Auschwitz

[ropo54]

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A few more photos I have found . . .

Entrance to 1st gas chamber built at Auschwitz 1

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[FHPdoc]

Rob,  A fantastic "reportage"--and very moving!  I echo what our forum colleagues have far better articulated than I ever could.  SO hard to view and contemplate, yet oh so necessary so as never to forget.  Thanks so much for sharing!

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[ropo54]

FHPdoc:

Thank you for viewing the thread and for you nice comments.  The comments of many thread members has been quite heartening, and even moreso in light of contemporary events in today's world.

Regards, Rob

[ropo54]

A couple of more photos.  

The notion of Auschwitz seems out of context on a sun filled summer's day.

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[ropo54]

Entrance to Auschwitz

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[david strachan]

Oh, mercy not more.  It's endless, forever, the heart on the sleeve.

Surely time to move on.  Give us all a rest Rob, try to find something more positive.

Over it, and tired, on TV,  Forums, and all discussions, have seen enough and more than get the point.  Almost like compulsory censorship, backwards. I've put up with it all my 67 years...60 of which i certainly understand.

I am sorry for bad humanity...there are more than enough issues now, and in the past,  to worry about..and will always be.  We are just human...really nothing special above other animals...i think.

It's  not about anti-Semitism, and stress that...exactly what the the argument counters...but just absolutely not so.

Mercy...

Edited September 26, 2019 by david strachan

[ropo54]

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Dave,

I'm sorry you feel that way. Please bypass this thread if it is of no interest.

Anti-semitism is at higher levels than ever in the U.S., England, France,  and Germany. Our synagogues here have armed guards at entrances now. Swastikas deface cemeteries. One in five Brits do not know that the holocaust ever occurred. I remained concerned about the rising nationalist tendencies across the globe. This is the world my grandchildren will engage in.

I hope others will see the thread and never forget the inhumanity. I'm sorry that your sensitivities are not the same as mine.

Rob

25 minutes ago, david strachan said:

Oh, mercy not more.  It's endless, forever, the heart on the sleeve.

Surely time to move on.  Give us all a rest Rob, try to find something more positive.

 

Over it on TV, Forums, and all discussions, have seen enough and more than get the point.  Almost like compulsory censorship, backwards.

Mercy...

 

 

Edited September 26, 2019 by ropo54

[david strachan]

All good Rob.

I don't bypass or censor, or ignore anyone.

Every thing you say has been said many, many times before ...too much, it emphasises again, my discussion

We all believe we're the chosen ones...so press on regardless...and ignore me 😜

All best...

Edited September 26, 2019 by david strachan

[Charadis]

I would not have seen this thread until just an hour ago from your recent posts. I've sifted through every page and read the captions under each picture, absorbing the details and stories come to life. Thank you for all the effort you put into this 

[ropo54]

6 hours ago, david strachan said:

All good Rob.

I don't bypass or censor, or ignore anyone.

Every thing you say has been said many, many times before ...too much, it emphasises again, my discussion

We all believe we're the chosen ones...so press on regardless...and ignore me 😜

All best...

Dave,

Thanks for your follow up.  This has nothing to do with believing I am part of the "chosen" ones, either!  I hope you understand that.  

Rather, as Charadis commented, I would hope that my few photos will help share and preserve the historical truth (and there are plenty of deniers out there too) about what happened not so long ago. 

Regards, Rob
 

 

[ropo54]

5 hours ago, Charadis said:

I would not have seen this thread until just an hour ago from your recent posts. I've sifted through every page and read the captions under each picture, absorbing the details and stories come to life. Thank you for all the effort you put into this 

Charadis, 

Thank you for your note. 

Rob

[djmay]

In the late 1990s, I was having lunch with a client and somehow this topic came up. The client said something similar to the idea that there has been enough coverage and no more was needed. My reaction then and now is that these kinds of statements prove that there has not been enough exposure to an attempt to eradicate a specific people group from the face of the earth; not only in the country of Germany but the entire world. This objective was central to the ideology to the point that even though the war was being lost, resources  continued to be allocated to the mass extermination.

