Today is the day we remember victims of the Nazi holocaust. Barnet has the largest Jewish community in Great Britain, largely as a result of this atrocity and the earlier pogroms and other persecutions of Jewish people in Europe. When I attended Orange Hill Senior High School in the late 1970's , the school had a large number of Jewish pupils, many had parents and grandparents with direct experience of concentration camps. Virtually none had families unaffected by the holocaust. Thirty years later many of those parents and grandparents have passed away and the stories move from being a living memory to a page in a history book. Holocaust memorial day is one way that we can remind ourselves of the risks of regimes who seek to divide our communities by race, creed or ethnicity. If the holocaust was the last time that ethnic cleansing was attempted, maybe people could say we'd learned the lesson. If discimination based on faith, colour or creed was a thing of the past we could treat it as a historical anomaly. Sadly, even in Europe, we've seen ethnic cleansing. Even more sadly we still see evidence of anti semitism even in Barnet. Synogogues and Jewish gravestones are often targets of those who seek to turn the clock back and bring an era of hatred back upon us.
When I was 16 I had the pleasure of working with a stonemason who was Jewish and had been an officer in the British army during the second world war. He had been one the first British officers into the Belsen concentration camp. The experience overwhelmed him and he suffered a nervous breakdown. The British army was completely unprepared for the sight that greeted them and they were unable to save thousands of people who they had liberated. The medical teams simply had no experience of how to treat people suffering acute starvation. The SS officers who were captured at the site immediately claimed protection under the Geneva convention. These cowards sought refuge under international law, having violated every law ever written in their treatment of the people of the camp. One of the most poignant things I was told was that for many of those who died, they simply gave up believing even hell could be no worse than where they were. Today on BBC radio 94.9 Vanessa Feltz played an interview by a father who's daughter was savaged by an out of control dog. In Belsen, brutal guards would routinely give the babies of camp inmates to guard dogs to be torn to bits. Anyone who couldn't work was systematically murdered. It is worth remembering that as well as the Jewish population, the disabled, the gypsy's, Homosexuals, political dissidents, and a host of other groups also suffered persecution and murder.
Over a cup of tea in 1977, I was told one thing which I simply refused to believe. After hearing the story of how my work colleague entered the camp, the stench and the pure horror of what he saw, he said something which seemed completely ridiculous. "Some people are trying to say that none of the things I've told you really happened. In the future as people die off, these lies will be told more regulalry. When the British army occupied the camp, we shot thousands of hours of film, as a record so that the truth of the situation can never be denied, remember this if ever you hear such a rumour".
At the time of the conversation, I was a dyslexic sixteen year old, considering a future working in the building trade (as a back up to my music career). It never occurred to me that anyone could possibly take such lies seriously. It never occurred to me that people would desecrate synogogues and Jewish graves in the London Borough of Barnet. As blogs had not been dreamed of, it never occurred to me that I'd write a blog and anyone would care what I wrote. It never occurred to me that the things I was told over numerous mugs of tea, may be important enough to be retold.
Sadly, the man who spoke those words to me passed away many years ago. With him, the things he saw went. Only the conversations with people like me remain. Those and the thousands of hours of film footage, which serve forever as a reminder of the foul, evil brutality of the regime which perpetrated the crimes. We have holocaust memorial day for one reason and one reason alone. Because we all need to be reminded of the truth of this abomination.
Showing posts with label Holocaust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holocaust. Show all posts
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Saturday, 10 April 2010
Remember Auschwitz - Documentary film
These clips are part one and two of a short documentary detailing the production of "Remember" by the pupils of Finchley Catholic High School and St Michaels grammar school. I believe that this was the first play ever to be performed at Auschwitz. This production has also been performed at theatres, community centres, schools and synagogues and has been highly acclaimed.
I can think of nothing more important at this time than to remind people what happens if we allow the forces of evil and hatred to gain power. The young people who took part in this production described the experience as life changing. It should also be remembered that the Leader of a National party hoping to win its first seat is on record as having denied that the holocaust is a historical fact.
I think that these young people are an inspiration. I hope you agree.
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Brian Coleman and Richard Barnbrook
As it's saturday, I thought I'd put the spotlight on London's two disgraced assembly members. Both of these rather naughty chappies have been found guilty of failing to discharge their duties in an appropriate manner. Both of them appear to have told a few porkies along the way.
