Signs of the Holocaust can be found all over Europe, and we saw many during our travels in the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria. Far from denying the Holocaust, the Germans take it very seriously. Their children learn about the Third Reich and its terrible philosophy and abuses all through school, including visits to concentration camps like Dachau. It's so very sobering to realize that some people today actually want to deny the horrors of that time.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
We toured the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, the building and hidden annex where Anne and her family hid from the occupying Germans with 4 other people for more than 2 years, only to be betrayed and sent to concentration camps with the end of the war only a few months away. Only Anne's father survived.
This is a poem to commemorate the Jews of Bacharach who were taken away by the Nazis. It was posted by two artists on the front of their house after the town council refused to erect an official memorial.
Our local tour guide in Bacharach, Thomas, was wonderful. He told us several personal stories about experiences of his own family during the war, members who were involved with the National Socialists (he never used the word "Nazis") as well as the many who were not, or who were forced to do things they didn't want to do.
These little plaques - called "tripping tiles" - are embedded in cobblestone streets around Europe, commemorating people who died in the Holocaust. This man served Germany with honor during World War I and was Bacharach's butcher, a pillar of his community. The Nazis only cared that he was Jewish.
Thomas remembered this woman as a kind neighbor who rocked his father on her lap when he was a child.
One of the streets in Rothenburg was named Judengasse, or Jewish Way. It may have had that name well before the war - we didn't find out - but reminded us of the many Jewish communities across Europe that were decimated during Hitler's time in power.
One of the many reminders at the Dachau Memorial, site of the first concentration camp and major training ground for the SS and abusive prison guards.
This sculpture really conveys the human suffering at Dachau and other camps.
Never forget.
Christine
Looks like a wonderful trip so far! Safe travels. Thanks for sharing the blog. LindaG
ReplyDeleteWonderful blog entry - so thought provoking. Thank you for the personal stories. I follow @AushwitzMuseum on Twitter, and they often post photos and stories of the babies, children, men and women who were murdered by the Nazis. White supremacy and other hateful, discriminatory movements need exposure, education and they need to end.
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