אני קושית יפה/I’m a Cute Black Girl Pg 41

I was a little nervous about going, all I remember about going there once was crying through some of it. Well I was about 14/15 (Grade 10)…

A group of us from my conversion class got together at the South African Jewish Museum and Holocaust and Genocide Center and embarked on a rather extraordinary lesson.

The Jewish Museum was quite remarkable. Going back to 1800’s you see how Jews have always had it hard. No nation or community ever really accepted them unless they wanted something from them. Like their connections, trading abilities, and so many other great business qualities.

My husband was very interested to know how Joburg is what it is today… …right now I think of it more of the City of Crime although I live in the Crime Capital of the country….well in South Africa Joburg is the city where all hopes and dreams were and still are reached…anyway back in the 1800s Joburg became the city it is thanks to a lot of Jews moving up there from the Cape and how they managed to use their skills and comradery to make something of themselves and the city.

We learnt more about how many Jews were anti Apartheid and how many fought against it, obviously they ended up in a detention for a period of time and often went back there, due to their continuing stand against Apartheid. Jews were profiled as ‘White’ in South Africa, well they kinda still are, but many didn’t like to be profiled as ‘white’ considering what many had just lived through or heard of the Holocaust, and so were against any sort of discriminations.

A friend of mine was the tour leader for the Holocaust Museum. I was really amazed at her teaching ability and knowledge on the history of the Holocaust and various Genocides.

 

 When I looked at this picture I felt sick thinking how the guards tolerated seeing these people everyday.  The tour guide told us how many Jews fought for Germany in World War 1 and even though Germany lost the war, they stayed and even though they considered themselves Jews first they still identified as Germans. Apparently Hitler didn’t appreciate that, he wanted everyone to call themselves a German first and only. Of course there are a lot more reasons for why Hitler said and did what he did. I guess this was just a time when the minority were oppressed and used and tormented for the benefit of a country that had failed and continued to, unlike in South Africa; Apartheid was all about the Minority (Whites) ruling over the Majority (Blacks).

Many people, including my husband, love the brand BMW, I wonder how they will feel when they read or see pictures of, how many German factories used imprisoned Jews in their factories to build their products.

Since the day I bet him my husband was a BMW addict, but when he saw that picture he got quickly put off BMW.

At the start of the tour, the guide, my close friend asked us  if we thought that the killing of the Jews was Hitler’s main objective or if that is what he decide last minute. Spent a while thinking about that. She went on to say how at first many other countries were quiet until Hitler started to gain land and when World War 2 began the haste began to kill off the Jews.

 “With the German invasion of Western and Northern Europe in 1940, anti-Jewish decrees were implemented in Denmark, Norway, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Belgium and France. In 1941 the Nazis expanded their reach into Greece, Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union and the Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia). An additional 3.5 million Jews were now under Nazi rule. The Nazi conquerors looted homes and businesses and ruthlessly enforced regulation against the Jewish Populations.“

 Just imagine having to march off to your death. 

 “I can only hope and expect that the other world, which has such deep sympathy for these criminals (Jews), will at least be generous enough to convert this sympathy into practical aid. We, on our part, are ready to put all these criminals at the disposal of these countries’ – Adolf Hitler 

With every picture and quote I saw as I walked through the museum, I got more shocked at how ill and the amount of hatred and evil lived in him and his followers. And I don’t even feel that way just as a Jew/Convert, but as a human.

 “Where one burns books, one will in the end, burn people.”

This was said by a German Journalist Poet; Heinrich Heine Essayist. He said that before The Holocuast… and because Hitler didn’t like his books and what him and many others had to say their books were burned.

 A survivor kept his shirt and when he died his daughter donated it to the museum. Not sure why he held onto that…when I look at the above picture of a woman’s arm with her ID# on it, I try and imagine how hard it must have been to be a survivor but to be constantly reminded every day of your past torture.

 Treblinka (1 of the 6 Death Camps) We were told a story of a survivor of the Treblinka death camp, one day while standing at Pt. 1, thinks he saw his young son at Pt. 2; being killed.

 I had to look hard at that picture, because I could swear that I see that a million times every day. Has the world really changed much? We still see people starve everyday…and we walk by…we still vote a government into power that doesn’t really serve its people, but instead just lets its people starve and struggle.

 

 I am pretty sure we can all apply that quote to ourselves. Sadly I know that I can, and my excuse is that I don’t know what to do or how to help…but deep down I know that is a pure excuse for my silence. I may give a donation or give some money to a beggar on the street every now and then, but is that really enough?

The White Rose: A Youth Resistance That Denounced Hitler (thecollector.com)

Tomorrow is Youth Day, besides remembering all the Youth that fell during Apartheid, tomorrow I am going to take a moment to remember The White Rose Movement. Maybe put up some White Roses in my flat.

 Is the world really more humane? Has the world really learnt? I sure do hope that there never be another World War…but look what is happening in Ukraine/Russia, look what happened with the Twin Towers, look what happens regularly in the Middle East and North Africa. The world is still filled with lots of divides and hatred of each other. Hitler was just 1 person that lead a war against Jews and the Unclean (Blacks, Disabled, Homosexuals etc) but today the world is full of of people leading terror on many. So I don’t think the world has changed much, Archbishop Tutu.