

Q: Did they observe the High Holy Days? Can you summarize your views about religion, faith and God as a young child?

A: No, as stated above, they observed nothing at all. As a young child I had no views about God, religion, faith or anything like it. So there is nothing to summarize.  I came to all this much, much later.

Q: As to the “Jewish star,” you mention that it had to be firmly adhered to all clothing. Where did your family buy the printed, yellow fabric?

A: As I found out much later, after the war and when I was in my 40’s, we, in my family, bought the stars at one of the local temples. There were several places like that, depending on where you lived.  They didn’t cost much but they had to be BOUGHT and a rationing coupon for material was necessary, as well.

Q: Were the stars sewn to every piece of clothing? If so, how long did that take your mother and grandmother to complete?

A: Yes, to every piece of outer clothing – not onto underwear. But if you wore a blouse and a sweater, for example, then it had to be on both pieces of clothing. I have no idea how long it took my mother and grandmother to do that. I do remember that my mother put the stars into a solution of vinegar and water. They were not color-proof and if you didn’t do that, the yellow would bleed onto the material of your dress, shirt or something like that. So they needed to be soaked like that first and after that they were all right.

Q: When you discovered that your friend Peg and her family had been taken away, what did you think had happened to them?

A: I didn’t know for sure, of course, but thought that either they had been “taken away” as we called it, i.e. arrested, or that they had gone into hiding. I didn’t know much about hiding, but had heard of it.

Q: How old were you before you realized what the Nazis were doing to Jews in the East?

A: I had no idea whatsoever what the Germans were doing to the Jews in the East. Not even most adults knew that. All we knew, and especially we children, was that we never got card or letter and never heard from any of them again. So we figured it must be very bad indeed. Most of us heard the word “Auschwitz” after the war for the first time. I, as a person, did not find out until one day I looked for something to read in my parents’ book case (I was allowed to do that) and found a hidden book about what I now know as Auschwitz. There were many photos and I figured out in no time that this was what had happened to the Jews who were transported out of Westerbork and Theresienstadt where I had been. It was obvious that they could not possibly have survived. I was at home alone that day and I was 15 years old.

Q: Your paternal grandparents must have known what awaited them at Auschwitz. How did they know it would be better to die by their own hands than to face the horrors of Auschwitz?

A: I don’t know whether they or my maternal grandmother actually KNEW what awaited them at Auschwitz. According to my father, they figured that they were too old to go through all of that, too old to “work” (they were told about work camps, after all), too old to “relocate.” My paternal grandfather was a pharmacist and gave poison to my maternal grandmother, to his own wife and to my father’s family, i.e. my parents and me. My paternal grandmother used it when her name appeared on the list for the next transport from Westerbork; she was there with us.

Q: If it is not too painful, can you talk more about your Omi’s death in Westerbork, July 1943, and how it affected you?

With her Omi Marta in 1935

A: It is not painful, since I have long ago accepted it and think, in fact, that she and my other grandparents were heroes for doing this. I don’t know that I would have had the courage, or would have the courage today, in fact. I know that my father told me at the time that Omi was ill and had to go to the “hospital”–yes, there was one in Westerbork. Then, the next day, he told me that she had died. He did not then tell me that she had committed suicide. That came out many years after the war, when I must have been about 16 or 17 years old. Affected: I missed her a lot, especially at first. She was the one, when she lived with us, to help me with multiplication tables, sewed clothes for my doll, taught me how to braid hair. I missed all of that. But the, Westerbork was such a bad place that children grew up overnight and I became more independent and played less if at all.

Q: In your book, you said that it took approximately eight days to make the 80-mile trip by train to Westerbork and only two days from there to Theresienstadt. Why do you think the train to Westerbork took so long? Were you given any water or food inside the cattle car?

A: No, I didn’t say that at all. I said that we were “picked up” (arrested) early in the morning – about 9:00 am and that we had to wait around in various places till about noon. We arrived in Westerbork at about 11:00 pm which is 12 (twelve) hours. Today, by train, car or bus, it takes 2 hours, traffic permitting. We were not given any water or food in the cattle car to Westerbork, nor immediately after arrival. It did take two (2) days to Theresienstadt; we left on January 18, 1943 and arrived on January 20, 1943. I don’t remember whether we were given either food or water on that trip. I doubt it, though. As for the 12 hours to Westerbork, the train was probably shunted onto side rails when another train or troop train had to pass. That was the Germans’ usual procedure.

