Rachel Wade
Everybody is greatly aware of how important remembering the Holocaust is, yet oftentimes, simply remembering is just not enough. In the words of Holocaust survivor Kitty Hart-Moxon, “We need to learn and understand the Holocaust, as some people will only remember little details of events, and not fully understand”.
There is great vitality in humanising the events. It is not enough to remember the perpetrators (those being the Nazis and their 'collaborators') as “mad” or “evil” - in fact doing this makes them appear to be the exception within society in conducting such actions without their own moral conscience. In reality, the perpetrators were not just the Nazi Germans. Internationally, there were millions of individuals who were aware of the Holocaust taking place. Victims within Jewish communities were taken from all across Europe, including Lithuania and Greece. It was a careful systematic process with economic considerations. For example on 14th June 1944, 1,800 Jews from Corfu in Greece were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Women were sent across the land, and men were transported by sea to board the trains. The operations required an intricate system consisting of hundreds of individuals: for instance the train drivers and the SS guards on the train.
Every train that transported the Jews from as far as Corfu in Greece had to be booked, fuelled, paid, driven (by multiple men) and overlooked by SS Guards. The use of freight trains - inhumanely small for the capacity of people who were put into them - were used to keep the costs low. Only the guards received return tickets on the train.
The driver would be given a large salary and would be excused from being drafted into the war.
Nobody was forced to participate in the Holocaust. The misconception that Nazis would be killed or imprisoned for refusing to play a role in the Holocaust hinders our ability to understand. People were given a choice. Certainly, this meant that so many people knew somewhat of the Holocaust and what was happening in the camps, yet turned their backs on it with little consequence. When we say that the Holocaust was done by the Nazis and their ‘collaborators’, we must also take into account that others may appropriately label the ‘collaborators’ also as ‘bystanders’, ‘profiteers’, or simply ‘operators’.
In understanding the severity of the Holocaust, do not forget that every single person out of the 6 million Jewish victims had a life before the Holocaust. Each came from rich and diverse backgrounds, with families, friends, a home, a favourite food, a favourite activity, a hobby, a future dream career, a belief; the list could go on. Take a few of the following individuals for thought:
In Lithuania, a Jewish football team ‘Makabi Kaunas’ notably played in the top divisions, yet despite their glory, the team ceased to exist after the Holocaust.
In Corfu, a Grecian Jew named Jacob Mordo was living with his three children (two boys, one girl) with Rachel Mordo in Yakov Polila prior to German invasion. The family were later separated to different camps during the Holocaust, with Jacob and his son not surviving.
Janine Webber was born in Poland and lived a happy childhood with her close family. Yet the German invasion had led them to living in the ghettos, and the German raids of Jewish men cost her her brother and father. She spent the war in hiding, even betraying her faith by staying in a convent and with a Christian priest. She tells her story still to this day, yet expressed the Holocaust not only cost her almost all of her Jewish community, but also her own personal Jewish faith.
In Auschwitz-Birkenau today, there is a room with the ‘Book of Names’. Out of the 6 million victims, only 4 million names have been uncovered and written in the book of names.
Everybody wants to be remembered. Even if it is just our name being recorded somewhere for future generations to see. Most of the victims do not even have that. Entire communities have been lost and forgotten. By only knowing the statistics and the misconceptions of the working of the Holocaust, the event is dehumanised. It creates a lack of understanding and detachment, there becomes more misinterpretations and undermines its severity.
Share what you have learned, what you may have read about for the first time, perhaps about the individuals, the Jewish communities, the perpetrators - share any further insight you have personally decided to gain and learn the importance of its timeless relevance, whether it be to family members, friends and even classmates or teachers. Understand that dehumanising the Holocaust leaves all those who want to be remembered, forgotten.
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