I have had the good fortune to live in Germany (Munich) for  three years, 2014-2017. A German friend, in his early forties, asked me about my vacation. When I told I had been in Krakow and visited Auschwitz, he visibly recoiled when I said "Auschwitz", not because he had heard enough but because he was well aware of the horror. He had nothing to do with it, however, he feels some connection. In Germany, school trips bring students to the various camps after they are twelve years old. It is part of their curriculum.

Enough? I think not, especially when recent history shows attempted eradication of people groups. I devote part of my photography effort to the documenting and free use of my work with respect to memorials. It is an ongoing effort; https://djessemay.com/gallery/memorials.html

Jesse

[jankap]

On 9/26/2019 at 7:06 AM, Charadis said:

I would not have seen this thread until just an hour ago from your recent posts. I've sifted through every page and read the captions under each picture, absorbing the details and stories come to life. Thank you for all the effort you put into this 

+1. /Jan

[ropo54]

Thank you for your words and thoughts, Jesse.  A beautiful idea to honor those who have perished by documenting memorials. 

What happened in Nazi Germany (and other places) should never be forgotten, to preserve our humanity, to honor the souls who have perished, and to constantly remind us as to man's capacity for evil.

Hopefully we get to a higher plane one day.  

Rob

10 minutes ago, djmay said:

In the late 1990s, I was having lunch with a client and somehow this topic came up. The client said something similar to the idea that there has been enough coverage and no more was needed. My reaction then and now is that these kinds of statements prove that there has not been enough exposure to an attempt to eradicate a specific people group from the face of the earth; not only in the country of Germany but the entire world. This objective was central to the ideology to the point that even though the war was being lost, resources  continued to be allocated to the mass extermination.

I have had the good fortune to live in Germany (Munich) for  three years, 2014-2017. A German friend, in his early forties, asked me about my vacation. When I told I had been in Krakow and visited Auschwitz, he visibly recoiled when I said "Auschwitz", not because he had heard enough but because he was well aware of the horror. He had nothing to do with it, however, he feels some connection. In Germany, school trips bring students to the various camps after they are twelve years old. It is part of their curriculum.

Enough? I think not, especially when recent history shows attempted eradication of people groups. I devote part of my photography effort to the documenting and free use of my work with respect to memorials. It is an ongoing effort; https://djessemay.com/gallery/memorials.html

Jesse

 

[Viv]

On 9/26/2019 at 5:43 AM, david strachan said:

Oh, mercy not more.  It's endless, forever, the heart on the sleeve.

Surely time to move on.  Give us all a rest Rob, try to find something more positive.

Over it, and tired, on TV,  Forums, and all discussions, have seen enough and more than get the point.  Almost like compulsory censorship, backwards. I've put up with it all my 67 years...60 of which i certainly understand.

I am sorry for bad humanity...there are more than enough issues now, and in the past,  to worry about..and will always be.  We are just human...really nothing special above other animals...i think.

It's  not about anti-Semitism, and stress that...exactly what the the argument counters...but just absolutely not so.

Mercy...

If we  do "move on" and forget, it will happen again.

We must never forget, for all our sakes.

"First they came for the intellectuals ..."

[ropo54]

7 minutes ago, Viv said:

If we  do "move on" and forget, it will happen again.

We must never forget, for all our sakes.

"First they came for the intellectuals ..."

Thank you, Viv.

So well expressed. My concerns too. Rob

[Viv]

I misquoted.

This is the full correct quote:

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

[wizard]

vor einer Stunde schrieb djmay:

My reaction then and now is that these kinds of statements prove that there has not been enough exposure to an attempt to eradicate a specific people group from the face of the earth; not only in the country of Germany but the entire world.

I could not agree more. I am German, and I strongly believe that every new generation in our country (and possibly also in other countries) must be exposed to what has happened in Auschwitz (and many other like places). In my view, it is also crucial for young people to learn more about the political situation that eventually resulted in those horrendous events, the more so since there appear to be developments in a number of countries right now which quite resemble the developments that took place in Germany a number of years before the horror actually started. 