(Editor’s note: I missed a typo in the question, above, when I e-mailed it to Ms. Silten. Page 78 of Gabriele’s book Between Two Worlds says “it was a journey of at least eight hours,” not eight days. My apologies.)

Q: At the two camps, many of your friends were deported further East. Did you have any idea what that meant?

A: No, I didn’t. Even though I was a child, we children overheard the conversations between adults, if only because it was so overcrowded that you had no distance from one another. The adults didn’t know either; none of us had heard the name Auschwitz, not till much later. We didn’t know about extermination camps, gas chambers or anything of the kind. All I knew was that my friends were gone; had disappeared and that we never heard from them again, no cards, no letters. Just emptiness.

Q: Do you think that your father’s occupation as a pharmacist had any bearing on how you were treated at the camps?

Gabriele at age 5

A: Yes, I do, but didn’t learn that until a year or so ago. It appears that a friend and business friend of my grandfather’s convinced the Germans that my father was an inventor who was in the process of inventing a spray or something like that which would help wounded soldiers in the field. Then this same guy sent my father various instruments, etc. (like Bunsen burners) to Theresienstadt and my father was able to convince the Germans that he was really working very hard on this. It was all a fairy tale, my father was no inventor and had no plans for such a spray or whatever. But we stayed in Theresienstadt instead of being transported to Auschwitz which we certainly would not have survived.

Q: After the war, did you suffer at all from “survivor’s guilt” once you knew how many had perished (more than 80 percent of Holland’s Jewish population, according to Robert S. Wistrich)?

A: No, I didn’t and don’t now. Directly after the war, every adult, incl. my parents told me – and the other surviving children – to forget about all of that, not to think about it, we needed to go back to school; our job was to do well there and to think of the future. They also told us that, since we were “only” children, we couldn’t possibly have suffered, we couldn’t possibly remember anything and especially not correctly, that we, basically, had not know anything out of the ordinary had happened. We all know better now, but then that was the idea.  I had no idea how many children or Jews in general had been murdered (I NEVER use the word “perish”. One “perishes” from a disease; one “dies” of disease or old age, etc. and if one is “lost”, then one can be found. One loses one’s keys, etc. but not people, not in those circumstances. In the camps and other places, Jews were murdered. So that is the word I use. Words are important to me and I like to use the correct one when possible. In this case that is the word “murdered”). I did not know any numbers until I was in my twenties or thirties and started doing some research for myself.

Q: Before the war, it seems that you were a very inquisitive little girl, but by war’s end, you had learned not to ask too many questions. What questions did you have for your parents after your safe return to Holland?

A: None! I wasn’t supposed to ask questions so I didn’t. On the few occasions when I did dare to ask anything, I’d get a very vague answer. Like – question: where are the X family? Answer: Oh well, they, ehhh. they didn’t come back. Which was jargon, for they had been murdered. Jargon, incidentally, which survivors still use today. We still use the same phrase. Eventually, actually very soon, I stopped asking questions and started trying to find out things for myself – about when I was 16 or so.

Q: In your ID picture taken after you returned to Amsterdam in 1945 you have a decent amount of hair. Did you ever have your head shaved due to lice?

A: No, I didn’t ever have my head shaved, though I saw plenty of people – both men and women – who did. The men would just walk around with their shaven head (as they do now, and guess what THAT reminds me of????) but the women wore a headscarf over their shaven heads. One knew anyway why they did, but it just looked better that way. In fact, I never had lice in camp; my mother made sure that I stayed clean or at least as clean as one could stay. I did have lice, ironically, before deportation, in2nd grade because my friends and I exchanged caps. So we all ended up with the lice that one of us had!

Q: In the months leading up to your liberation from Theresienstadt, it seemed that you had lost hope. Is there one thing to which you can attribute your survival?

A: Not really. I had lost hope, especially after my friend Hans had been deported. I didn’t think that the war or the camp, etc. would ever end; it would just go on and on. I don’t know what made me go on; all I can tell you is that I had then and have now a very good imagination. So basically what I did all throughout those years was change things around in my mind: the real reality became fantasy – unreal. It didn’t exist. My fantasy, my imagination became reality; in my mind I could go where I wanted, I could fly from the attic of the barracks to outside Theresienstadt; I could be anywhere. Maybe that helped, I don’t know. I can’t put my finger on what really kept me alive, either at the beginning or towards the end.

