Fascinating programme

marisco_2

Exactly. My cousin and his family were based in Germany with the army. His children attended school out there and he was livid that during a history lesson his young son was told that nothing much happened between 1939-45.

The residents of the local village to Belsens site always maintained that nothing happened there, that they saw nothing, heard nothing and smelled nothing. Horrendous and makes me feel :mad:

I had been warned that visiting Belsen would be a moving experience. It was July and there was a heatwave. As we arrived into the car park it was boiling hot, all the trees were green and you could hear birds singing. As soon as we passed through the gates there was a noticeable chill to the air, all the trees looked dead and leaves were falling from them, no birds could be seen or heard. You leave one camp and walk through a wood to reach where the Russian camp was. As soon as we passed through the gates into the wood it was hot again, the trees were green and there was the sound of birds. Walking into the Russian camp the same experience happened, dead trees, chill in the air and no birds. Seeing the mass graves with X thousands lie here will never leave me.

GlynD

marisco wrote: »

Exactly. My cousin and his family were based in Germany with the army. His children attended school out there and he was livid that during a history lesson his young son was told that nothing much happened between 1939-45.

The residents of the local village to Belsens site always maintained that nothing happened there, that they saw nothing, heard nothing and smelled nothing. Horrendous and makes me feel :mad:

I had been warned that visiting Belsen would be a moving experience. It was July and there was a heatwave. As we arrived into the car park it was boiling hot, all the trees were green and you could hear birds singing. As soon as we passed through the gates there was a noticeable chill to the air, all the trees and looked dead and leaves were falling from them, no birds could be seen or heard. You leave one camp and alk through a wood to reach where the Russian camp was. As soon as we passed through the gates into the wood it was hot again, the trees were green and there was the sound of birds. Walking into the Russian camp the same experience happened, dead trees, chill in the air and no birds. Seeing the mass graves with X thousands lie here will never leave me.

It's the same in many locations throughout Germany. I was very moved by the new Holocaust memorial in Berlin, built close to the site of Hitler's bunker. One darkened room there has a video which recites the names of every person killed, over and over again - there's nothing else in the room, apart from a central podium which you can sit on. People sobbed while we were there. It makes you realise the hurt is still present.

marisco_2

That does sound extremely moving. I attended a wedding in Poland seven years ago and one of the guests was an elderly lady who had been in Auschwitz as a child. We got chatting and she showed me her prisoner number that had been stamped on her arm on arrival. I will openly admit to feeling sick at the sight of it, especially when I looked at her face as she looked at it too. The memories it must evoke for her every day just canot be imagined can they.

One of the camps does tours and they take it as far as putting people into what was the gas chambers and recreating the sound of gas coming through. My cousins were going to take me there to experience it but at just 18 years old that was a step to far for me at the time.

GlynD

marisco wrote: »

That does sound extremely moving. I attended a wedding in Poland seven years ago and one of the guests was an elderly lady who had been in Auschwitz as a child. We got chatting and she showed me her prisoner number that had been stamped on her arm on arrival. I will openly admit to feeling sick at the sight of it, especially when I looked at her face as she looked at it too. The memories it must evoke for her every day just canot be imagined can they.

One of the camps does tours and they take it as far as putting people into what was the gas chambers and recreating the sound of gas coming through. My cousins were going to take me there to experience it but at just 18 years old that was a step to far for me at the time.

These things are very moving. How anyone can then claim it didn't happen is beyond me.

marisco_2

The old lady I met said she was proud of the number on her arm. It signified survival against the odds. She also saw it as unremoveable proof of what happened and that those who inflicted so much on her should feel shamed.

The rooms at Auschwitz full to the ceiling with shoes, luggage, possessions, hair and teeth are yet more evidence of all that went on. As you can tell this is a part of history I am truly passionate about.

GlynD

I've met a number of camp survivors in the past. Very few of them left now unfortunately.

I'm also passionate about this part of modern history, as an integral part of the Hitler years.

