Tag: holocaust

HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS

“Father time” is undefeated. That is a well-known expression often applied to sports careers, but it is also applicable to other aspects of life, such as Holocaust survivors.

It has been 80 years since the end of WWII and the resultant worldwide revelation of the Holocaust that the Nazis visited upon Jews, Gypsies, and others they deemed to be “enemies of the state, inferior” and even “subhuman,” from the early 1930s through 1945. It is estimated that the Nazis and their often-eager collaborators murdered some six million Jews during this period. (Yes, there are credible records of many who risked their lives to save Jews, but in my opinion, they were in the minority.) The overall total, including, non-Jews, is unknown due to the many mass executions whose victims were buried in hidden and unrecorded mass graves, but according to Wikipedia, research by historians places the number of Holocaust victims murdered at “not less than twelve million and probably more.”

The contrast between the estimated Jewish populations of some European countries prewar versus postwar is shocking but not surprising: Germany – 560,000 vs. 15,000, Poland – 3.3 million vs. 300,000, and Austria – 191,000 vs fewer than 4,000. Jews had been living in those countries for hundreds of years. They had become ingrained into the economic, political, social and cultural life of those countries. They were always welcome, until they were not.

It has often been said that the surviving victims’ best revenge on Hitler and the Nazis was to live a long, productive life. As the Tom Hanks character counseled the Matt Damon character in the iconic WWII movie Saving Private Ryan: “earn it.”

Inevitably, with the passage of time the number of Holocaust survivors has dwindled down to a precious few. According to a recent article published in the Associated Press only some 200,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors are still alive, roughly one-half of whom live in Israel. (By comparison, Israel is home to merely .12% of the world’s total population.)

The Claims Conference, which monitors Holocaust survivors, estimates their median age to be 87 with about 1,500 of them in excess of 100 years old. As one might expect a goodly number of them are in poor general health, not only the result of age but also the physical, mental and emotional abuse and stress of the Holocaust, itself. According to research provided by Vanishing Witnesses sadly, but inevitably, due to normal mortality rates approximately 50% of them will likely pass away in the next six years, and virtually all of them within the next 15.

One survivor who has fulfilled the aforementioned advice to “live long and well” is Albrecht W. As profiled in the aforementioned AP article AW is 100. He survived Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Mittel Brau-Dora and three “death” marches. Virtually his entire extended family was murdered in the Holocaust. To this day, he is still haunted by “horrendous memories” of what he endured. “I sleep with it; I sweat; I have nightmares; that is my [remembrance].” He dedicated his working career to teaching high school students and others about what he and others endured. Nevertheless, he is one of those who worries who will keep the memories alive after he is gone.

Conclusion

The primary takeaway from the foregoing is that very soon there will no longer be any firsthand witnesses to the horrific events that took place. Yes, there are photos, films and secondhand accounts, but they do not have the same impact. “Holocaust deniers” are already asserting that the events of the Holocaust are either exaggerated or never occurred. Ironically, they are simply too horrific and inhuman to be believed. Normal people cannot conceive that a human being could do those things to another human.

As time moves on, these “deniers” will become more numerous and vociferous. They will claim that photos and film records have been photoshopped and “doctored” and any remaining witnesses are unreliable. Eventually, the memories survivors have vowed to ensure people will “never forget” will, in fact, be forgotten, and the world will be inching closer to the next Holocaust. I hope I am wrong about this but based on history I doubt it.

by Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

AUSCHVITZ REMEMBRANCE DAY – POIGANCE AND A FEEL-GOOD STORY

Yesterday, January 27 was the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. During WWII the Nazis created and operated five concentration camps specifically designed to murder Jews and other “undesirables,” such as Soviet POWs, ethnic Poles, homosexuals, Romani (gypsies), and persons with disabilities. The other concentration camps were Chełmno, Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka. Auschwitz was, perhaps, the most notorious of them all. Approximately 2.7 million Jews were murdered at the above-mentioned camps (out of the overall total of six million). Of that total Auschwitz accounted for the most, approximately one million.

In addition to the mass murders at these camps some two million Jews were murdered in indiscriminate mass shootings. Most of these people were buried in mass graves. Other methods of extermination included murders in ghettos, labor camps, deliberate privation (of food, water, shelter and medical treatment), disease, brutality, antisemitic riots, and arbitrary acts  

The Nazis spent many years and much time and resources to develop the most efficient method of murdering these people before they settled on using gas chambers in these camps. Their goal was complete extermination. Most historians denote that this fixation came at a huge cost to their war effort and likely contributed their ultimate defeat.