Q: Did you or your family ever return to Germany?

A: My parents did a couple of times for a visit to a museum or some such thing. My father also went twice to the Frankfurt Fair which was a business fair, probably something to do with pharmaceuticals since he was a pharmacist.  I HAD to go for reparation business in (I think) 1995 and HATED it. All I could see was Nazis marching and swastika flags flying and I heard boots on cobble stones. I knew that it wasn’t real, it was in my mind but I couldn’t get out of there fast enough!  It was absolutely horrible and I swore I would never go back and indeed I haven’t gone back and won’t. My father wanted – as I learned much later – in my thirties – to return to Germany to live, but my mother put her foot down and said NO !!!!!, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES. We stayed in Holland.

Q: How did the experience of the Holocaust affect your outlook on life?

A: Probably 100 %. I do not trust people easily if at all, I am suspicious by nature, I feel at home only with other survivors. It has made me want to do better than other people (this also goes for other Child Survivors and probably adults as well). I didn’t want children if I had married (which I didn’t) because I find this not a world into which to produce a child. On the other side, as I said earlier, I was brought up in an assimilated way, but in 1984 or 1985 came to a belief system. I was looking for “something” and it never even occurred to me to look outside of Judaism. I was introduced to the local Hillel rabbi who turned out to be a son of survivors. He talked to me and I went to see him every week for an hour even though he was, of course, there for the students at the colleges and not necessarily for the community, in any case not as a counselor. But he took me on all the same, answered my questions, gave me books to read and invited me to the Hillel Friday night services. There have been several rabbis since then at Hillel and I stayed with Hillel for a long time. Meanwhile I also became member of a temple – locally – . Now there is a new rabbi at Hillel and I have outgrown Hillel, I think, after about 20 years. I go to temple regularly and love it. I love the traditions, the music and everything that goes with temple going.

Q: Aside from what you’ve already covered in the book and these interview questions, is there anything you’d like to share for my blog audience?

A: Yes, I think so. In my opinion the only way to avoid genocides and other holocausts is to accept people the way they are. People talk about “tolerance” but I don’t like that word because it makes me feel that I am saying: “I don’t like you but I won’t say anything.” What I mean is that I accept people exactly the way they are, odds and quirks and all. One can try discussion and talks, and one can try to change people’s minds, but one doesn’t always succeed. Prejudice comes from ignorance, from not knowing what the other is about. So to get rid of prejudice one needs education, one needs to be taught that “other” is not “bad” just “different.” I try to live my life that way and hope I am succeeding. I’d like to add that most of our Child Survivors are in the “helping professions,” i.e. teachers, social workers, lawyers, doctors, etc., in a MUCH higher percentage than the “regular” population. Interesting, isn’t it?

###

Titles by R. Gabriele S. Silten:

Between Two Worlds: Autobiography of a Child Survivor of the Holocaust, Fithian Press, Santa Barbara, 1999, ISBN 1564741265

Is The War Over?: Postwar Years of a Child Survivor of the Holocaust, Fithian Press, McKinleyville, Calif., 2004, ISBN 1564744299

The Past Is Never Far Away: Unpublished Prose and Poetry from the Years 1979 to 2006, ©2007 R. Gabriele S. Silten

High Tower Crumbling: poems by R. Gabriele S. Silten, Fithian Press, Santa Barbara, 1991, ISBN 0931832861 (out of print)

Dark Shadows, Bright Life: poems by R. Gabriele S. Silten, Fithian Press, Santa Barbara, 1998, ISBN 1564742539

Related Links:

Ruth Gabriele Silten on USHMM site

Gabriele on Children of the Holocaust site 

Her testimony on Westerbork

C’est typique. Quand les choses vas pas bien, voila que les diregeants veut qu’on change le sujet. It’s typical: When things aren’t going well, political leaders try to change the subject. And too often, this amounts to trying to re-direct our attention from themselves to ‘them’ — the foreigner. Voila que three major figures from the governing UMP party find themselves either sentenced to prison (Charles Pasqua, senator and former interior minister), awaiting a verdict (former prime minister Dominique Villepin) or soon to be tried (former president Jacques Chirac) — and just four months before regional elections in which the UMP would like to take at least some of the regions (20 of 22 of which are currently controlled by the Socialists) — and President Sarkozy… tries to change the subject. And the national, government-run media more or less complies, notwithstanding a few commentators who question his motives. Of course, we have learned some things since 1940, so we no longer say, “Look at them, they’re different” (well, except in the case of the bourka), but frame the question as “What does it mean to be French?” or “Identité national,” the implication being that some of us foreigners identify more with the countries we came from than the one that — graciously, it needs to be said — has welcomed us.

