January 27, 2014

Today, January 27th, is the International Holocaust Memorial Day for 2014

This day was chosen by the United Nations General Assembly resolution in a 60/7 vote in 2005 because it commemorates the liberation of one of the most notorious concentration camps, Auschwitz-Birkenau. It has been almost 70 years and debate about the ramifications of the Holocaust continues. Discussions revolve around the use of the Holocaust and how appropriate (or not) it is. Just recently, one asshole, Tom Perkins decided taxation on the rich was the equivalent of Kristallnacht. It popped up all over the place with remarks about how disgusting the comparison is (and in some cases, how dead on it was). It was interesting, in my view, to see reactions to his remarks.

There are those who mock the Holocaust, referring to it as the "Holohoax" or the "Holoco$t." Some complain the Holocaust focuses too much on the Jews. Many, however, tend to downplay the effects of the Holocaust on the Jewish people and Europe. Others go as far to deny it even happened! Yes, some deny more than 6 million Jews and almost 6 million (or more) others simply weren't the victims of an outrageous policy to "cleanse" Germany and Europe of 'undesirables.' Then, there are those people who acknowledge the Holocaust and "mourn" the fact it wasn't more complete.



However, I also believe it is important on this day to remember, not just those lost, or the horrific magnitude of the situation, but to also remember those who put their own lives on the line to save others, and, in some cases, lost their own lives. People like Italians Giorgio Perlasca and Giovanni Palatucci, Tunisian Khaled Abdul-Wahab, British Nicholas Winton, Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara, Iranian diplomat Abdol Hossein Sardari, Polish Irena Sendler, Dutch Corrie ten Boom, and so many more, including the people of Denmark. There are many of whom we will never know of their bravery.

Today, remember the entirety of the Holocaust.



(the above examples were comments from Holocaust survivor describes life in Nazi concentration camps which I also posted here at DU.

January 16, 2014

On Google -- Dian Fossey

Dian Fossey (/daɪˈæn ˈfɒsi/; January 16, 1932– c. December 26, 1985) was an American zoologist who undertook an extensive study of gorilla groups over a period of 18 years. She studied them daily in the mountain forests of Rwanda, initially encouraged to work there by famous anthropologist Louis Leakey. Her 1983 book, Gorillas in the Mist, combines her scientific study of the mountain gorilla at Karisoke Research Center with her own personal story. Fossey was murdered in 1985; the case remains open.[1]




I remember reading her studies and articles when I was younger, and then reading about her horrible murder. I was so sad.

January 5, 2014

Holocaust History, as Told by a Survivor

EMSDETTEN, Germany — LASZLO SCHWARTZ never had a proper adolescence. The Nazis made sure of that.

He was 14 when he and his family disembarked from a cold boxcar onto the selection ramp at Auschwitz, and he says he still remembers the feel of Josef Mengele’s wide leather gloves pinching his scrawny biceps.

As the sadistic concentration camp physician known as the “Angel of Death” sized up the teenage Laszlo, ordering him to line up with the other children, a sinister flame rose in the distance, he said.

“I knew what they were doing, but I didn’t want to believe it,” Mr. Schwartz recently told a class of 50 high school students in this small town in western Germany. “My turn came for Mengele, and he asked me to make a muscle. He asked how old I am. I said 17. It didn’t help.”

At 83, Mr. Schwartz splits his time between Germany and New York City, where he emigrated in 1946. Since July 2010, he has spoken at more than 80 schools around Germany about the kidnappings, starvation and torture he endured during the war and how the last time he ever saw his mother and sister was the day he met Mengele.

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