[ropo54]

Apropos of the discussion that has been going back and forth in these last few threads.  For those of you know who may not know Ray Allen, he is a recently retired African-American NBA All-Star and world champion Boston Celtics basketball player.  While still a rising star in college backbetall,  he also played a lead character in one of Spike Lee's movies, "He Got Game". (Great movie, by the way).   

Ray is an impressive man and this article is worthy reading.  Rob 

===========================================================================================================================

 

Why I Went to Auschwitz

 

Ray Allen

NBA

 

AUG 3 2017

There was a small hole in the kitchen floor that led to a secret crawl space. That image is burned into my memory. The space was maybe five feet long by five feet wide.

The owner of the house said, “They used to fit six people inside there. When the Nazis would come.”

His name was Tadeusz Skoczylas, and the house we were in had belonged to his family during World War II. It was a small brick house in the town of Ciepielów, Poland. It had a red roof that had seen better days. The front door was just a few steps off the street. In the backyard were a few barns and other small shacks.

I had been in Poland for a few days already, and the horror of the history I had experienced was overwhelming. But this was something different. This was so personal.

I’m looking at this tiny space. And I’m imagining six people down there, hiding from death. Six real people. Crawling through that little hole right in front of me. Not that long ago. It wasn’t a history book. It wasn’t a museum. It was right there.

 

Tadeusz explained that one day in 1942, Nazi soldiers visited the house on a tip. Someone in the village had told them that the family had been harboring Jewish people. There were supposed to be 10 Skoczylas living in the house. On this particular day, the youngest boy in the family was not home when the soldiers came by. The Nazis grew suspicious and began tearing the house apart. They found the hole and the crawl space, but the Jewish people the family had been hiding were not there. They had already moved on.

Without saying a word, the Nazis went next door to a neighboring family and took their young son. The punishment for hiding Jews was death for the entire family, and they had a quota to fill.

The soldiers took all 10 people out back and executed them right in front of those barns and shacks that are still standing there today.

When the little Skoczylas boy returned home, he found his entire family dead.

That little boy was Tadeusz’s grandfather. The house stayed in the Skoczylas family, and his grandfather lived in it. Now Tadeusz and his mother live in it.

I couldn’t believe it. And as I walked through the rest of the house, this feeling sort of took over me. There was all this history right in front of me. And it was real. I could reach out and touch it. I could feel it between my fingers and smell it in the air. It was a tangible thing.

---

I took that trip just a few months ago. It was my first time in Poland. I went there to learn more about something that had fascinated me since I was a teenager: the Holocaust. I’d read so many books and articles about it, but reading words on a page is not the same thing as seeing things up close.

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Then I visited the Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C., for the first time. It was 1998, and I was playing for the Milwaukee Bucks. I was in D.C. meeting our owner, Herb Kohl, over the summer. We had some time free time on my last day in the city, and Mr. Kohl suggested we go to the Holocaust Museum on the National Mall. I’ll never forget how I felt after those two hours in there — I could have spent two days. My immediate feeling was that everyone needs to go there.

There was one room in particular, though, that I think about often. It’s filled with photos of Jews from a town in Poland. The pictures line the walls and extend up toward the sky, where light floods in from a window. Almost 90% of the people in the images were sent to their death. Before they were taken to concentration camps or executed, they would leave their prized possessions behind with friends or family. 

The people of these Jewish communities were pushed to the absolute limit of their human instincts. They just wanted to survive. And from that, the tales of brotherhood and camaraderie are so awe-inspiring. It was a reminder of what the human spirit is capable of — both for good and evil.

 

Honestly … it made me feel sort of irrelevant. Which was a strange thought to have as a young NBA player who was supposed to be on top of the world. I was realizing that there were things outside of my bubble that mattered so much more. I wanted my teammates to feel that as well. So every team I played on after that, whenever we were in D.C. playing the Wizards, I would ask our coach if we had time to go through the museum. Every visit was different, but each guy came out thanking me for taking us there. I could see in their eyes that they had a different perspective on life after that experience. 