I’m not against valuing French traditions and values — indeed they are the main reason I’m here. Even the main reason I stay here. And I’m not just talking about the French cultural icons in film, music, literature and art many of whom I’ve worshipped all my life, but basic political, social, and moral values and practices.
Just to give you one example: In the last major elections here, for the European Parliament, 26 parties contested for the French vote. 26! And they all had more or less equal access to the public. For each election, metal panels go up before schools and other public places, each of which features a poster from from a party. So in the European Parliamentary elections, the anti-Zionist party was placed on equal footing with the UMP. Olivier Besancenot, leader of the New Anti-capitalist Party, is regularly included in televised debates. (It’s no accident that in the last presidential election, disputed among 11 parties — 11 parties! — Besancenot got 5 percent of the vote. In the U.S., by contrast, the two main parties, and their allies in the corporate controlled media, do everything they can to exclude other parties from the debate. Some television networks even exclude too liberal Democratic candidates from presidential and senatorial debates. So in contrast to Besancenot, U.S. presidential candidate Ralph Nader — hardly a radical by even U.S. standards — got 1 percent after effectively being blocked from the national corporate-controlled media.

So I absolutely agree that those who come here should prize French tradition, language, culture, lifestyle, and values. I don’t even disagree that a reasoned debate on what it means to be French, and to live in France, and French values, would be useful. That’s not the question. I return to motive, timing, and historical context. When political leaders start talking about national identity — a conversation a subset of which is usually ‘they’re not like us’ — during a time when things aren’t going well, we need to be alarmed. And in France, there’s an additional particularity: I would argue that a knowledge of French history includes awareness of the chapter of that history in which the Vichy government, in the name of France, did what no other occupied country did in not just allowing the Germans to round up Jews and deport them to the death camp, but in many times taking the initiative in IDENTIFYING who was Jewish and having the French police do the rounding up. What made this easier for them to do was the idea that, “Well, they’re not French anyway. They are the other. They act different. They look different.”

This past Saturday in Perigueux, the highlight of the second Salon régional Memoire Résistance et Deportation was a projection and debate, featuring the live participation of Holocaust survivor Marie-José Chambart de Lauwe, who was deported to Ravensbruck, and the film “La deportation des Femmes.” Most of the stories were horrible: Chambart de Lauwe recalled that sometimes new arrivals were marched directly from the train to the gas chambers, without any ’selection,’ and that each morning, the women had to race from their sleeping quarters outside the camp to the gates of the camp. Any that fell were bludgeoned to death immediately. Newborns were simply thrown against the wall until they were dead. But at least one of the stories was inspirational — and, in the current context, instructive. One of the markers of national identity suggested by some has been the obligatory daily singing of the Marseillaise in schools. In the film shown Saturday, one of the deported women recalled that when her group arrived at Auschwitz — after, no doubt, being localised by French Vichy authorities and rounded up by French policemen, many of whom no doubt justified their actions because ‘they’re not French, anyway’ — as they were entering the camp the women spontaneously broke out in the Marseillaise. France had sent them to their deaths, but they still sang for France — and as Frenchwomen.

Récemment, le Royaume Unis a effacé l’Holocauste de son programme d’études, parce qu’il “offensait” la population musulmane qui affirme qu’il n’a jamais existé. Maintenant, plus que jamais avec l’Iran, entre autres qui affirme que l’Holocauste est “un mythe”, il devient indispensable de s’assurer que le monde n’oublie jamais.

It’s not that I’m an idiot (although, in the spirit of full disclosure, I sometimes am), it’s that I’m sometimes clueless. Or, forgetful. Or, mentally misplaced. You see, there’s a lot of shit floating around in my cranium. Some numbers, some interesting data, some bullshit ephemera about what episode of what season in what obscure TV show a character walked down the wrong hallway to go to the bathroom, tons of music, a few memorized beautiful things I’ve seen in my days, some horrors I’ve always memorized, and a collection of all the breasts I’ve come across and been mesmerized. Yeah, there’s a pun there. A bad one, at that.