These death camps were horrible beyond description, but occasionally we hear of a “feelgood” story. For instance, recently, I came across such a story in the NY Post about two sisters who were imprisoned at Auschwitz as very young girls, miraculously survived and eventually were reunited as adults. The older one, Eva Sbornik, was born in a labor camp and sent to Auschwitz as a toddler. Normally, the Nazis murdered toddlers upon arrival. However, her train was delayed and consequently arrived after the camp guards had destroyed the crematoriums in a vain attempt to hide the evidence of their crimes from the rapidly advancing Allied forces. As a result, she was spared.

The younger sister, Elenora Umlauf, was actually born in Auschwitz’s infirmary on April 30, 1945 after the camp had been liberated. Almost certainly if the camp had still been run by the Nazis she would have perished. Even so, she was very sickly and the Red Cross doctors who treated her doubted she would survive, but she did.

Thus, both sisters survived, but for many years neither one was aware of the other’s existence. Ultimately, they were reunited along with their mother.

Incredibly, both are still alive today. Each one has attained the ultimate revenge on the Nazis, which is to survive and live a long and successful life. Both live in Germany. Sbornik is a doctor specializing in internal medicine, and Umlauf is a pediatrician and psychotherapist.

Both related their remarkable story in an interview with the NY Post in conjunction with the aforementioned 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Sbornik took the occasion to tell the world to remember the Holocaust.

Sometimes, luck and happenstance decide who lives and who dies. For example, one survivor, 92, was the beneficiary of such luck. He was nine years old and living with his family in Greece when the Nazis arrived. When they began arresting Jews in the area his family fled. “We were hiding in the mountains in a monastery, but we stayed together,” he remembered. One time, “[a Nazi soldier] took a shot at me, but thank God I had already turned the corner and didn’t get shot. However, another child that was crossing the street at that time took the bullet that was meant for me,”

There were many other similar stories told by other survivors, stories of bravery and fortune. These stories should not be forgotten.

Attendees at Monday’s commemoration in Oswiecim, Poland included several World leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Britain’s King Charles III and French President Emmanuel Macron, among others, and dozens of Holocaust survivors. The U.S. delegation included Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, who played a key role in negotiating this month’s Gaza truce agreement between Israel and Hamas, Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Commerce, and Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Trump’s choice as ambassador to France. Due to the advanced age and ill health of many of the survivors this year’s ceremony is regarded as perhaps the last major observance of Auschwitz’s liberation that any notable number of survivors will be able to attend.

Various Polish and German officials gave speeches that said all the right things.

For example, prior to the ceremony, Poland’s President Andrzej Duda remembered the victims of the camp in a television address, saying his country has a special role in preserving the memory of Auschwitz. He stated, “We Poles, on whose land occupied by Nazi Germany the Germans built this extermination industry and concentration camp are today the guardians of memory.” At the ceremony on the former grounds of Auschwitz, Duda, accompanied by a group of survivors, laid a wreath at the so-called “Death Wall,” where many shooting executions took place. Some of the survivors wore blue-and-white striped scarves, the colors of the prisoner uniforms they were forced to wear at the camp.

In addition, in several interviews with German media, Scholz stated that it was “depressing how many people in Germany hardly know anything about the Holocaust.” Each state in Germany has control over how the Holocaust is taught in schools, and instruction is inconsistent.

Conclusion

A day after the political rally, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted on X that calls at the rally to forget “German guilt for Nazi[s’] crimes” sounded all too familiar and ominous, especially given the setting. Moreover, in an appearance on Germany’s public broadcaster Deutschlandfunk, Abraham Lehrer, vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said of the horrors Nazi Germany perpetuated at Auschwitz: “We must not allow commemoration to be ‘enough.’ “

According to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which represents the world’s Jews in negotiating for compensation and restitution there are only about 1,000 Auschwitz survivors still living. As time has gone by and the survivors dwindle people have begun to forget and some are even beginning to deny it ever happened.

In my opinion that is unacceptable. It greatly increases the likelihood for a recurrence. Already we are seeing a dangerous rise in antisemitism. We must keep the memory alive and never forget!

by Tags: , , , Leave a comment

TRUMP AT MSG. SUPPORTERS 20,000, NAZIS 0

As you all know, this past Sunday Donald Trump held a massive rally at Madison Square Garden in NYC. The concise headline in the NY Post summed it up perfectly, “A MEGA MAGA AT THE MECCA.”

