The Amusement Park of Evil

A couple of weeks ago I was in Poland touring different Holocaust sites. The trip took me to the death camps Treblinka, Auschwitz I, and Birkenau. At two of these places, I was greeted by the quiet solemnity that I expected but at Auschwitz I was a bit disturbed by what I saw.

Auschwitz is the archetypal image that most people have of the Holocaust and so is the most visited of all the camps. To most people, Auschwitz is the Holocaust. That’s why I was disappointed to see the “amusement park of evil” atmosphere that it has. Groups of very young schoolchildren run all over the place and clamber over the displays. Groups on bus tours of Poland stop briefly to have a look at a gas chamber and then head off to their next stop (perhaps a vodka tasting?). The death camp is just another point on an itinerary. Tourists (adults!) stroll around and casually pose for smiling pictures as though they were in a park.

I realize that these are people who might otherwise not learn about the Holocaust or genocide, and so any exposure is good. On the other hand, the place they were so casually and disinterestedly taking in is one of the largest cemeteries and sites of mass murder in the world. It should be treated as such, but is not. Clearly, a balance has to be found between mass education and respectful memorialization.

The question is, where is that balance? Is any measure justified in the name of educating the otherwise ignorant masses? Or, should more measures be taken to guard the dignity of places like Auschwitz, even at the expense of education?

Please comment and post your thoughts.

Self-Defense in the Ghettos of Today?

Two days ago was the sixty-fourth anniversary of the end of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Led by Mordechai Anielewicz, a small group of Jews armed themselves and resisted the deportation to Treblinka of the ghetto’s remaining Jews. They were surprisingly successful against overwhelming odds and held out for almost a full month of fighting before their inevitable defeat.

In just a few days, I will walk the streets of Warsaw and visit what is left of the ghetto. I will pay my respects to Anielewicz’s memorial and the Ghetto Heroes Memorial. Anielewicz’s last letter before his death ended thus:

The dream of my life has risen to become fact. Self-defense in the ghetto will have been a reality. Jewish armed resistance and revenge are facts. I have been a witness to the magnificent, heroic fighting of Jewish men in battle.

This is one of the most inspiring incidents of the Holocaust, when a few Jews learned of their fate and decided to die with honour by striking back at their exterminators when nobody else in the world would save them. They died as fighters rather than victims.

It makes me wonder if self-defense could be a reality for today’s victims in Darfur. World governments and the UN constantly call for peace between the rebels in Darfur and their Janjaweed and Government enemies. The rebels must not be asked to lay down their arms until others come to defend their people in the IDP camps that have become today’s ghettos. The world should end its moral ambiguity, take sides and aid the rebels if they aren’t willing to fight for them.

If we could go back in time and help the Jews of Warsaw in their fight against Nazi Germany, wouldn’t we? Is today really any different?

Please post your comments and thoughts on the possibility of enabling self-defense for the victims of genocide.

Remember

Today is Yom HaShoah - Holocaust Remembrance Day.

It is also the first day of the start of the week-long, Congressionally-declared Days of Remembrance (April 15-22). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum offers resources for hosting your own remembrance ceremony, which includes information on the current genocide in Darfur. For those in the DC area there will also be a Days of Remembrance Names Reading Ceremony on Wednesday, April 19th.

Remembrance and future action must be inextricably linked. Advocates for Darfur of all backgrounds must take a moment this week to remember the victims of the most lethal and systematic of genocides, the Holocaust. And as we remember the Martyrs and Heroes of the Holocaust we must be sure that no remembrance is complete when we allow genocide to continue without protest.