I thought I knew what the Holocaust was, and what it meant. I went to Poland with a few close friends to learn more. But I wasn’t prepared for how deeply the visit would affect me. I had seen so many documentaries and films on Auschwitz, but nothing really prepares you for being there. The first thing I felt when I walked through those iron gates was … heavy. The air around me felt heavy. I stood on the train tracks where the prisoners of the camp would arrive, and I felt like I could hear the trains coming to a halt. I had to take a breath to center myself. It was so immediate. So overwhelming. 

We walked through the barracks and gas chambers and what I remember most is what I heard: nothing. I’ve never experienced silence like that. Apart from footsteps, the complete lack of sound was almost jarring. It’s eerie and sobering. You’re standing in these rooms where so much death has taken place and your mind is trying to come to terms with all that’s happened in this space. 

One question keeps repeating over and over and over in your mind: How can human beings do this to one another? 

How does somebody process that? You can’t.

This is not history. This is humanity. This is now. This is a living lesson for us as a people. 

 

---

 

After Tadeusz Skoczylas took us through his family’s home, I stood outside for a while by myself, thinking about everything I had experienced. 

Why do we learn about the Holocaust? Is it just so we can make sure nothing like this ever happens again? Is it because six million people died? Yes, but there’s a bigger reason, I think. 

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The Holocaust was about how human beings — real, normal people like you and me — treat each other.

 

When the Skoczylas family was risking their own lives to hide people they barely knew, they weren’t doing it because they practiced the same religion or were the same race. They did it because they were decent, courageous human beings. They were the same as those people crouched in a hole. And they knew that those people didn’t deserve what was being done to them.

I asked myself a really tough question: Would I have done the same?

Really, would I have done the same?

When I returned home to America, I got some very disheartening messages directed toward me on social media regarding my trip. Some people didn’t like the fact that I was going to Poland to raise awareness for the issues that happened there and not using that time or energy to support people in the black community.

I was told my ancestors would be ashamed of me. 

I know there are trolls online and I shouldn’t even pay attention, but that one sort of got to me. Because I understood where they were coming from. I understand that there are plenty of issues in our own country right now, but they were looking at my trip the wrong way. I didn’t go to Poland as a black person, a white person, a Christian person or a Jewish person — I went as a human being.

 

It’s easy to say “I went to make sure these things don’t happen again.” But I went to learn about the true reality of what happened during the Holocaust, and what we can take from that. The people who believe that I am not spending my time the way the right way … well, they’re missing the entire point. We shouldn’t label people as this thing or that thing. Because by doing so, you create these preconceived notions, which is how we get into these horrible situations in the first place.

We have to do a better job breaking through ignorance and the close-mindedness and the divisions that are plaguing our society in 2017. 

I remember being a kid in elementary school, and we all used to have a couple pen pals from around the world. I was so excited to hear back from people in different countries. I wanted to know about how they lived. I was curious about their lives. And I feel like we’ve lost that a little bit. It seems like now, we only see us. We only want to look out for us. Whatever us even means. 

I think about the Tadeusz family. Who did they define as us?

They saw us as every human being, regardless of what they looked like, or what they believed. They thought everyone was worth protecting. And they were willing to die for it. 

That is something worth remembering, always. 

 

 

Ray Allen

NBA

Why I Went to Auschwitz | By Ray Allen.webloc

Edited September 29, 2019 by ropo54

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[Boojay]

On 9/26/2019 at 5:08 AM, ropo54 said:

Dave,

I'm sorry you feel that way. Please bypass this thread if it is of no interest.

Anti-semitism is at higher levels than ever in the U.S., England, France,  and Germany. Our synagogues here have armed guards at entrances now. Swastikas deface cemeteries. One in five Brits do not know that the holocaust ever occurred. I remained concerned about the rising nationalist tendencies across the globe. This is the world my grandchildren will engage in.

I hope others will see the thread and never forget the inhumanity. I'm sorry that your sensitivities are not the same as mine.

Rob

 

 

Could not agree more Rob ... I too worry for my grandchildren!

I had never heard of Ray Allen but what an article - thanks for the read, we should all strive to be that "human" .

 

 

 

 

Edited September 30, 2019 by Boojay