Here's an example of Colemans porkies. This is one he told about me attending Residents forum meetings in Barnet. There are 18 of these a year in Barnet. I've been to 3 in my life. Coleman said this to a standards investigator in an interview (see clipping below from his witness statement). He was trying to portray me as an obsessive opponent. For the record, the last meeting I went to was to complain about the state of the youth football pitches at Burnt Oak leisure centre. The deputy mayor was there and he agreed to take a look and do something. (you can find a few more examples of Colemanporks by clicking HERE)
And here's a what naughty old BNP Barnbrook's been up to :-
http://torytroll.blogspot.com/2009/09/richard-barnbrook-suspended-for-murder.html
Earlier in the year, I was rather surprised to read this report in Totally Jewish, detailing how Brian Coleman had boycotted a holocaust memorial service, arranged by the GLA. The reason for the boycott? The organisers felt that seating Barnbrook who's BNP leader has in the past denied the holocaust, should not be seated at the front with victims of the holocaust. To me the concept of even allowing a senior politician from the party which is Britains version of the Nazi party to attend a holocaust memorial is repugnant, let alone allowing him to sit at the front. Brian Coleman saw things different. He boycotted the service to stand up for Barnbrook's right as an elected BNP member to attend and sit at the front. Here's the full story.
http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/world/c-11069/shoah-memorial-day-marred-by-disputes/
Whilst there are a few big differences between Brian Coleman and Richard Barnbrook, it seems to me that there is one rather big similarity. They can, shall we say, be rather economical with the truth when it suits them. My dear old dad used to often say "If a man cannot be trusted in small things, how can you trust them in big things".
I don't believe that there is any place in public life for people who have been shown to be completely untrustworthy. I don't care whether they are BNP, Tory Lib-dem or Labour, if you can't trust them they shouldn't be doing the job. There are lots of Tory councillors in Barnet, who I think are honest and trustworthy, even if I disagree with them. John Hart, Fiona Bulmer, Andrew Harper to name a few, are people who strike me as honest and decent - there are plenty of others.
The reason I seek to highlight these two individuals, Conservative Coleman and BNP Barnbrook is this. The BNP use Brian Coleman as an example of a politician who behaves badly. They say, "we are different, we are clean. Vote for us and sweep the likes of Coleman away". As you can see, Barnbrook shows that the BNP are a completely dishonest bunch. A couple of Tory Councillors have let me know that privately they are appalled by Brian Coleman's behaviour. That is the difference. Coleman is a bad apple in the barrel. The BNP is a barrel full of bad apples. If you don't want to vote Tory because of Brian Coleman, don't vote for a mob that are 10 times worse.
Here's an example of Colemans porkies. This is one he told about me attending Residents forum meetings in Barnet. There are 18 of these a year in Barnet. I've been to 3 in my life. Coleman said this to a standards investigator in an interview (see clipping below from his witness statement). He was trying to portray me as an obsessive opponent. For the record, the last meeting I went to was to complain about the state of the youth football pitches at Burnt Oak leisure centre. The deputy mayor was there and he agreed to take a look and do something. (you can find a few more examples of Colemanporks by clicking HERE)
http://torytroll.blogspot.com/2009/09/richard-barnbrook-suspended-for-murder.html
Earlier in the year, I was rather surprised to read this report in Totally Jewish, detailing how Brian Coleman had boycotted a holocaust memorial service, arranged by the GLA. The reason for the boycott? The organisers felt that seating Barnbrook who's BNP leader has in the past denied the holocaust, should not be seated at the front with victims of the holocaust. To me the concept of even allowing a senior politician from the party which is Britains version of the Nazi party to attend a holocaust memorial is repugnant, let alone allowing him to sit at the front. Brian Coleman saw things different. He boycotted the service to stand up for Barnbrook's right as an elected BNP member to attend and sit at the front. Here's the full story.
http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/world/c-11069/shoah-memorial-day-marred-by-disputes/
Whilst there are a few big differences between Brian Coleman and Richard Barnbrook, it seems to me that there is one rather big similarity. They can, shall we say, be rather economical with the truth when it suits them. My dear old dad used to often say "If a man cannot be trusted in small things, how can you trust them in big things".
I don't believe that there is any place in public life for people who have been shown to be completely untrustworthy. I don't care whether they are BNP, Tory Lib-dem or Labour, if you can't trust them they shouldn't be doing the job. There are lots of Tory councillors in Barnet, who I think are honest and trustworthy, even if I disagree with them. John Hart, Fiona Bulmer, Andrew Harper to name a few, are people who strike me as honest and decent - there are plenty of others.
The reason I seek to highlight these two individuals, Conservative Coleman and BNP Barnbrook is this. The BNP use Brian Coleman as an example of a politician who behaves badly. They say, "we are different, we are clean. Vote for us and sweep the likes of Coleman away". As you can see, Barnbrook shows that the BNP are a completely dishonest bunch. A couple of Tory Councillors have let me know that privately they are appalled by Brian Coleman's behaviour. That is the difference. Coleman is a bad apple in the barrel. The BNP is a barrel full of bad apples. If you don't want to vote Tory because of Brian Coleman, don't vote for a mob that are 10 times worse.
