Holocaust Remembrance Day

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Holocaust Remembrance Day is a day that has been set aside for remembering the victims of the Holocaust and for reminding people of what can happen when bigotry, hatred and indifference reign. In honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day 2007, (April 15, 2007) I re-edited my video footage from a recent trip to Dachau, Germany.

Dachau was the first concentration camp set up by the Nazis in 1933. The first prisoners were political opponents of the regime, communists, social democrats, trade unionists, and occasionally members of conservative and liberal political parties. The first Jewish prisoners were sent to the Dachau concentration camp because of their political opposition. In the following years new groups were deported to Dachau: these included Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, members of the Jehovah's Witness, and priests. In the wake of the November pogrom alone, the so-called Reichskristallnacht ("The Night of Broken Glass"), more than 10,000 Jews were sent to the Dachau concentration camp.

"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me." ~ Attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller, a German minister imprisoned at Dachau during WWII for opposing the Nazi party

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• holocaust
• remembrance
• day
• dachau
• jews
• homosexuals
• catholic
• priests
• jehovah'switness
• prejudice
• bigotry
• hatred

[0e0l7i]

never again...

[cmel88]

Actually, you're pretty right. About 1.2 mil. Jews were killed in Russia. And, 20 mil. Soviets were killed in Russia during the war.

[cmbojim]

@cmbojim But the gist of the book, which was written from transcripts taken from the soldiers themselves during the years following the war pretty much proves that while all the men who participated in the mass killings were indeed "ordinary men" there were not but a handful who said "No." and of those who said no, none of them suffered any backlash. So that shows that while they could have, they did not.

[cmbojim]

@jackgodbriggs There were hundreds of camps all over Germany, Poland and other occupied areas where the regular citizen, plus all the German soldiers, men and women who guarded the camps, were well aware of. The smoke and ash coming from the chimneys.... the smell of rotting corpses. Yeah, it wasn't just the German soldiers. I hold them all accountable.

[cmbojim]

@jackgodbriggs Interesting that you should create a book with that title. It appears that you really have not done much research about the Holocaust. Germans, whether they were soldiers or merely citizens, were blasted with "information" constantly saying that the Jews were inhuman vermin.

[jackgodbriggs]

@cmbojim yes, because all german soldiers are clearly evil, because a book said so, sorry for my incompetence.

ever read a book called 'we're all human beings' ? neither have I, but it seems like an interesting concept.

[cmbojim]

@jackgodbriggs since you mention that the Nazi soldiers were "just men" then I suggest you read "Ordinary Men" by Christpher Browning. Then, feel free to come back for an open dialogue.

[jackgodbriggs]

@cmbojim you cannot say there were not thousands of good men in that army, it's like saying that the principal of a school is racist, so the entire student body must be also ? or just because you go to a catholic school you are catholic. 

[jackgodbriggs]

@cmbojim may I just point out (not that I am any fan of hitler or his followers) that the german soldiers were still men, they were brave men who fought and died for what they believed in, they are only classed as the bad guys because they lost, they are only in the wrong because the men who won got the write the books, just remember that when you revise history.

[cmbojim]

@Eshayzbra96 revisionist can say what they want. when you swear an oath, you swear an oath. pure and simple. after the fact, you can claim whatever you want to claim. just like everyone said they had friends who helped the jews and others caught up in the nazi's huge net of hate. well, why don't YOU talk with some holocaust survivors to see what they have to say about this. Or german gay men who were castrated because of the sexual orientation.

[Eshayzbra96]

@cmbojim Uhhh no actually, most of the Wehrmacht leaders weren't part of the Nazi party, like Rommel and just because you swear an oath, doesn't mean you can't betray that oath, so you're wrong, my grandfather disliked the Nazi's/Adolf and he was a Wehrmacht soldier. The SS were a political force so therefore, they're Nazi's.

That's just an inch of proof, you really should look into it then watching war movies or documentries that only have allied point of veiws.

Also,the pope was Hitler youth

[cmbojim]

@Eshayzbra96 German soldiers were Nazis, just as the current Pope was a Nazi. Wehrmacht oath "I swear by God this sacred oath that to the Leader of the German empire and people, Adolf Hitler, supreme commander of the armed forces, I shall render unconditional obedience and that as a brave soldier I shall at all times be prepared to give my life for this oath."