EDIT: you don't have to go to germany to see it btw. The Imperial War Museum has an exhibit.

marisco_2

Yes inevitably there will be less and less witnesses to what when on. I was very impressed by one such survivor, who made it his mission to visit as many schools as he could, to tell pupils of his experiences. I am sure there was a documentary at one stage which showed him holding assemblies and educating the pupils. He put across his message so well, with such dignity that all the young adults he spoke with were moved to tears. Now in my eyes that is strength. I believe he died a couple of years back, more is the pity.

Tropez

GlynD wrote: »

These things are very moving. How anyone can then claim it didn't happen is beyond me.

Because people always claim something didn't happen if it doesn't suit their agenda. It's not even close to the same thing but we still have people who deny the moon landings using the most specious and/or spurious evidence that they can drudge up because it doesn't suit whatever agenda they're trying to put forth.

Holocaust deniers buy into a conspiracy and look for any evidence that they can find to either suggest the Holocaust did not happen, or that the level of barbarism displayed by the Nazis has been vastly exaggerated.

They are, of course, wrong just as those who buy into 90% of conspiracies are wrong but they still have a voice and they will still spout their nonsense. For some reason, the media choose not to ignore them which is what they should do.

I haven't been to Auschwitz although I have been to other concentration camps. I don't believe in ghosts but I do find these places eerie. The ones that I have been to have been purposely left as they were upon Allied liberation and this adds to the overwhelming feeling of horror, despair, sorrow etc. that I felt while standing there. In one place, bullet holes were still today visible in the banks behind wooden stakes where prisoners were executed. It's horrible.

I didn't catch all of the programme but I watched most of it. Very moving. I'm always interested in these stories and people's experiences. I feel it helps me as a person remember where we have come from as a species, see what we've learned and what we've forgotten and how far we still need to go.

I noticed someone complained about horror films - yes, there is enough horror in this world; I've seen a hell of a lot of the aftermath of it in my still-short career but horror films are just a form of entertainment.

We don't say that there's enough happiness in the world, so we don't need uplifting films, or that there's enough to laugh about in the world so we don't need more comedies. Yes, horrific things happen but a film is mostly just a film, the same as a horror based game is just a game. Personally speaking, for all the horrific things I've seen or heard about both professionally and while studying, I find good horror movies and games an outlet of sorts. I think if all the horror I was exposed to came through work, I'd lose it.

poet123

marisco wrote: »

Yes inevitably there will be less and less witnesses to what when on. I was very impressed by one such survivor, who made it his mission to visit as many schools as he could, to tell pupils of his experiences. I am sure there was a documentary at one stage which showed him holding assemblies and educating the pupils. He put across his message so well, with such dignity that all the young adults he spoke with were moved to tears. Now in my eyes that is strength. I believe he died a couple of years back, more is the pity.

I am not sure he is dead, or if he is it is quite recent as my son who is in yr 11 was in an assembly not that long ago when he visited and spoke of his experiences. Not long afterwards the programme was on TV and he said I have met that man.

marisco_2

My 10 year old will begin to study this at school next year. Though truth be known he has much knowledge on the subject already, at a level he can cope with. I have a fantastic dvd based on Ann Franks diary. It starts with showing her life before she went into hiding, highlights the events that were going on across Europe which led to her going into hiding with her family and shows what life was like for them and their helpers whilst they were holed up in the tiny annexe.

Then it goes a step further than any other film I have found before. It shows her being taken to the transit camp, being tranported to Auschwitz and then onto Belsen where she dies alone at 15. There is graphic detail about what the prisoners suffered. A real tear jerker is when it shows her fathers return and how he slowly rebuilt his life after being the only one of his family to return.

Ann Franks diary is an amazing piece of literature, but unaviodably it leaves any young readers without the knowledge of what came next. Something anyone learning about that time should be aware of. Right I will get off my soap box now, lol, before I bore you all.