Arthur Jones, candidate for the US Congress said, “As far as I’m concerned, the Holocaust is nothing more than an international extortion racket by the Jews. It’s the blackest lie in history. Millions of dollars are being made by Jews telling this tale of woe and misfortune in books, movies, plays and TV. The more survivors, the more lies that are told”.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in 2009, “Today, they have created a myth in the name of Holocaust and consider it to be above God, religion and the prophets”. The Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Michigan provides a collection of artifacts declaring it did in fact occur.
It’s estimated 60 million people were killed during WWII and of that, more than 11 million prisoners were killed at the hands of the Nazis. People of varying ages, ethnicities, and political and religious affiliations were killed. Almost all the Jewish population in the Netherlands was wiped out and 3 million were killed from Poland alone.
Anyone who was a threat to the Nazi Party or could be robbed was sent to camps or outright killed. For those misleading persons making statements, like Mr. Jones or President Ahmadinejad, making a statement with no basis in fact, I question their motives for showing such a lack of reality. Can they even begin to deny what occurred after thousands of camps were constructed and filled with several million people who were killed?
To deny the existence of the first camp in Germany called Dachau with its ovens, showers, and subsequent “Liberation Reprisals” is just a denial of the facts. I believe these hatemongers have their own agenda. Unfortunately, the weak-minded and those seeking personal gain will follow.
Luckily, some prisoners survived and managed to tell their stories. Museums and memorials have been constructed throughout the world to pay homage to the murdered, particularly the Jewish people whose population suffered in excess of 6 million. One such museum is located at 28123 Orchard Lake Rd, Farmington Hills, Michigan called the Holocaust Memorial Center.
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit this museum. As I walked into the main lobby, my heart was broken by what I saw. There was a green railroad cattle car, a “Werkstattwagen”, numbered 4050 942 0784-3. It stood about fifteen feet tall, constructed of wood on a rusting steel frame.
This particular cattle car is one of only three left in the world. It was used to transport those poor souls to camps throughout Europe from roughly 1935 to 1945. These trains had no toiletries or water. Sometimes, they were crammed with 100 people, standing and squeezed into the cars like trapped rats. Stories abound how some felt compelled to drink their own urine and lick the sweat off the neck of the person in front of them.
SS Guards and even the German Red Cross with hearts as black as coal refused to give those people water during the trip to the camps. In one story, a family manages to push their son through a small opening. The last thing the father tells his son is to be a decent person. The boy survived and his family was never seen again. Seeing this cattle car, with supporting witness statements, missing persons, and dead bodies riddled throughout Europe leaves me to ask, how could this happen?
As I snaked my way through the museum’s halls, I came across an exhibit that portrayed the public burning of “Un-German” books. The exhibit depicts members of the SA, the Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) collecting and burning thousands of books. Misguided and too willing to follow fanatical propaganda, these young people acted on behalf of Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Minister of Propaganda. Interestingly is the fact that this occurred in May of 1933, some seven years prior to all out war in Europe.
By 1940, these same misguided kids had eyes as cold as ice. Some of the notable authors’ works that were burned included HG Wells, Thomas Mann, and Emile Zola. By December 1933, more than 4,000 titles were burned and/or banned. Removing or censoring knowledge, especially that in books, is tyranny on one’s doorstep. History was about to be rewritten. With supporting witness statements and burned books, how can people deny this happened?
Upon departing the main exhibits of the museum, I came across a room with several pieces of art and a particular piece impressed me the most. It was not named, but I called it “Roll Call”. It looked like a sea of grief. As I peered into the painting, prisoners stood on the parade ground and I could feel the cold penetrating their thin clothing. They were thin as toothpicks! I could hear the German Shepherds snarling and growling with their fangs exposed. I could feel them wondering if they were going to eat that day. Did they smell the stench of human flesh burning? And through it all, I could sense their fear...fear they wouldn’t survive the day.
In conclusion, I believe millions were murdered at the hands of the Nazis and their propaganda machines. The overwhelming evidence is irrefutable. This chapter of history is not buried and Jewish survivors have chosen not to forget and have built memorials and museums. We can visit them today, like the one in Farmington Hills.
If history chooses to repeat itself, and our books are banned, our news censored and scapegoats found to blame for the suspension of our civil liberties, we should reflect on what happened during the Holocaust. We should stop it before we all live in fear, again. Nie Wieder! A popular cry in German meaning, “Never again!”