Holocaust Memorial Day// 2015

Over 70 years ago today, the Holocaust ended. Today is Holocaust Memorial day, an extremely important date in the calendar for many. 

Holocaust Memorial Day 2015 theme: 'Keep the Memory Alive'

HOLOCAUST (Greek)- Sacrifice by Fire

The Holocaust was an act of hatred from the Nazi party, who reigned in Germany during the build up of World War II and throughout the conflict. It was an act against humanity, as the Nazi Party targeted those who did not fit the 'aryan' race. Jews, communists (and other political parties such as socialists and trade unionists), homosexuals, gypsy, black, asian, the mentally ill and disabled. Men, women and children who were under these 'categories' and margins of society were all mercilessly slaughtered and tortured in their own homes, on the streets and in death and concentration camps. It was the persecution of innocent human beings that one individual brain-washed a whole nation to hate. 

 As the Nazi party became influential and feared throughout Europe, between 2 and 3 million Soviet prisoners were killed through starvation, disease, dehydration, neglect and being over-worked. Non-Jewish Polish citizens were also imported to Germany (or stayed in occupied Poland) and forced into hard-labor or immediately slaughtered. Those who were not instantly killed eventually died due to the diabolical conditions they were forced to live and work in. 

At least 200,000 mentally ill or physically disabled patients who lived in institutional settings in Germany were murdered in the so-called 'Euthanasia Project'. 

Schönbrunn Psychiatric Hospital, 1934. One of the many institutions to under-go the 'Euthanasia Project'

In 1933, the Jewish population stood at over nine million with Europe alone. Germany sadly managed to occupy many of these countries during the Second World War. By 1945, two of every three European Jews were murdered as part of 'The Final Solution' which was the Nazi project to dispose of as many Jews as possible through work, death and concentration camps. Here, the people that the Nazi Party believed to be deviant of society (such as the Jews, homosexuals and those with diverse needs and political beliefs) were either tortured, worked to death or instantly killed in specially developed gas facilities. 

A young, orphan death camp survivor was asked by psychologists to  draw what she thought 'home ' looked like. 

Kristellnacht, the night of broken glass, was also a big part of the Holocaust. Thousands of Jewish shops and homes were burnt to the ground and vandalised across Europe, including the deaths and assaults of the families who owned these properties and businesses. Synagogues were also burnt to the ground.

Pedestrians bewildered and inspecting the damage of Kristellnacht

Synagogue just after it had been set alight by Nazi vandals

 By the end of the war, the Nazi's held a series of forced movements for camp prisoners to prevent the Allied liberation of them. These movements would involve the cruel transportation of prisoners from one camp to another before they could get freed by higher allied authorities. During these marches, prisoners would be killed instantly to knock down numbers so there were less people to transport. There was no stopping. It was yet another act of torture. 

'Death March' from Buchenwald concentration camp to Dachau 

It is of central importance that we remember these events as they still shape todays society. They teach us of the cruelty that once existed and was put into action against those who were different. Acts like these still exist today. Whether they are criminal or minor, people are still persecuted for the way they act, look, the religions they follow and the color of their skin. The Holocaust is one of the world's most heinous crimes that reminds us about the diverse range of identities and cultures there are across the world, and how we need to respect this diversity to prevent anything like the Holocaust from happening again. 

Death camp victims bodies carelessly thrown into a pit...

Recommended Films and Books about the Holocaust

Schlindler's List

1. Businessman Oskar Schindler arrives in Krakow, Poland, in 1939, ready to make his fortune from World War II, which has just started. After joining the Nazi party primarily for political expediency, he staffs his factory with Jewish workers for similarly pragmatic reasons. When the SS begins exterminating Jews in the Krakow ghetto, Schindler arranges to have his workers protected to keep his factory in operation, but soon realizes that in so doing, he is also saving innocent lives and growing bonds he never thought he would...

   
   

   I've never actually seen this film myself so I had to find this synopsis elsewhere. I know it is about the Holocaust and feel like such an abomination for not watching it. I have heard amazing reviews and am determined to watch it soon!

   
   

   
   

   The Boy in Striped Pajamas

   
   

   During the early stages of World War II, 8-year-old Bruno and his family leave Berlin to take residence in a beautiful hone located next to a gruesome and grizzly concentration camp. Bruno is unaware of why the family made the move and goes exploring through the woods to where he finds the concentration camp and befriends a Polish prisoner of the same age, Shmuel. What Bruno isn't aware of is why Shmuel is kept behind a barbed wire fence like an animal and also...that his dad is keeping Shmuel behind the fence as a commandment for the concentration camp...

   
   

   I love this story. It is both a book and a film adaptation of the book. It captures the aspect of parents shielding their children from the horrifying truth and also, friendship. Friendship between two different people can exist peacefully, as we are all still human no matter what we believe, whether we are ill or whatever our political beliefs are.

   
   

   
   

   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   

   The Pianist 

   
   

   Based on an auto-biography, The Pianist tells the true life tale of Wladyslaw Szpilman (played by Adrien Brody) as goes from self-acclaimed musician and pianist to a 'dirty Jew' as he sees Warsaw change through the impact of the Holocaust. 

   
   

   This is my favorite. It has no censorship and recollects events for what they were without sugar coating it for the comfort of viewers. People need to realise the horrors of the Holocaust and that cannot be achieved by censoring documentations of the event. Adrien Brody also does an outstanding job of playing Wladyslaw as his confidence and mental state deteriorates through the trauma and impact of losing his family and all he has to hold on to because of the Holocaust. 

   
   

   
   

   The Book Thief

   
   

   It's 1938 and young Liesel is put under foster care of a kindly painter, Hans, and a stern, scary woman, Rosa. Hans learns Liesel cannot read, something they both share in common and they both teach each other to adore the beauty of literature and language. Liesel's passion for reading flourishes to the point where she puts her life on the line to salvage and steal books from Nazi bonfires and a prominent German politicians house...

   
   

   Another story, both book and film adaptation, that I absolutely adore. It tells the story of conflict from a child's perspective and also shows that not everyone agreed with Hitler's cruelty towards those he considered to be insignificant in society. It also illustrates the importance of family throughout hard times like conflict as Liesel begins to warm to her new family as the impact of World War II gets harder and harsher.

   
   

   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   I hope you will all join me in remembering those innocent people who had their lives taken from them for being different. Please respect one another and look past each other's differences. We are all human, we all have red blood underneath. Take care, respect xo