Thursday, 12 February 2009
Holocaust Denial
It seems that the various Christian Denominations have been having a few issues with Holocaust deniers and other assorted Nazi and Fascist scumbags of late. As I'm a (rather bad) Roman Catholic, I thought I might give you my views on the subject.
As I've mentioned before, one of my first jobs in the 1970's was working with a Jewish stonemason, who'd been with the British Army when Belsen was liberated. He was an incredibly intelligent man who had seen things no one should ever had to see. He was also a friend of my father, who had been an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force during the war and flown 40 missions over enemy territory for bomber command.
One day over a mug or two of industrial strength tea, the question of the holocaust was being discussed. My Father had been raised in the Australian outback, amongst Aboriginal people. Over our cups of tea back in 1976, my father was telling us that somewhere near where he was born, was one of the few places where Aboriginals fought back against white settlers, who were pursuing a policy of genocide against them, in the early part of the last century. My father was explaining about aboriginal culture and that in the traditional Aboriginal way of thinking there were only three numbers one, two and lots.
Our Stonemason friend unexpectedly interjected by saying "That is a good way of looking at the holocaust". He mentioned Stalin's quote that "The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of a million is a statistic". At the time of the conversation, the holocaust denial movement was in it's infancy (too many people with fresh memories to argue with then). Looking at many website's today, I am amazed by how much of what our friend said over a cup of tea in 1976 has come to pass.
He stated that he never ever used the term "6 Million" as no one could ever know how many millions had died. He always used the term "the unknown millions". He went on "how can you assign a number to such a tragedy, once you do, people for their own purposes will start twisting and distorting the figure. They will seek to chip away every single number they can, whilst ignoring all of the evidence around them" He said that they would claim that everyone who died after the liberation "was a victim of the allies" - even though their death was made inevitable by the Nazi's. He said that they would claim everyone who had disappeared off the face of the earth, had moved, not been murdered and burnt. He said that every record the criminal Nazi regime had destroyed would be counted as another life saved.
I asked why would anyone do such a thing? His response - "Imagine the crimes of the Nazi's as a jigsaw with six million pieces. If you take one piece away, you can still see what the picture is. If you take ten away, if you take a hundred away, if you take a thousand away, even if you take ten thousand away. There will however come a time when you take so many pieces away that you can't recognise the picture anymore. At that point they will say - actually the picture looked like this. You can't see the picture, you know they saw the picture before the parts were taken away so you trust them".
If a government's actions kill one person that is a tragedy, if they kill two people it's callous, if they kill lots of people they are a tyranny. The Nazi's killed untold millions. I heard many accounts of things in Belsen from our friend. He stated that the camp guards were the most degenerate and cowardly people he'd ever met. He said that if he'd had the chance he'd have machine gunned all of them. He said that the Nazi's were a warning to the world of what happens when a psychopath and a bunch of criminals get into power. He impressed one point on me and said "Never forget this". The point "The road that starts with a lie being allowed to let pass, ends with babies being fed to guard dogs". I've never forgotten that, I hope I never do.
Which brings us to the "Six Million" - is it accurate? - well it's good enough for me as an illustration of a very big number (more than lots). If anyone ever challenges it, they are not doing it for reasons of historical accuracy, because accuracy is impossible. They are doing it because they want to hoodwink us into believing that a bunch of evil, murderous criminals lead by a psychopath were really a bunch of great blokes. If you think that the world will benefit from racist policies or eugenics you cannot consider yourself a Christian. Jesus didn't gas the disabled, he cured them. Jesus didn't hate Jews, because he was a Jew. When he was crucified and was dying he is reported to have said "Father forgive them for they know not what they do". Doesn't sound too compatible with the Nazi agenda. Oh and as to his treatment of foreigners (a current rallying cry for our local brand of nutcases) - remember the story of "the Good Samaritan". Samaritans were considered to be undesirable foriegners by his audience. The story was illustrating the fact that there is good and bad in all races. He was saying that these people you despise (like the far right portray asylum seekers today) are no better or worse than you. I'm not a very religious person, certainly not a scholar. I was brought up in a house where you listened long enough to understand that the message was bleeding obvious, no more - some things are clearly right and some are clearly wrong - it's really not that hard. Nothing could be more obvious to me than the fact that if you are a Nazi Numpty you shouldn't be standing in a pulpit telling the rest of us how to live our lives.
As I've mentioned before, one of my first jobs in the 1970's was working with a Jewish stonemason, who'd been with the British Army when Belsen was liberated. He was an incredibly intelligent man who had seen things no one should ever had to see. He was also a friend of my father, who had been an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force during the war and flown 40 missions over enemy territory for bomber command.