Trump boldly decided to stage a massive rally in arguably the bluest of blue venues, NYC. This is the same NYC that virtually always votes for Dem candidates from the president on down to the City Council and for every office in between. This is the same NYC that hosted his Stalin-era “show trial” a few months ago on “trumped up” charges that resulted in a conviction, which will certainly be overturned by the higher courts.

According to multiple media reports the Garden was filled to capacity; plus, there were thousands more people outside who could not get in. Among the attendees were my grandson, Mason, and three of his friends. Despite the inane and execrable statements that have been spewed out by many Dems and their allies in the media regarding those who attended the rally I can assure you that my grandson and his friends are not Nazis. They, like all the other attendees are people who are fed up with the state of the country and believe that Trump will fix it.

According to Mason there was a wide cross-section of people of all ages, genders, and races with nary a Nazi in sight. Other eyewitness accounts published in multiple media outlets have confirmed this. For example, Lily Zuckerman, reported in the Post seeing several Jews wearing Stars of David and traditional Orthodox garb such as kippahs and black hats. She added that people were generally upbeat, vibrant, joyous, and friendly. More gaslighting by desperate and duplicitous Dems exposed.

Mason and his friends got up at 6:00 am, arrived at around 7:40, and reported there were already a goodly number of people there. The Post reported that some 2,000 people had been camping out for as long as 48 hours. The crowd was peaceful and in festive spirits. They waited outside several hours before the doors were opened, but they were able to get good seats inside. Much of the overflow that could not get in watched the proceedings from inside nearby restaurants and bars, but thousands more remained outside, content just to be part of the event. Once the proceedings commenced the crowds were raucous and enthusiastic but peaceful. The Post compared the atmosphere and enthusiasm to that seen for rock stars. Many fans had driven hundreds of miles and camped out for days to be a part of it.

As I said, there was a wide cross-section of people in attendance. But do you know what was missing from the rally? Nazis. There was nary a Nazi flag or swastika in sight. Speaker Hulk Hogan, in his blunt, bombastic manner, bellowed “I don’t see no stinking Nazis in here!” Do you know what else was missing? Protesters. One secret service agent was quoted as estimating the number of protesters at about 150, hardly a blip.

In a demonstration of unity, the program included speeches by a wide cross-section of supporters including allies such as Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, former opponents such as Vivek Ramaswamy and RFK, non-political luminaries such as Rudy Giuliani, Hulk Hogan and Tucker Carlson, former Dems such as Tulsi Gabbard, VP nominee J. D. Vance, and the former First Lady, Melania (not a Nazi among them either). Indeed, in what world would one find Orthodox Jews and pro-Israel banners at a Nazi rally? Many of the speakers specifically defended Israel and criticized BH for the manner in which they have treated it.

The massive and enthusiastic crowd counteracted the claim by the Dems that he is unfit for office. In addition, columnist Piers Morgan characterized Clinton’s comparison of this rally to the 1939 pro-Nazi rally as “despicable” but consistent with the Dems “incessant and hysterical demonization” of Trump. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Trump led off his speech with the standard question, “are you better off today than you were four years ago?” Of course, that got the crowd fired up, because for 90% of us the answer is a resounding NO! Then, he covered the usual topics, such as the economy, the border, mass deportation of illegal migrants, reinstituting drilling for oil and gas, no tax on social security, tips, and overtime, and fighting crime. He introduced a new tax initiative – a tax cut for caregivers who look after family members. He introduced a new tag line, which I think will resonate. “Kamala broke it, but I will fix it.”

The Dems have gotten so desperate it’s pathetic. In every previous election in my lifetime each candidate had bona fide issues that he could run on. Voters might not agree, but at least there was something to discuss. This is the first election I can recall in which the incumbent, Harris, has had nothing bona fide to run on. She has been VP for four years and she has no accomplishments to point to. None.

The economy is as bad as at any time since the Great Depression. The border is wide open. Illegal immigrants are pouring in at will. (Presently, we actually have no real southern border.) Crime is skyrocketing and becoming more random, especially in the cities run by Dems. There are no longer any “safe, crime-free” areas. Due to “no-bail” laws criminals are often released from jail before the paperwork for their arrest has been completed. Moreover, they are often not even getting prosecuted due to “woke” DAs. Businesses and people have been abandoning the crime-ridden cities for more law-abiding locales. Those who have remained are afraid to go out. There are wars in the ME and in Ukraine, which are threatening to metastasize into WWIII. We have abandoned our allies and placated our enemies.

