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| Europe | |
| Auschwitz 60 years on: Do we still have ears to listen? | |
| 2005-01-27 | |
Sixty years ago, the Russians liberated Auschwitz, as the Americans approached Dachau. The Allied advance revealed to a stunned world the horrors of the greatest catastrophe ever to befall our civilization. To a survivor of both death factories, where Hitler's gruesome reality eclipsed Dante's imaginary inferno, being alive and well so many years later feels unreal. We the survivors are now disappearing one by one. Soon history will speak of Auschwitz at best with the impersonal voice of researchers and novelists, at worst with the malevolence of demagogues and falsifiers. This week the last of us, with a multitude of heads of state and other dignitaries, are gathering at that cursed site to remind the world that past can be prologue, that the mountains of human ashes dispersed there are a warning to humanity of what may still lie ahead. | |
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #17 "weh mir, nito nit kejner schojn... gewen a volk, gewen, un schojn nito... gewen a volk, gewen, un schojn... schojn ojs! a meissele asa, es hejbt vun chumeschl sich on un bis, bis jetzt... a meissele gor trojerik, wer sogt as schejn? a meisse vun Amolekn un bis an ergeren vun ihm, dem deitsch... o himl weit, o breit die erd, o jamim groiss – nit balt zusamen in eijn knojdl sich un nit varnicht die schlechte ojf der erd, soln sej varnichtn sich alejn!" "Woe is unto me, nobody is left. There was a people and it is no more. There was a people and it is ... Gone ... What a tale. It began in the Bible and lasted till now. A very sad tale. A tale that began with Amalek and concluded with the far crueller Germans... O distant sky, wide earth, vast seas, Do not crush and don't destroy the wicked. Let them destroy themselves!" Itzhak Katzenelson Dos lied vunem ojsgehargetn jidischn volk (The Song of the Murdered Jewish People, written in the concentration camp of Vittel before the author, who fought and survived the uprising of the Warsaw ghetto, was murdered in Auschwitz on Mai 1st 1944) |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-01-27 2:45:31 PM |
| #16 "weh mir, nito nit kejner schojn... gewen a volk, gewen, un schojn nito... gewen a volk, gewen, un schojn... schojn ojs! a meissele asa, es hejbt vun chumeschl sich on un bis, bis jetzt... a meissele gor trojerik, wer sogt as schejn? a meisse vun Amolekn un bis an ergeren vun ihm, dem deitsch... o himl weit, o breit die erd, o jamim groiss – nit balt zusamen in eijn knojdl sich un nit varnicht die schlechte ojf der erd, soln sej varnichtn sich alejn!" "Woe is unto me, nobody is left. There was a people and it is no more. There was a people and it is ... Gone ... What a tale. It began in the Bible and lasted till now. A very sad tale. A tale that began with Amalek and concluded with the far crueller Germans... O distant sky, wide earth, vast seas, Do not crush and don't destroy the wicked. Let them destroy themselves!" Itzhak Katzenelson Dos lied vunem ojsgehargetn jidischn volk (The Song of the Murdered Jewish People, written in the concentration camp of Vittel before the author, who fought and survived the uprising of the Warsaw ghetto, was murdered in Auschwitz on Mai 1st 1944) |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-01-27 2:45:31 PM |
| #15 Thank you TGA. Sei bald gesund! Bless you, Frank. If there should, God forbid, be a next time, we won't wait quietly -- we'll fight with teeth and toenails if that's all we have, until you bring up the artillery. Deal? Last time around we didn't believe in the pure evil of the plan until it was too late; now we know better. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-01-27 8:50:34 PM |
| #14 Hope you're back to full strength again soon, TGA. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2005-01-27 5:57:54 PM |
| #13 NEVER F&*KING AGAIN. Before that happens? an Imam a day - it's all we ask. The Jews will always be the canary in the coal mine, and we need to be there for them |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-01-27 5:31:56 PM |
| #12 "Is Islam the next Nazi Regime?" I fear it will be unless it can be turned onto another path, at the end of which "submission to God" no longer means "submission to man". But if it cannot be guided-- or shoved-- off its present course, then a showdown is inevitable: it will be either them, or us. |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2005-01-27 5:05:59 PM |
