The Holocaust

pickupyourwill

I was just watching a show on the History Channel about it. WOW

You learn about it in school and you always know it happened--but the reality of it is still so disturbing every time you see, read, or hear something about it. It makes me stop in my tracks every time.

Feel free to share your thoughts on this ugly, tragic time in history.

haffajappa

When I was in Berlin I went to Sashsenhousen... it was so eerie.
Some of the torturing posts were still there and the pit were they shot people. So sad.

One of many massacres that has plagued human history.
People suck :(

pickupyourwill

I bet that eerie feeling will be there for thousands of years. They should have priests and people of faith go to those places often and beg for forgiveness. They should have priests bless those places in the way they would an exorcism--to drive out the bad spirits and pray for the poor lost souls that still haunt the place, because some of those eerie places are probably still pure evil. Maybe they have done this. I hope so. I hope the innocent that died there are now at peace in heaven.

I think I saw Schindler's List around junior high. I still have never read the Diary of Anne Frank--guess I'll save that one for a rainy day and then stay off my anti-depressant for those 24 hrs--no use wasting good money on one pill that history's ugliness could wipe-out in one book.

And if "what goes around comes around", will Germany and those people involved ever be good with their karma? All those thousands of lives? Its so crazy to think about.

And here's another crazy thought. I have much German decent on both sides of my family. I'm sure if you traced my ancestry all the way back there, some distant ancester of mine was probably involved somehow in the killing of thousands of Jews. Were all of their future generations cursed in some way? Maybe not, but maybe so. Scary to think about.

pickupyourwill

...and now off to take my happy pill...

sorry for the huge dose of depression y'all

Who Princess

This is an event that is almost incomprehensible for many people. It's especially difficult as we lose the remaining survivors that have borne witness to it.

I would recommend reading the diary of Anne Frank. Not only is it a picture of what it took to survive in unbelievable circumstances, it's also a picture of an adolescent girl with the dreams and problems of any teenage girl. Read one of the newer editions; while her father was still alive he did not permit some entries to be published. They are pretty normal things for a teenage girl to have thought about (sexuality, complaining about her mother) but he thought they were too personal. One of the really amazing things about the diary is that she was moved to write something for posterity. She wanted her experiences to be read by others so they would know how things had been during the war. She was also a very talented writer for someone so young. If she had lived, we would be reading her work because of her ability, not just because she left behind a diary.

sparky_fry

Its great that your learning about it, but you forgot one key point. Most Germans were not Nazis. You cant categorize a country based on some crazy leaders. You say "will what goes around come around" on germany? the fact is, After WWI how the world treated Germany led to the rise of hitler, therefore one could say what goes around has come around on us.
Most of the Nazis died at the end of the war, and i would doubt that you have any "Nazi Blood". A better thought would be if any of your german anscestors helped the Jews, or fought against the Nazis like many germans did. (Ex: Operation Valkyrie). I think thats a much better thought for you to have

haffajappa

sparky_fry wrote:

Its great that your learning about it, but you forgot one key point. Most Germans were not Nazis. You cant categorize a country based on some crazy leaders. You say "will what goes around come around" on germany? the fact is, After WWI how the world treated Germany led to the rise of hitler, therefore one could say what goes around has come around on us.

When I originally read the OP I thought I read it wrong and so i ignored this point,
but I wholeheartedly agree!

mysticweed

pickupyourwill wrote:

I was just watching a show on the History Channel about it. WOW

You learn about it in school and you always know it happened--but the reality of it is still so disturbing every time. I think I saw Schindler's List around junior high. I still have never read the Diary of Anne Frank--guess I'll save that one for a rainy day and then stay off my anti-depressant for those 24 hrs--no use wasting good money on one pill that history's ugliness could wipe-out in one book.

And if "what goes around comes around", will Germany and those people involved ever be good with their karma? All those thousands of lives? Its so crazy to think about.

And here's another crazy thought. I have much German decent on both sides of my family. I'm sure if you traced my ancestry all the way back there, some distant ancester of mine was probably involved somehow in the killing of thousands of Jews. Were all of their future generations cursed in some way? Maybe not, but maybe so. Scary to think about.