One day over a mug or two of industrial strength tea, the question of the holocaust was being discussed. My Father had been raised in the Australian outback, amongst Aboriginal people. Over our cups of tea back in 1976, my father was telling us that somewhere near where he was born, was one of the few places where Aboriginals fought back against white settlers, who were pursuing a policy of genocide against them, in the early part of the last century. My father was explaining about aboriginal culture and that in the traditional Aboriginal way of thinking there were only three numbers one, two and lots.
Our Stonemason friend unexpectedly interjected by saying "That is a good way of looking at the holocaust". He mentioned Stalin's quote that "The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of a million is a statistic". At the time of the conversation, the holocaust denial movement was in it's infancy (too many people with fresh memories to argue with then). Looking at many website's today, I am amazed by how much of what our friend said over a cup of tea in 1976 has come to pass.
He stated that he never ever used the term "6 Million" as no one could ever know how many millions had died. He always used the term "the unknown millions". He went on "how can you assign a number to such a tragedy, once you do, people for their own purposes will start twisting and distorting the figure. They will seek to chip away every single number they can, whilst ignoring all of the evidence around them" He said that they would claim that everyone who died after the liberation "was a victim of the allies" - even though their death was made inevitable by the Nazi's. He said that they would claim everyone who had disappeared off the face of the earth, had moved, not been murdered and burnt. He said that every record the criminal Nazi regime had destroyed would be counted as another life saved.
I asked why would anyone do such a thing? His response - "Imagine the crimes of the Nazi's as a jigsaw with six million pieces. If you take one piece away, you can still see what the picture is. If you take ten away, if you take a hundred away, if you take a thousand away, even if you take ten thousand away. There will however come a time when you take so many pieces away that you can't recognise the picture anymore. At that point they will say - actually the picture looked like this. You can't see the picture, you know they saw the picture before the parts were taken away so you trust them".
If a government's actions kill one person that is a tragedy, if they kill two people it's callous, if they kill lots of people they are a tyranny. The Nazi's killed untold millions. I heard many accounts of things in Belsen from our friend. He stated that the camp guards were the most degenerate and cowardly people he'd ever met. He said that if he'd had the chance he'd have machine gunned all of them. He said that the Nazi's were a warning to the world of what happens when a psychopath and a bunch of criminals get into power. He impressed one point on me and said "Never forget this". The point "The road that starts with a lie being allowed to let pass, ends with babies being fed to guard dogs". I've never forgotten that, I hope I never do.
Which brings us to the "Six Million" - is it accurate? - well it's good enough for me as an illustration of a very big number (more than lots). If anyone ever challenges it, they are not doing it for reasons of historical accuracy, because accuracy is impossible. They are doing it because they want to hoodwink us into believing that a bunch of evil, murderous criminals lead by a psychopath were really a bunch of great blokes. If you think that the world will benefit from racist policies or eugenics you cannot consider yourself a Christian. Jesus didn't gas the disabled, he cured them. Jesus didn't hate Jews, because he was a Jew. When he was crucified and was dying he is reported to have said "Father forgive them for they know not what they do". Doesn't sound too compatible with the Nazi agenda. Oh and as to his treatment of foreigners (a current rallying cry for our local brand of nutcases) - remember the story of "the Good Samaritan". Samaritans were considered to be undesirable foriegners by his audience. The story was illustrating the fact that there is good and bad in all races. He was saying that these people you despise (like the far right portray asylum seekers today) are no better or worse than you. I'm not a very religious person, certainly not a scholar. I was brought up in a house where you listened long enough to understand that the message was bleeding obvious, no more - some things are clearly right and some are clearly wrong - it's really not that hard. Nothing could be more obvious to me than the fact that if you are a Nazi Numpty you shouldn't be standing in a pulpit telling the rest of us how to live our lives.
Friday, 30 January 2009
"God Doesn't Like Jews"
No I'm not going to go into an anti semitic rant or start espousing neo nazi policies, the quote was from an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi. The date? Some time in 1945. The place - Belsen Concentration camp. One of my first jobs was working with a master Stonemason. He was from a Jewish background. He used to run a business in Bunns Lane Works, next to my father. During the war, he was with the British Army and he was one of the first officers into the Belsen Concentration camp.
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.
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"
Thursday, 29 January 2009
Brian Coleman, The Holocaust and The BNP
It seems that Brian Coleman has boycotted a Holocaust Remembrance Day memorial organised by the GLA because he was upset that the organisers did not want the GLA's BNP member sitting with survivors. The organisers had moved GLA members to the front row of public seating, apparently to separate the BNP member from the Survivors (along with other GLA members). I pass no comment, please read this article for yourself.
http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/world/c-11069/shoah-memorial-day-marred-by-disputes/
http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/world/c-11069/shoah-memorial-day-marred-by-disputes/
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