Even worse, the country is as divided as I have ever seen it. GOP vs Dem, progressive vs. conservative. Antisemitism is as overt as I have ever seen it. The atmosphere is almost as bad as it was under the Nazis in pre-WWII Germany. Colleges are being controlled by pro-terrorist, anti-Jewish administrators and agitators. Many Jews are afraid to identify themselves as Jewish. All of the foregoing has developed and spun out of control in the last four years under Biden-Harris. They have been unable or unwilling to deal with it.

So, I repeat, Harris has nothing positive to claim in her four years. So, what have she and her cohorts done? They have manufactured issues, and they have lied. “Trump” is a Nazi.” “Trump is Hitler.” “Trump’s rally at MSG is reminiscent of the infamous Nazi rally of 1939.” “Trump should be in prison.” “Trump is a threat to democracy.” “Trump wants to be a dictator. He will never leave office.” “Trump wants to outlaw abortions.”

Of course, none of these is even remotely true. The Dems know they are losing, possibly badly. They are desperate. They are flailing, trying to foment hate, division, fear and dissension. Personally, I find some of above characterizations as very offensive, particularly the references to Hitler and Nazis. Perhaps, Harris and her campaign are unaware of the Holocaust in which Hitler and the Nazis murdered six million Jews and millions of others. Every Jew, indeed, every Trump supporter, should be outraged.

The fact of the matter is that if anyone is antisemitic it is Harris and her cohorts given their tepid support of Israel and laissez faire attitude toward the bias being visited upon Jews at the present time. I have discussed this in detail in previous blogs.

If anyone is a threat to democracy it is these same power-hungry phonies. It was they who carried out a four-year deception against the American people by hiding Biden’s deteriorating cognition, thus allowing a president to remain in office who was unfit to serve. Who was actually running the country? We don’t know. Certainly not Biden. They should have invoked the 25th amendment, which had been enacted for this very situation. By not doing so they violated the Constitution in order to maintain their power and control.

I have noticed that whatever outlandish accusation the Dems make against Trump they themselves are guilty of it. For example, they say he is antisemitic and a threat to democracy, but those are traits that they have exhibited. It was they who threw a duly elected president and duly nominated presidential candidate “under the bus.” It was they who cast aside a candidate who had received 18 million primary votes in favor of one who had not received any. It was they who blocked a bona fide candidate, RFK, Jr., from pursuing his candidacy, and sought to keep Trump off the ballot in various states for no bona-fide reason. It was they who sought to imprison Trump on “trumped up” charges because they realized they couldn’t beat him fair and square. It is they who have fomented divisiveness and hatred even though they know it is likely to encourage some mentally and emotionally unbalanced person to try to assassinate Trump. It is they who have not provided Trump with sufficient Secret Service protection despite two previous assassination attempts and credible threats of others. And it is they who are trying any means, nefarious and otherwise, to hold on to power.

Conclusion

The polls still indicate that the race is very, very tight, both nationally and in the battleground states, but there are signs that that may not be the case. For whatever reason in every election the polls have underestimated Trump’s support. In both 2016 and 2020 Trump outperformed the polls in the actual election. Those polls reported him to be behind both Clinton and Biden. Yet, he won in 2016 and lost by a hair in 2020. Also, he is ahead of where he was on this date in those election cycles.

Additionally, one cannot ignore the large and enthusiastic crowds he attracts wherever he campaigns, even in a deep blue venue such as NYC. Harris’ crowds have not come close.

Finally, one can sense the desperation in the Harris campaign. For example, she agreed to an interview on Fox News where she knew she would not be able to get away with her normal evasive, non-answer answers. This was way out of her comfort zone, and it showed.

Finally, the Harris campaign has called out the “big dogs,” the Obamas and the Clintons, to help. They, too, know she is losing.

All that said, we all know that the only poll that counts is the one on ED. We’ve learned that lesson many times, most recently in the 1948 and 2016 elections.

So, GOPers, don’t be complacent. Your vote counts. The GOP needs to expand its majority in the House and flip the Senate. Trump needs a clear and decisive mandate in order to govern effectively.

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

by Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment