Holocaust Memorial Day

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/9827678/Why-you-should-visit-Auschwitz.html

On Holocaust Memorial Day almost 70 years after WW2 ended, isn't it now time that these macabre Death Camp sites where now bulldozed to the ground and replaced by a simple memorial?

[FredPuli43]

No. These places bring history to life. That is true of many; Caerleon amphitheatre is one that comes to mind; and holocaust sites do so in a particularly dramatic way. No mere memorial can do that.

[Snafu03]

There have been plenty of atrocoties committed across the world even within the last 100 years that dont seem to court as much attention as the Holocaust.

The Russian Revolution, Rwanda, Apartheid, Cambodia, etc. You dont seem to get the constant films & documentaries covering crimes committed against humankind at the same level as holocaust coverage.

My theory is that alot of media movers are Jewish and this topic is obviously closer to their hearts.

[anotheoldgit]

Two things from our turbulent past, should in my opinion now be forgotten so that we can now move on.

Those being the holocaust and slavery, it does no one any good constantly harping back on these two periods in history, it only continues to foster inbred hatred.

But that does not mean that we should ever let such things happen again, but having said that, unfortunately history has an awful habit of repeating itself.

[bazwillrun]

@sandyroe
what a load of schit

@snafu
re your "theory" same applies

[LazyGun]

@ Sandy David Ward, LibDem MP, has found himself in hot water with the LibDem high command following remarks he made that mirror the sentiment you expressed.The treatment of the palestinians by Israel is reprehensible - but probably not in the same league as the holocaust.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9827223/Lib-Dem-MP-condemned-for-linking-Israeli-treatment-of-Palestinians-with-Holocaust.html

Those memorials to the holocaust should stand. Rarely and thankfully are we able to see first hand the evidence of calculated inhumanity - the deliberate attempt to eradicate particular subset of people by another. The camps are a powerful and moving reminder of just how disgusting such actions are.

Teaching about Slavery should continue too - the notion that people can be owned, are property, chattel of another is a salutary reminder of just how important the laws on human rights, equality for all are.

[Playbill]

When you read comments such as those posted by sandyRoe and Snafu03 you realise that there are still people around who will not, or cannot understand the difference between madmen attempting to annihilate an entire people seventy years ago and a small country defending itself from a similar threat today.

[jake-the-peg]

Well AOG - I find it rather strange that you're so keen about bulldozing and moving on from things that happened in WWII.

I seem to recall you were very keen on that Bomber command memorial

Don't want to just forget it and move on there eh?

Rather like to pick and choose your history don't you?

[sp1814]

AOG

"Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it." - Edmund Burke

Initially, I thought your point of view was related to Auschwitz and whether it was still for the site to remain a tourist destination. Now it seems you are in favour of dismissing the Holocaust (and slavery, but that's a whole other matter) to the annals of history.

I don't think that is possible.

How could children learn about WWII and the efforts of the Allied forces without specific reference to the persecution of the Jews (and gypsies, homosexuals and political dissidents)?

You would have to skate over Krystallnacht for a start...and then you would how do you explain the establishment of the Jewish state of Isreal without referring to the events leading up to, and including WWII.

[sp1814]

Snafu03

I understand what you're saying, and yes - the list you supply certainly supports that. However, I'd suggest that there is another 20th century atrocity that challenges the Holocaust for media attention...Vietnam.

[anotheoldgit]

jake-the-peg

/// I seem to recall you were very keen on that Bomber command memorial ///

And as I have already suggested a memorial erected were the camps once stood.

But I would draw a line on a whole city left in the state it was after a bombing raid, with personal belongings etc of the victims displayed for all to see, out of morbid curiosity.

How would that prevent the bombing of civilians, for all future generations?

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

/// Now it seems you are in favour of dismissing the Holocaust (and slavery, but that's a whole other matter) to the annals of history. ///

And surely that is the best place for them, since they are 'history'?

What I'm not suggesting (which you seem to imply) that they should be removed from the history books.

Your reference regarding your statement:

/// How could children learn about WWII and the efforts of the Allied forces without specific reference to the persecution of the Jews (and gypsies, homosexuals and political dissidents)? ///

They can still be taught these things, from history books and all the film footage that is widely available, without the need for them to see actual gas chambers, crematoriums, and articles made from human skin etc, etc.

[mrs_overall]

AOG - I know you have no desire to visit Auschwitz. Do you know any Polish people? It is part of their national school curriculum that they visit the place. Ask them what they think of it and I can almost guarantee their answer will be that it remains intact as it is.
It is a museum and memorial to the 6million who were murdered

[emmie]

over a million and half people died in Auschwitz, one memorial wouldn't do that any justice.

[Scylax]

These camps should remain; certainly not bulldozed. In many of the camps I have visited coachloads of German schoolchildren were being apprised of their recent past. Accordingly, knowledge of the Holocaust is a feature of virtually every German's psyche.

Auschwitz 1 and Birkenau are as important as Waterloo, and being within living memory, more significant.

For the sheer dimension of the horror, I also recommend a visit to Ravensbruck, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen, Dora, Flossenburg, Natzweiler and Mauthausen. Even Dachau perhaps, though it is somewhat sterile now.

Then read: 'The Theory and Practice of Hell' by Eugen Kogon.