This morning, I woke up and smiled that kind of smile that only happens on a day off. I got up, stretched, did the various things I do when I wake up alone, the scratching of places and releasing of certain human fluids, then went to the internet and began absorbing facts. A typical day. There’s “significant amounts” of water on the mother fucking moon!

from here.

And I was reading some stuff about the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which I knew I was a few days late to, but it’s still fascinating, right?

I even put on some music as I did this. Made myself a little playlist in my music player and put it on random/shuffle, and you know what song came on several times? My favorite song by the Cure, that’s what. This one:

That’s “The 13th,” and I just adore it. Not the video so much, but the song, definitely.

There was a commercial on TV for a Friday The 13th marathon. And I thought, “Huh, that’s interesting.” Thought about 2012, the batshit crazy stupid but fun looking Roland Emmerich movie that came on today that I’ll probably see tomorrow with Conrad Noir, who tells me he’s not all that interested because he was let down by The Day After Tomorrow. Well, no shit you were let down by The Day After Tomorrow, right? Anyway, that’s most likely on tomorrow’s agenda.

Long story short, it took me until like noon or later to actually fucking realize that it was Friday the 13th. I probably shouldn’t be bragging about that.

It happened at some local coffee shop that I went to, and, well, it was embarassing, but interesting. I live in a small town, the kind where it’s hard to not get to know everyone and their quaint little stories. And all the Southern gothic ghost stories that goes along with it. So I do my best to avoid people as best I can, but today I felt like getting out of the domecile for a bit and going for a run and experimenting with various Pandora stations on my smart brilliant phone.

The search for the perfect Pandora station is man’s constant crawl towards enlightenment, nirvana, and the fingerbanging of God. The pleasure is in the quest, not the capturing because the goal is unreachable, but we still try. That’s the beauty of the humans, or something. Regardless, I’ve been bouncing back and forth, trying to find a good station while running/walking, and I took a chance on an 80s station.

Not bad, but you know what? As great as they can be, Duran Duran and Frankie Goes To Hollywood and “The Safety Dance” just felt a little too gay for this job. I needed something less festive, so I figured I’d shift a decade forward and did a search for an appropriate 90s station. Came up mostly zero, no joke, except for a fascinating station that played 80s music stars trying to make a comeback in the 90s:

Okay, that’s the lovely Bryan Adams song from the Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves soundtrack, which is fantastic all on it’s own (except when it’s used for a Dawson’s Creek fanvid, sorry), but in actuality, the first song that came on that station was Adams’ “Run To You,” which isn’t bad. And following that was some Tom Petty, which is always good in my book, and some Bon Jovi, which is atrocious (though old Bon Jobi works appropiately in some bar settings, I’m loathe to admit), and a whole fucking lot of Guns N’ Roses. It was weird, but I guess it did the trick, workout-wise.

Then I got to the coffee shop, got something to eat, something to drink, and meant to hide myself in the corner with some headphones and devour my meal and some more internet on my phone. Also with me were some printouts of various things I needed to revise and a copy of Warren Ellis’ new POD book, Shivering Sands, which had just come in the mail today. I feel like I’ve read most of it previously (it’s a collection of various writings of his from the internet of the past few years), but still, I was excited.

But as it sometimes can be when interesting people are in the vicinity, and frightfully true when there’s less than interesting people buzzing around you, I got sucked into some conversation. Found out it was 13th day of the month coinciding with the fact that it was also a Friday. Also absorbed some recent gossip. And, because of the recent anniversary, got involved with a conversation about the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War.

You see, the conversation got even more interesting when it turned out that one of the women there was German, a former resident of East Berlin, who had been 18 when the wall came down, and moved to America shortly after. I’ve had a lot of bad experiences with Germans in the past (and no, I’m not referring to World War II, though that was no picnic either, ha ha!), but every once in a while, I have a good experience with their women.

The woman and I talked for some time about the Berlin Wall, and primarily what it was like for her growing up in East Berlin. Essentially, it was bleak, but fascinating. And we had one of those conversations that always pop where she mentions that she was feeling uneasy today because she had left her cell phone at home and she just feels like she’s naked and out of touch, but growing up poor in Germany, they didn’t even have a phone in their house til she was 16. “How did we live in that ancient, strange world?” she asked with a laugh.

