Today, January 27, 2020, commemorates the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, where my husband’s Aunt Tessie was a prisoner. Tessie survived, most did not.
The first official Jewish transport to Auschwitz brought 999 young women. This is their story:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-first-official-jewish-transport-to-auschwitz-brought-999-young-women-this-is-their-story/ar-BBYXdsW
Sadly, today, so many people don’t even know about how many people were killed and the atrocities they suffered.
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So true.
I’m sorry, I didn’t see your comment until now. It’s been a very busy week.
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No worries. Life happens. 🙂
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I had a close friend in high school whose father was an Auschwitz survivor.
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Whew. What a story. Thank you for posting.
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It’s hard to fathom such horror, isn’t it?
More than twenty years ago I had a neighbor who was the sweetest little old lady. She had immigrated as a young bride to the USA from Germany.
One day, I was having tea with Helga in her kitchen, when she apparently decided that we were good enough friends that she could tell me what she really thought of Hitler. “Hitler was the savior of Germany,” she said. “He completely turned our economy around. He was the victim of many lies, and bad press.”
Was Helga a holocaust denier? I don’t know for sure, I could not bring myself to ask. I think I said something very brave and profound, like “Oh. Hey, look at the time, I need to get home and start on dinner.”
I never saw Helga again. She was such a kind, neighborly woman. She seemed like the perfect grandmother. How could she have been a fan of Hitler’s? Only God knows.
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Wow. Gee. Uh. . .
I woulda said pretty much the same thing, I think.
It would be interesting to hear the reasoning behind such ideas. Not, of course, to justify anything, but to know the thought process. How does someone get to that point?
And yes, it is hard to fathom. Usually when I’m thinking about stuff far outside my paradigm, I can find SOME analogy that helps me understand, even if I still don’t agree. Not with this, though.
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As a Christian, I have to believe that Satan (“the father of lies”) is behind so many things in the world that defy reason. The fact that the woman was so sweet just shows that none of us is immune to his lies. The best defense is the “armor of God” (Ephesians 6:10-18) and the “sword of the Spirit” (Scripture).
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How anyone can deny that this ever happened is beyond me.
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Indeed. If you scroll up to the comment I left to Ibikenyc, there is a short story about a neighbor I had years ago, who had immigrated to the U.S. as a young bride, soon after the end of World War Two. One day, as we were having tea in her kitchen, this sweet little old lady told me that Hitler had been a savior to Germany! I couldn’t believe my ears.
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I did read that and it is absolutely unbelievable!
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Thank you for sharing this Linda Lee, it’s still hard to believe it all happened, that humanity could even conceive of doing that to others. Grace and blessings!
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Grace and blessings to you, too, awesome blogger. Thank you. 🙂
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The holocaust was indeed a terrible time in history. Thank you for sharing.
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Thank you Linda for this article. I still can not believe how anything like this could have happen, it will always shock me the level that other human beings will go to when it comes to harming another human being…just doesn’t make sense to me.
Such strength survivors had to have to get through what happened to them. When I read about how the sister died and Edith had to keep going on and it was her friend Elsa that help her through that, I don’t know how she did that.
Like a soldier that fights to protect others and their freedoms, Holocaust survivors stayed alive to protect and pass their stories and truths so we in every generation forward would never let it happen again. They stayed alive for future generations And now look what is happening all around the world.
We have a family member from Italy that was a small child when world war two started and this family member just recently said something that shocked my husband. “You know Hitler was right” and then they went on about how he helped people. It was horrible but that just goes to show how easy it is to indoctrinate and brainwash certain personality types. It is what is happening now with some of our children. They were never taught the stories of the holocaust. I had to talk to my children about it when I heard they were not getting the history behind this in their government run public high school.
One day my children came home from school (teenagers) and I said the family movie that Friday to watch together was the Pianist with Adrien Brody. We sat down and watched and then talked about the holocaust. I am not Jewish, but I will stand with them and protect them and these stories they stayed alive for to share with us. As long as I live, I will also protect and pass those stories on to others as well. Thank you Linda, another great post to share with us all.
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts so generously. I really appreciate it.
Your family member who made that statement about Hitler. That’s incomprehensible to me. Did you read my comment above about my neighbor, Helga, who made the same sort of comment? Crazy.
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These stories are so important to keep sharing. May we NEVER forget.
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Real humanity in a sea of inhumanity. So touching.
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We must never, never forget.
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I love you, Anna.
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I love you, too, Linda. You are a great inspiration. ❤
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I once visited Dachau Concentration Camp. It was one of the camps where Josef Mengele, that horrible evil Dr., committed many atrocities to the prisoners, especially women! It was surreal! It was as if there’s a heaviness in the air that permeated the place!!! ☹️😢. It was as if the people that died there cried out from the grave to be remembered!
Don’t get me wrong.. I ONLY believe in but ONE Ghost, (The Holy Ghost) but the air was thick with the horror of what happened there!!! It is an experience that made an indelible mark on me! And I wasn’t even a Christian then!
The same thought comes to mind when I imagine the horrors of what is the American Holocaust! (Abortion) Over 60 million have been sacrificed at the altar of “convenience” at the death Mills that are Planned Parenthood!!! The blood cries out from the ground!!!
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Wow, what you describe is chilling. I have heard others say the same about the atmosphere in those places. It reminds me of what God said to Cain about the blood of his murdered brother, Abel, crying out from the ground.
Coincidentally, I just left a comment on your most recent post, the one you wrote about abortion. I will copy and paste my comment here, for the benefit of those who may be following this conversation thread:
This is an excellent post, Paul. Here is a link to a recent pro-life article that you may find interesting:
https://www.epm.org/blog/2020/Feb/17/dr-mildred-jefferson
Forty-six years ago, I was a divorced mother with a two-year-old son. Struggling with mental health issues, I had recently been fired from my minimum wage job and was living on welfare. My car was constantly breaking down, and I had no money to fix it. My little boy and I lived in a tiny travel trailer that was at least forty years old, probably one of the first such trailers ever built. My life seemed utterly hopeless at that time. The last thing I needed was another child, right?
I went to see a doctor who told me that I was about six weeks pregnant. He also said I had a uterine tumor. He urged me to let him abort the baby to save my life. Because I was on welfare, the state would pay for it, he said.
I told that doctor NO, walked out of his office, and never went back. Today, my daughter — the child that I had “every reason to abort” — is a licensed therapist with a thriving practice in Washington state. And HER daughter graduated from Temple University with a Bachelor’s degree a few years ago, then she graduated from Harvard Extension School with a Master’s degree, and today she is a PhD student at the University of Syracuse, in New York.
Every life is precious. Every. Single. One.
P.S. About that uterine tumor — either it went away on its own, or the doctor was wrong. I will be 67 years old in a couple of months and I still have all my body parts, with no signs of any tumors.
https://my02e.wordpress.com/2020/02/20/planned-parenthoods-assault-on-the-black-community/
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Wow!!! Praise God!!! Wow AGAIN!!! 👍👍👍 Love your story!!!!
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