Not sure why I have a fascination with the Holocaust. Whenever there is a program about it, I have to watch it. Maybe it has to something to do with my "past lives" hypothesis. Since high school, when I first saw images of the mass graves and the piles of dead bodies, I have been drawn to the subject. It is a painful moment in history - painful to me even if I'm not Jewish.
Tonight on Ch. 11 (PBS) there was a film recounting one person's Holocaust experience on a show called "Independent Lens". A very simple format for the black & white film - a old woman standing and telling her story. It was solely the woman and her shadow projected on the walls or the floor. A simple but profound way of storytelling.
"Soldiers had fun shooting children"
"....digging for potatoes. I knew what digging for potatoes meant."
"Digging"
Digging for potatoes
Digging our graves.
Not work for the living,
Work for the dead.
In the Ghetto,
Some continue digging,
Digging for hope,
Among the rubble,
Trying to cope,
Refusing to tumble.
-drvodka5.3.05
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2 comments:
The Holocaust did happen to members of my family, and my heart is torn apart whenever something reminds me of it.
Hey Doc.
I once visited the Anne Frank House, a very moving experience indeed. Afterwards, I walked to a church on the corner and found the Homo Monument, two very discrete but large pink triangles, one at bench level and one buried at ground level. This monument was very understated and all the more powerful for it. It commemorates the lives of the 250,000 gay men who died in the Holocaust. Lesbians were considered potential mothers for the super race, so they were rarely persecuted.
I don't know if there is a similar memorial to the Romani (Gypsys) or the mentally and physically handicapped who were also put to death.
In France, I once saw a man reach for his change and the tattooed serial number from his days in the camps became visible and it all became real for me.
We must make sure it never happens again anywhere.
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