During breaks, over hot cups of tea, he told me various stories about his life. He enrolled in the army under a false name to disguise his Jewish roots, as he felt he'd have a better chance of killing Nazis this way. Being a bright man, he'd ended up as an officer. One of the incidents he described has always haunted me and inspired me in equal measure. He told me of an incident that happened a couple of weeks after Belsen had been liberated. Even though the Allies were doing everything they could, people were still dying in droves. One evening he was getting drunk with a Rabbi who'd been brought in to help. The Rabbi, overwhelmed by the desperation of the situation, confessed that he was losing his faith. Presiding over a never ending stream of funerals in mass graves, hearing harrowing stories of loss, had proven too much. He announced "I'm reconsidering my faith, God doesn't like Jews, if he did, this wouldn't have happened". My friend was angered and shaken by this (he was also quite drunk). He replied "These people are looking to you for some hope, if you can't give them any, who can". He added "It doesn't matter what you think, you are here to help them, not yourself. They are the ones who have suffered" (or words to that effect). The wise words helped the young Rabbi get himself together.
The reason my friend brought this up was because the previous night (some time in the mid '70's) he'd been attending an award for the Rabbi, who had recovered his faith and become a highly respected elder Rabbi. Being a youngster at the time, I couldn't really understand his point.
We talked about it and he said "You can't really know whether you have faith until it is pushed to the brink". Sometimes you have to look over the edge of the cliff. He said there's nothing wrong with doubts, but your faith should be your compass to see you through the dark times. It should be the reference to do the right thing. His view was that all the stories of hardship in the bible were written to remind us that people have had trials and tribulations and come through. He said that this was the point that the Rabbi made as he received his award all those years ago. He'd come through his dark time and realised that people needed him. He was strengthened by the experience, even though it had nearly broken him.
So why may you ask am I writing a blog about this subject today? Well yesterday I did a brief piece on the unseemly row about the seating arrangements for a Holocaust Memorial Ceremony organised by the GLA. This is reported in this Totally Jewish article. Now I'm going to refrain from making any personal comments about the people responsible for the problems, I'll let you all draw your own conclusions. I couldn't really put into words what I wanted to say yesterday, and I still can't. What I can do is remind those who were responsible for the spat of the words of a sadly long deceased very wise Captain in the British Army and Stone Mason.
"It doesn't matter what you think, you are here to help them, not yourself. They are the ones who have suffered"
Many respected Rabbinical scholars have sought to explain the tragedy of the Holocaust. Some have argued that it occurred as a punishment because the Jews were not being religious enough which, in my opinion, is manifestly absurd. Taken to its conclusion, that argument means that the Nazis were actually doing God’s will.
ReplyDeleteIn the film ‘Oh God’ (starring George Burns as God) someone asks him, why do you permit all these terrible things to happen? “Why do I permit it?” he asks. “I don’t permit it. You do!”
Whilst I have struggled with the issue of faith for some time, I am as proud to be Jewish as the most orthodox Jew who has no such doubts. I consider it a duty to the memory of the six million to carry on the traditions of Judaism for which they perished. It’s my simple way of sticking two fingers up at the Nazis and all those who sympathise with the agenda of the extreme right.
David,
ReplyDeleteOne other thing that stuck in my mind from those conversations was one my friends comments about the Nazi's. He said that the most important thing to remind people is that the ideals and goals of the Nazi party were ultimately shattered and destroyed. Hitler was discredited as political leader and a military leader. When people are tempted to go down the path he laid out they are well advised to remember how the story ended.
To me the only positive thing that came from the holocaust was that ultimately that path was rejected by the world. When the camps were opened up and the German people were made to face up to what had happened, it made the possibility of such a thing ever happening again just that little bit harder.
By the way, I noticed that there is some debate as to what should happen to Auschtwitz when the last survivor dies. I personally think that it should be preserved as a reminder to future generations of what can happen. I understand the alternative views, but we cannot let what happened be forgotten.
Rog
ReplyDeleteI went with my family to Poland in 2007, primarily to visit the town where my paternal grandmother was born. We made a trip to Auschwitz which is an experience I will never forget. Our tour guide was in her mid to late twenties. She wasn’t Jewish but told us that following a school visit to the camp when she was 17, she was so moved by what she saw, she was determined to make sure people did not forget what happened and now conducts 2/3 tours a week.
While we were there, we saw some people restoring the external barbed wire perimeter fence. We were told that these were young Germans who voluntarily visit every year to carry out repair works to help preserve the camps.
There is an old adage “Those who do not learn from the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them.” The international community must not let these camps fall into ruin and we have a duty to expose those who would wish that we forget the Nazi atrocities or deny that they ever occurred. In Germany, Holocaust denial is a criminal offence. In the UK, it seems that you mustn’t upset democratically elected BNP members.