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VildaHawk

Today is Yom HaSho'ah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. We set aside this day on the Jewish calender to honor, mourn, and remember the 6,000,000 Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust.

This weekend in Boston there will be a public ceremony, as there is every year. This year, about two-dozen neo-Nazis intend on showing up in protest, denying the Holocaust.
Within a decade or so, all of the survivors will be dead. It is important that we remember their stories not only for their sake, but for the sake of future generations.

My grandmother is a Holocaust survivor, and I'm going to share her story. Please read it. Please bear witness.

My grandmother was born in Poland, but she grew up in Austria. She was a young woman in medical school in Vienna when the war broke out, training to be a nurse.
The night that Hitler arrived in Vienna, was her older brother's last night in Vienna. The next morning he would be leaving for Israel (which wasn't a state at the time). As a going away gift, his parents gave him tickets to the opera for that night. When the Nazis came, my grandmother and her sister rushed through the dangerous streets, staying 5 feet apart so as not to attract attention, to the opera house to get their brother. He scolded them for doing something so risky, and they went home.
Her father was taken away by the SS. She never heard from him again.
One day, an SS officer showed up at her door and told her to come with him. My grandmother obeyed, shutting the door behind her before the Nazis could realize that there were other people in the house. Her mother, who was in the house, would eventually meet her fate in a death camp.
It just so happened that one of the Nazi guards in the concentration camp where she was taken was a classmate of hers at the medical school. He facilitated her escape.
She and my grandfather fled. They ended up in Manila, in the Phillipenes, where they lived until they were put in a Japanese concentration camp. After they were liberated, they came to America.

That is one story. My grandma's story. And I'm sure that that's not even the full story.
If anyone else has any stories to tell, please do.

what about the other 5000000 who were killed so i say in remberance of all 11000000 people who were killed

Buccaneer

That is a touching and cool story, Vilda.

I actually signed up for a Holocaust class just last week.

Carly

Originally posted by lucciano_minhawk@May 5 2005, 02:19 PM
what about the other 5000000 who were killed so i say in remberance of all 11000000 people who were killed
[snapback]43046[/snapback]

What about recognizing the fact that Yom Hashoah is meant to recognize the persecuted Semites of the Holocaust ? No shit the Jewish recognize all the other deaths, how many do you think died for the liberation of Europe ?

As for myself - I was seriously considering attending the Yom Hashoah service at the synagogue close to my house (one of my best friends is speaking at the ceremony) but in the end I wasn't able to make it. Pity, I wanted to see him. $:\$ I've also been to the Holocaust Museum in DC, and that's something I'll never forget. You read about the atrocities in books and stuff, but it's nothing to seeing actual footage of Auschwitz and Birkenau. It's just… my god. If you have the chance, go.

That said, I do have a candle lit up in my house to at least give some rememberance. Nothing like actually being able to confess grief (since I honestly can't say I have regrets or anything about the Holocaust), but still… it's something, at least.

im not trying to fight im just saying that those other 5,000,000 should be recognized also

Carly

They are. It's called Memorial Day.

VildaHawk

Originally posted by lucciano_minhawk@May 5 2005, 05:19 PM
what about the other 5000000 who were killed so i say in remberance of all 11000000 people who were killed
[snapback]43046[/snapback]

Yes, besides the 6,000,000 Jews, 4,000,000 other people were killed - Gypsies, Mentally disabled people, Gays, and others - not to mention war casualties.
This is a day marked by Jews. It is of course important to remember the other 4,000,000 murdered, but as Jews it is our duty to remember those who came before us.
It is a Jewish tradition to leaves stones on a grave (instead of flowers). At the Holocaust memorial in Boston, I remember seeing many stones painted with pink triangles, which Gays were supposed to wear the way Jews wore the yellow star.
At the Holocaust museum in Washington DC, there is a ton of stuff about the other victims.

The entire Jewish people was supposed to be wiped out.

bevin

I don't have any Holocaust experiences or family members who did, nor have I even been to the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, although I'd like to go someday. I did visit one of the old concentration camp sites when I was in Germany about eight years ago. It was smaller than I had expected it to be and there weren't any fences with barbed wire or anything, all that was left (that I remember anyway) were two buildings. One had been turned into a small museum with newspaper clippings, photos and stories and mementos from survivors. The other one I didn't even go in, I just couldn't. I felt vaguely ill the whole time we were there, and I didn't take any pictures so it's very possible I've forgotten a lot of things or misremembered them. I'd be interested in going again now that I'm older, I feel like I could deal with the experience a little better and maybe be able to actually absorb some information and learn about it more.

–Bevin