| #11 "weh mir, nito nit kejner schojn... gewen a volk, gewen, un schojn nito... gewen a volk, gewen, un schojn... schojn ojs! a meissele asa, es hejbt vun chumeschl sich on un bis, bis jetzt... a meissele gor trojerik, wer sogt as schejn? a meisse vun Amolekn un bis an ergeren vun ihm, dem deitsch... o himl weit, o breit die erd, o jamim groiss – nit balt zusamen in eijn knojdl sich un nit varnicht die schlechte ojf der erd, soln sej varnichtn sich alejn!" "Woe is unto me, nobody is left. There was a people and it is no more. There was a people and it is ... Gone ... What a tale. It began in the Bible and lasted till now. A very sad tale. A tale that began with Amalek and concluded with the far crueller Germans... O distant sky, wide earth, vast seas, Do not crush and don't destroy the wicked. Let them destroy themselves!" Itzhak Katzenelson Dos lied vunem ojsgehargetn jidischn volk (The Song of the Murdered Jewish People, written in the concentration camp of Vittel before the author, who fought and survived the uprising of the Warsaw ghetto, was murdered in Auschwitz on Mai 1st 1944) |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-01-27 2:45:31 PM |
| #10 "weh mir, nito nit kejner schojn... gewen a volk, gewen, un schojn nito... gewen a volk, gewen, un schojn... schojn ojs! a meissele asa, es hejbt vun chumeschl sich on un bis, bis jetzt... a meissele gor trojerik, wer sogt as schejn? a meisse vun Amolekn un bis an ergeren vun ihm, dem deitsch... o himl weit, o breit die erd, o jamim groiss – nit balt zusamen in eijn knojdl sich un nit varnicht die schlechte ojf der erd, soln sej varnichtn sich alejn!" "Woe is unto me, nobody is left. There was a people and it is no more. There was a people and it is ... Gone ... What a tale. It began in the Bible and lasted till now. A very sad tale. A tale that began with Amalek and concluded with the far crueller Germans... O distant sky, wide earth, vast seas, Do not crush and don't destroy the wicked. Let them destroy themselves!" Itzhak Katzenelson Dos lied vunem ojsgehargetn jidischn volk (The Song of the Murdered Jewish People, written in the concentration camp of Vittel before the author, who fought and survived the uprising of the Warsaw ghetto, was murdered in Auschwitz on Mai 1st 1944) |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-01-27 2:45:31 PM |
| #9 I couldn't attend the ceremony in Auschwitz due to some health problems. But I'll definitely attend the ceremony for the liberation of Buchenwald by US troops. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-01-27 4:05:26 PM |
| #8 As I stand their bound at rifle point I watch as my daughters 8 and 3 clutch their most prized possessions, their favorite dolls and their mother's hands. They are led off on a rail car to certain death. My wife cannot look back on me for the emeny forces her to keep her head straight. I can't look upon the face of the love of my life and the most precious people in world to me. My wife will not disobey the enemies commands because she couldn't stand to think I would have to watch her and my daughters be killed. Off she goes never to be seen again. Clutching my hand and silently sobbing is my son only 5. He has no use to the enemy either. It is my toughest pill to swallow. I'm strong and they can use me but the innocent, the young and weak will be destroyed. Soon they will come for him, rip him from me and do as they may. All I can do is stand helpless and defeated, a broken man a mere vision of myself. As they approach I have a mere moment to recount the joys of my family and pray their death will not be to horrible. At that moment is life worth living? I can't imagine the horror, I've put myself in their position many times before. What do you do? I don't think words can express anymore. I only hope we learn, learn to fight hatred and phobias. Is Islam the next Nazi Regime? Would they do this to all non-believers? I would step on that train for my family, leave them be! I'm a firefighter and I do it everyday for strangers. But, will my sacrifice be enough? This radicalism has to be fought now, not when Christians, Jews and Hindus are once again being loaded on trains. Sorry so long - Just a heavy heart |
| Posted by: Rightwing 2005-01-27 3:35:48 PM |
| #7 I know. And somehow it's good that way. He reminds us that it would all happen again if we weren't watchful. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-01-27 3:10:45 PM |
| #6 are you kidding? Boris has street parties on days like today... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-01-27 3:08:55 PM |
| #5 Don't worry, it seems that even on this day Boris can't shut up... |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-01-27 3:03:17 PM |
| #4 Sorry about that. I sent Fred a note to rescue you. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2005-01-27 3:00:05 PM |
| #3 Thank you. I'm afraid Fred's software is not on my side today. Please rescue my posting from sinktrap. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-01-27 2:48:08 PM |
| #2 "Lest we forget" |
| Posted by: Raptor 2005-01-27 8:42:31 AM |
| #1 Thank you for this, Seafarious. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-01-27 6:26:17 AM |