we should always remember …

“It’s easier to instigate fear and hatred than goodwill and friendship.” – Iby Knill Holocaust/Auschwitz survivor. Author of Woman Without a Number

Today is Holocaust remembrance day <at least it is in Europe>.

On 27 January 1945, Soviet troops entered the concentration camp/death camp Auschwitz <or the Polish town of Oswiecim I believe> to liberate several thousand prisoners … including 180 children who were suffering from frostbite. The only reason they had survived at all was because the children were required for Josef Mengele’s genetic program.

Three thousand twin children entered Auschwitz … fewer than 200 lived.

In total, 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz, and at least 1.1 million were murdered.

When the Russians arrived the only people left … huddled together in the cold … were mostly the ill and dying. All those who could walk had been marched by the Nazis to a nearby city.

We should remember the survivors’ words because they took the time to tell them:

‘And there was a lot I left out because there was a limit to how much pain I could inflict on myself.’

Having been to a Holocaust Museum … and several exhibits in different countries on the WW2 concentration camps … all of which left an important imprint upon my conscious … I struggle to find the right words to explain why someone should put themselves through such a visit … so I will use Iby’s:

“It should be a time when people remember that there is no limit to the cruelty that one person can inflict upon another. One has to be very much aware of that. One has to learn to understand and respect that.”

If you would like to watch an award winning film about another Survivor of the Holocaust go to    http://www.arekmovie.com/ to see Arek Hersh tell his story of survival from Auschwitz as a 14 year old boy <filmed in Poland and the Czech Republic>.

It is about an hour and a half … and you will never be the same again if you watch it.

We need to remember.

We actually have a responsibility to remember.

We need to feel some of the pain.

Survivors’ memories, the telling of the Holocaust, will not, and should not, be forgotten. Not just for them but if we forget … we run the risk of forgetting it can happen.