She had just seen The Lives Of Others a few weeks ago, she told me, and we talked about the movie, which is really quite good if you haven’t seen it yet, and about the Stasi in general. She told me that the movie scares her because back then, when she was growing up, you just always knew you were being watched, being monitored. You always suspected who was a Stasi man, but you never really knew for sure. And it didn’t hit you until later that it wasn’t so much agents of the Stasi you had to worry about, but those around you because everyone was informing on each other to get ahead.

Could’ve been worse. He could’ve thrown up in her lap.

From there we went into little aspects of German history, talking about “The Iron Chancellor” and how the Prussians united the country a hundred years before the Wall fell, and we even talked a little about Merkel, or “Angie,” as she called her, and told me what a fan she is, being that they’re both East German girls. She told me how it was so weird for her to come to America in her twenties and get a more full view of her own little world up til then and to compare it to growing up in communist Germany, where history was repainted with a propaganda slant. She mentioned that as a teen they were never allowed to refer to the Wall as just “the Wall,” it was always as the “tool for anti-fascist defense” or something like that.

She told me how when she was in school, it was a mandatory field trip for the kids to be taken to the concentration camps and shown all the gross details, the rooms with human remains permanently staining the walls, with the empty shoes of little babies that were turned to dust, the lampshades made out of flayed skin featuring Jewish tattoos. She told me how the physical evidence of the darkest corners of history would never leave her mind and part of her was glad that she was forced to see that shameful part of her country’s past, but that it’s something she knows kids don’t go to see anymore.

I don’t want to use the word “fascinating” again in this post, but that’s what it was. A fascinating conversation, and a fantastic one, informative and insightful. I thanked her for her time and being so patient with my curiousity, and of course for letting me know that it was actually Friday the 13th. Then I left, since I had been there for quite some time and it was starting to look like it might rain. I wasn’t interesting in listening to sad old men with hair plugs crooning bar anthems into my ear, so I just walked in silence, my head heavy with thoughts about everything we discussed.

“Komm rüber!” Hans Conrad Schumann defects, from here.

It did start raining before I got back to my front door, of course, but my mind was elsewhere and I didn’t actually realize it until I was pulling my key out to let myself back in and realized I was shivering there as the water dripped off of me.

And how did you spend your Friday the 13th?

Today, once again, I am able to post only the beginning of a new section to the draft of a chapter called “Representation and Trauma I:  The Sovereignty of the Image,” for a book I am planing on topics pertaining to trauma and philosophy.  In my next post, scheduled for Monday, November 16, I hope to finish this chapter section, which I am calling “The Fiction of Trauma.”

* * * * *

Coincidentally, in the same January 9, 2009, Sunday New York Times that contained Jacob Heilbrunn’s criticism of recent films depicting the Holocaust, discussed earlier this chapter, there also appeared a book review by Richard Lourie of H. G. Adler’s novel The Journey, the English translation of which, by Peter Filkins, appeared only the year before (New York:  Random House, 2008).  As one learns from Lourie’s review, as well as from Filkins’s introduction to his translation of the book itself, Adler was born in Prague in 1910 into a secularized Jewish family, and was himself a survivor of both Theresienstadt and Auschwitz.  Adler survived eighteen other members of his family who died in the Nazi camps, including his wife, her mother, and his own parents.  After liberation, Adler eventually settled in London, where he wrote, among other things, The Journey, detailing in fictionalized form his own journey during the Nazi era.

Both Lourie’s review and Filkins’s introduction, as well as Adler’s son Jeremy Adler’s afterword, to The Journey also acquaint the reader with the journey of its own that Adler’s book–written in German during 1950-1951, we are told in the son’s afterword–itself had to take before it was finally published in Germany in 1962.  In all three places–Richard Lourie’s review, Peter Filkins’s introduction, and Jeremy Adler’s afterword—we are told that the influential German publisher Peter Suhrkamp vowed that the book would never be published in Germany, so long as he lived.  And it wasn’t.  Even after publication, the book languished, little known and little read, until only recently, as is indicated by an English language translation not appearing until 2008.

