International Holocaust Remembrance Day
The Hall of Names at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem (Photo: David Shankbone)
Today is International Holcaust Remembrance Day. It’s also the 67th anniversary of the liberation of the notorious Auschwitz death camp, which was captured by Russian troops on January 27, 1945.
It’s difficult for us to imagine what it must have been like to be one of those soldiers encountering for the first time such a staggering example of man’s inhumanity to man. Dwight Eisenhower, commander of U.S. forces in Europe during World War II, wasn’t present at the liberation of Auschwitz, but he did visit a forced labor camp. He never forgot what he saw there. Several years after the war, he wrote of the experience:
“The same day I saw my first horror camp. It was near the town of Gotha. I have never felt able to describe my emotional reaction when I first came face to face with indisputable evidence of Nazi brutality and ruthless disregard of every shred of decency.
“I visited every nook and cranny of the camp because I felt it my duty to be in a position from then on to testify at firsthand about these things in case there ever grew up at home the belief or assumption that ‘the stories of Nazi brutality were just propaganda.
“Some members of the visiting party were unable to go through the ordeal. I not only did so but as soon as I returned to Patton’s headquarters that evening I sent communications to both Washington and London, urging the two governments to send instantly to Germany a random group of newspaper editors and representative groups from the national legislatures. I felt that the evidence should be immediately placed before the American and British publics in a fashion that would leave no room for cynical doubt.”
Remembering can be painful, but it is necessary. So, today, remember the six million who were killed during the Holocaust simply for being Jewish, as well as the millions of others who fell victim…
Read More » Comments (2) »Friday, January 27th, 2012 at 11:48 AM | Stand for Israel
Netanyahu meets with 101-year-old Righteous Gentile
Johan van Hulst with Israeli PM Netanyahu (Photo: GPO)
During his visit to the Netherlands, Israel’s PM met with and honored an extraordinary man, Professor Johan van Hulst:
Born in Amsterdam in 1911, Van Hulst studied psychology and pedagogy at Amsterdam’s VU University. During World War II Van Hulst served as principal of the Pedagogical Academy in Amsterdam and was personally involved in saving the lives of hundreds of Jewish children. At that time the Nazi’s had separated local Jewish children from their parents, placing them in a creche (child center) before the youngsters were to be transported to concentration camps throughout Europe. With his Academy being adjacent to the facility Van Hulst was able to absorb hundreds of Jewish children, sending them off to various Dutch families for hiding and saving them from almost certain death at the hands of the Nazis.
There were non-Jews who, sometimes at the cost of their own lives, worked to save Jews from the Nazis’ evil grip. During a dark time in history, they were a light. Would that there had been more of them. God bless you, Professor van Hulst.
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Friday, January 20th, 2012 at 2:22 PM | Stand for Israel
The Jerusalem Great Synagogue by night
As promised, here are a couple of shots from my walk around Jerusalem — the Jerusalem Great Synagogue, which is “dedicated to the memory of the Six Million Jewish martyrs who perished in the Holocaust and to those who sacrificed their lives for the establishment and defense of the State of Israel.” A beautiful place, in a beautiful city. Enjoy!
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011 at 2:33 PM | David Kuner
A time to remember
Yael Eckstein with Holocaust survivors at The Fellowship's event
Earlier this week, I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life. More than 80 pastors gathered at a Fellowship event at the Holocaust museum in Skokie, Illinois, to learn about the history of hate, current anti-Semitism around the world, and actions we can take to ensure a bright and peaceful future. The passion I saw in these Christian leaders’ hearts to take action again hatred and anti-Semitism was truly amazing and assured me that the Jewish people no longer stand alone, as they did during the Holocaust.
As I walked around the museum with the pastors, the sincere admiration, love, and respect that they felt towards the Holocaust survivors who served as our guides was evident. The pastors asked thoughtful questions that were full of sensitivity and clearly portrayed their desire to learn more about this atrocious crime against the Jewish people. Their desire to learn warmed the Holocaust survivors’ souls. And the pastors’ interest in acquiring more information about the Holocaust is what assures the survivors that the world will never forget the 6 million Jews murdered under Hitler’s rule.
As the pastors and survivors toured the museum, together they looked at the pictures of little children being shot into mass graves, and together they shed tears of sadness. In unity, they entered the train car which transported millions of innocent Jews to their death in Germany, and they prayed for the deceased. And after nearly two hours of seeing pictures, videos, and actual artifacts from the Holocaust, the Jewish survivors and Christian pastors stood together to vow “never again.”
Standing in front of the group of pastors, I spoke about the need for action. As in Germany in the 1930s, today there are world leaders who hate the Jewish people and threaten to drive Israel into the sea. And in the same way that there were Holocaust prisoners starving in concentration camps during World War II with nowhere to turn, today there are…
Read More » Comments (5) »Friday, August 19th, 2011 at 12:31 PM | Yael Eckstein
Auschwitz violin entertains IDF troops
Auschwitz Death Camp
The Auschwitz orchestra was one of many ways the death camp’s commanders humiliated their Jewish prisoners. In the early morning hours, as concentration camp prisoners left for their hard labor, the Auschwitz orchestra, made up of a select group of Jewish prisoners, was forced to stand near the main gate of Auschwitz and play music. They would also play in the evening, when the prisoners returned, many of them carrying their fellow workers who did not survive the day of work.
Several weeks ago, famous violinist Shlomo Mintz played one the violins that belonged to a member of the Auschwitz orchestra in front of Israel Defense Forces cadets and officers:
Comments (1) »An emotionally moving closure took place recently during the graduation ceremony of the “Edim Bemadim” (witnesses in uniform) project, when famous violinist Shlomo Mintz played one of the violins which belonged to a member of the ghetto orchestra in front of Israel Defense Forces cadets and officers…
Weinstein decided more than a decade ago to collect violins lost or damaged during the Holocaust and renovate them. The idea came from one of his students, a young non-Jewish man who came to Israel in the mid 1990s from Germany and became a passionate Zionist.
“He’s the one who told me that there are probably quite a few deserted violins which used to belong to murdered Jewish musicians, both in Germany and in other countries. I decided to look for them and renovate them after performing at an event dedicated to this issue in the city of Dresden,” says Weinstein.
Since then he has collected and renovated 28 violins. They came from people who kept them in their attic, people who didn’t know what to do with the broken tools, which found their way to them under fascinating circumstances.
Wednesday, August 17th, 2011 at 4:04 PM | David Kuner
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