In Israel, it started this evening, if I understand what I heard on the radio today -- and the radio program was music by composers who either got out in time, survived or, in at least one instance, left their never-played scores with a student and were then killed one of the camps.
Yeah, that's another one to add to the "Nazis suck" scorecard. A little thing but a hologram of horror: here was this lovely music, really fine work, pouring out of my car radio and the guy who wrote it never heard it performed. If his student hadn't kept showing it around after the war, it might never have been performed. Beauty, nearly snuffed out because the political leadership disapproved of one of this composer's grandfathers.
If ever you wondered why I dislike racists and authoritarians so very much, there's part of the reason. And don't kid yourself that you're in the clear because of your ancestors; it wasn't just Jews, and the others weren't all gay or gypsies, either: the politically unpopular got one-way trips, too. Once a nation starts down that path, each step into evil is easier than the one before.
You don't have to like politics, but you've gotta keep an eye on it. No matter who you are.
That is what I think of when I remember the Holocaust: It wasn't just the Jews. It was ANY race that wasn't Aryan, the handicapped, the Gypsies, the homosexuals, mentally retarded, the Communists, and anyone else that the Nazi's didn't like.
ReplyDeleteWhen I see people in this country who are willing to hate people and advocate killing them because of who they are or what they do, I cringe a little as I think of how close all of use are to living in a place like that.
Indeed.
ReplyDeleteIt was *mostly* Jews, though, and that's the other part of the warning: it starts with one unpopular group, who were demonized and abused -- but it didn't stop there.
"It was *mostly* Jews, though"
ReplyDeleteIf 52% is "mostly" then I guess so. To me that is about half.
There were about 11.5 million killed through "Institutional Practices" i.e. extermination.
At least this number were also killed through forces labor, although the estimates range as high as 30 million. I guess in the east it's sometime hard to tell old Adolf's work from Uncle Joe's.
Overall the Jews were actually in the minority of total deaths, by quite a bit.
This is lost information because the Jews have made an effort to "never forget".
We seem to have forgotten the other countless millions killed by Adolf and Joe. And that is dangerous, because as you say it starts with one group and spreads from there.
Like the French Revolution, once the terror starts, nobody is safe.
Earl Harding
Well said. It's not a partisan issue, either (though one side has a bigger megaphone these days). We've all seen calls for criminalizing climate skepticism...but I've also seen people on "my" side fantasize about reenacting the Trail of Tears with progressives in the role of the Cherokee.
ReplyDeleteI'll have no portion in anyone's Terror, other than to oppose it.
I like your comment about "you may not like politics, but you need to keep an eye on it".
ReplyDeleteAlso, anytime anyone says, "but", you need to be aware that they're lying. "I'm not anti-semitic/racist/anti-gay/whatever, BUT", rest assured that they actually ARE [whatever]