Both Lourie and Filkins connect Suhrkamp’s insistent stance against publishing the book at all, with the dominance at the time of the aesthetics of Theodor Adorno, who famously declared that literature was no longer possible after Auschwitz.  Adorno argued that the very idea of transforming the horror of the Holocaust into fiction or poetry was morally unacceptable.  It was blasphemous and obscene, to use the same terms I already used myself, in an earlier part of this chapter, to characterize any “exploitation,” as Heilbrunn appropriately names it in his review of recent films focused on the Holocaust, of “Auschwitz”—any exploitation, that is, of all that that name has come to stand for–even and especially for the sake of telling any tale of redemption that would give the Holocaust meaning after the fact.

Interestingly, H. G. Adler himself refuses to tell any such redemption tale in The Journey.  Nevertheless, the background story about his novel’s own journey helps to focus the issue with which Adorno and many since him, including Heilbrun and historian Dominick LaCapra, whom I also have already  mentioned earlier in this chapter.  As we might put it, against the background of the history of Adler’s novel, that is the issue of the morality of fictionalized representations of such shared, historically significant, intentionally perpetrated traumas as the Holocaust or, to give a later example, 9/11.  Especially in such cases, does fictional representation of trauma and its victims cross over into perpetuation of the traumatic abuse at issue?

The broader, framing question to which that of the morality of creating and disseminating fictional images of trauma belongs is the question of just where representation in images as such begins to cross over into morally treacherous territory.  At just what point does such representation begin to risk falling into blasphemy and obscenity?

With regard to that general question, I want to maintain the following thesis: All other things being equal (note that important qualification), the less “fictional,” which is to say the more “realistic,” the representation or image, the greater the risk of such blasphemy and obscenity.  To put the point hyperbolically, I might say that, with regard to such traumatic events as “Auschwitz,” the more photo-graphic, the more porno-graphic.  That is, the more closely the representing of such traumas comes to what Walter Benjamin called “mechanical reproduction,” in his often-cited article “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” as it does in photographic images, the more morally questionable it becomes:  The closer representation comes to reproduction in and as such an image, the greater the risk of blasphemy and obscenity becomes.

Sorry for not getting these photos up sooner – I work at the local performing arts center and we had RENT in town last week, so I have been extremely busy between working the ticket office and seeing the show five times! I am a huge Anthony Rapp fan, and as he and Adam Pascal were both in the tour, I soaked up as much RENT as I could.

Now back to reality…I have added the photos from Krakow, Poland. I’ll attempt to get Gdansk and Warsaw up later this week, now that the passionate singing and acting of Anthony Rapp aren’t in town to distract me.

Aujourd’hui c’était l’anniversaire de la “Nuit de Cristal” où le début du grand massacre profané par les nazis… notre revanche ce sont nos avions de Tsahal qui ont survolé le camp d’Auschwitz.. Plus jamais nous ne laisserons se développer de tels actes et malheur à ceux qui essaierons de les faire…..

In Germany there are big events and parties taking place today, especially in Berlin, to celebrate the 9th of November – as the 20th re-union day of the BRD and the DDR.

But there is no big or official event mourning the 71th return of one of the most dreadful days in German history – the Reichskristallnacht.

This day started as a pogrom against all Jewish people in the Third Reich – and led to the Shoa and the destruction of a whole continent.

Several weeks after the Reichskristallnacht the Nazis opened the concentration camp Neuengamme in Hamburg, Germany. It was the biggest KZ in the north of Germany and around 100.400 people were detained here. They were primarily people from the occupied countries who were forced to work in the German war industries. This work was aimed at destroying the prisoners – physically and psychically. More than 51.000 people died. At least 16.000 people were killed in the last days of the war in so-called death-marches and “Sterbelager”.

The photos were shot in this KZ-Area. They seem unremarkable and could have been taken anywhere in Germany. And that is the point of it. The KZs were widely known to the Germans– and without the massive support of the Germans the aim of totally annihilating of the Jews (and after a foreseen victory in the war also the extermination of half of the East-Europe population) could never have been carried through. The unspeakable came out of the center of this country – and the masses willingly supported such aims up to the last days of the Third Reich – as Goldhagen has shown it in his book “Hitler’s Willing Executioners”.

We should never forget… and we should know, that anti-Semitism and racism comes not from the edges of our society, but directly from the so-called “middle” of it!