Lest we forget what 'cultured' mankind is capable of
... man's inhumanity to man.
In all times.
No one is immune.
In all times.
No one is immune.
This is a pile of ash... human ash.
Never again.
➽ News Article: "Ashes of at least 8,000 people murdered by Nazis found in Bialuty Forest north of Poland's capital Warsaw"
➽ ANZAC / Remembrance Day
➽ ANZAC / Remembrance Day
Wedding rings, near the Buchenwald concentration camp, 1945.
Eye Glasses, Footwear - Auschwitz
(2 Pics: Frost Bite Photography)
Anne Frank (and her sister's) memorial 'grave' at Birkenau -
as with untold and unknown others over untold Millennia,
Most innocent victims of war have no known grave in which to rest.
Those of you who know me know that I am not a political animal (nor am I Jewish etc either - just a human being). One of my part-time interests/hobbies is reading about the Nazis in WWII - not to glorify them (by no means!), but to continue trying to get my head around how a regime and a 'cultured' nation could possibly get to a point in its identity where it thought it was quite acceptable to exterminate a whole cultural minority (the Jews & Slavs and Poles), let alone the absolute horror of the death camps and worse...
Yet, as an Australian, and as one of the WWII 'Allies', we were not immune to our own acts of terrorism against the 'enemy' back in those days - if I can put it in the contemporary language of today. Not once, but TWICE, we wiped out two whole Japanese cities with atomic weapons... Damnit! Where is the glory of victory in that...?!? I guess, for me, even 70 years after these events, I'm still trying to get my head around how a 'coalition of national powers could go to such extreme measures, just to prove their point? To prove their power? Their rightness? I really don't know! I guess I have a sense of shame.
Like I said, I'm not trying to make some sort of political statement in contemporary terms here. I'm just refreshing our memories of the horrors that one group of people can do to another - anywhere, anytime.
No one is immune.
May it never ever happen again!
(Maljam, originally posted November 2005)
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Also see: ANZAC / Remembrance Day
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Peas be with ewe
Mal
Mal
Mal that is a great post and it really does make one thing of the futility of war.
ReplyDeleteWow. I got red poppies last Friday on Poppy Day and the kids and I wore them. I have never heard of the idea of white poppies. My father fought in WW2 and Grandfather served, although he didn't see action in WW1.
ReplyDeleteYou won't change the old war widows though, and they are too old now. Their hearts are in the right place, the abhor war as well, they just have different ways of expressing it. It's more about REMEMBERING their husbands.
I pray every day that we'll get our troops out of Iraq. It is just so senseless. Those people have been fighting each other since the year dot and they always will. I don't even think they know anymore what they are even fighting about.
Don used to put flags on his wheelchair and we'd go down town to the ceremony... and be still for that small minute...
ReplyDeleteI miss so much having him to go with...he had so much dignity...pleased to see you young'uns still understanding. Good on you Team gherkin
Hi Mal, the cities weren't completely wiped out (thankfully) but in saying that I am by no means trying to find an reason to make light of it. I mention this because I want to share a sweet story. My sister's partner is Japanese on his mother's side and she was caught up in the bombings. That particular day she didn't go to school, I believe she was in her late teens. The upside is that this decision saved her life, the downside is far too many lost theirs among them many people she loved, including her best friend.
ReplyDeleteFollowing this, Australia sent troops over to help the survivors and bring them to safety. His father was one of those troops, he met and helped his future mother. She was brought over here and he kept in touch with her to make sure she was okay and during this they fell in love, got married and started their own family.
War is so horrible, especially the losses. I still struggle to comprehend how the H and the Nazis could do what they did to the millions of Jews. But I feel equally saddened by the losses faced in other battles and wars. Thanks for discussing it, these things she never be silenced and the victims of war should never be forgotten as well as all the troops who fought for our freedom.
Thanks, Wendy. It's always good to hear and listen to different views of things, from different angles - gives everyone a much clearer view of things.
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