Feel free to share your thoughts on this ugly, tragic time in history.

i read the diary
saw the house
but nothing shook me to the core as the history channel show
how some people do not believe it happened at all is so beyond me

btw, what kind of antidepressant do you take

pickupyourwill

chickweed wrote:

btw, what kind of antidepressant do you take

effexor. so far, so good. and you? jk
it seems like everyone's on something these days.

mysticweed

pickupyourwill wrote:

chickweed wrote:

btw, what kind of antidepressant do you take

effexor. so far, so good. and you? jk
it seems like everyone's on something these days.

never heard of it
i've been taking paxil for eight years and i don't EVER want to stop
i didn't want to take away from the seriousness of your holocaust comments
i was just curious about how the effects can be felt (or not felt) if you skip a day/dose

pickupyourwill

sparky_fry wrote:

Most of the Nazis died at the end of the war, and i would doubt that you have any "Nazi Blood".

Not true. After 1946, an "organisation" (German spelling/translation) was formed called Odessa. They faked some of the Nazis' deaths, like Martin Bormann, and helped them escape.

Also, the History Channel said something like thousands were accused, only some were tried, and even less actually convicted of the crimes. Descendants don't fall too far from the thinking tree. Its been almost a hundred years. What's scary is that while the dust has settled, hatred has still slowly been growing in some people. Hopefully, good will overcome evil this time around. Hopefully, there won't be a this time around.

pickupyourwill

...

sparky_fry

pickupyourwill wrote:

sparky_fry wrote:

Most of the Nazis died at the end of the war, and i would doubt that you have any "Nazi Blood".

Not true. After 1946, an "organisation" (German spelling/translation) was formed called Odessa. They faked some of the Nazis' deaths, like Martin Borgman, and helped them escape.

Also, the History Channel said something like thousands were accused, only some were tried, and even less actually convicted of the crimes. Descendants don't fall too far from the thinking tree. Its been almost a hundred years. What's scary is that while the dust has settled, hatred has still slowly been growing in some people. Hopefully, good will overcome evil this time around. Hopefully, there won't be a this time around.

I said most of the Nazis died. If you think that the Nazi army was only a couple thousand people then you are grossly mistaken. the army contained about 800,000 people. So saying that most of the Nazi's died is a fair statement. Say that say a few thousand nazi extremists survived, the population of Germany now is 81 million. The chance of having Nazi blood in you is extremely low.

pickupyourwill

sparky_fry wrote:

I said most of the Nazis died. If you think that the Nazi army was only a couple thousand people then you are grossly mistaken. the army contained about 800,000 people. So saying that most of the Nazi's died is a fair statement. Say that say a few thousand nazi extremists survived, the population of Germany now is 81 million. The chance of having Nazi blood in you is extremely low.

dude, chill. you're right.

I just wanted to point out the ODESSA thing. I already know I don't have any Nazi blood anyway because my grandparents and great-grandparents were already in America by then. But the ones before that may have slaughtered some Indians or slaves :( , which is unsettling. But I was being ridiculous anyways because it doesn't really matter how far back you go--we all basically come from the same bloodline anyway and the whole karma thing is too crazy to think about anyway.

Electric_Delta

Continue to read and learn about it...as much as you can. There are those who try to deny it ever happened.

pickupyourwill

Electric_Delta wrote:

Continue to read and learn about it...as much as you can. There are those who try to deny it ever happened.

That's so crazy. How can people deny footage of piles of dead corpses. Atleast I think there was real footage of this?--am I confusing it with Schindler's list?

Historians and scientists should go back and dig up all the remains and evidence they can. I remember that many remains were burned right? That is mind-boggling that people think they can deny it. I do understand, though, how something like that can be so hard to talk about and remember and how it seems that any survivors may have been just as happy not talking about it to live out the rest of their lives in peace. They could have even been afraid for their lives upon talking about it.

The nice thing about all these people tracing their ancestors and family trees, is that now we can all finally map our origins. Everyone is on the map--not just today, but maybe even those in the past.

Historians and educators need to keep knowledge of the Holocaust alive for every generation--so that it doesn't get turned into heresy, and then thousands of years later end up like the Bible with half believing it and half not. If it all stays documented and preserved by trusted individuals then the evidence will always be there.

Electric_Delta

pickupyourwill wrote:

Electric_Delta wrote:

Continue to read and learn about it...as much as you can. There are those who try to deny it ever happened.

That's so crazy. How can people deny footage of piles of dead corpses. Historians and scientists should go back and dig up all the remains and evidence they can. I remember that many remains were burned right? That is mind-boggling that people think they can deny it. I do understand, though, how something like that can be so hard to talk about and remember and how it seems that any survivors may have been just as happy not talking about it to live out the rest of their lives in peace. They could have even been afraid for their lives upon talking about it.

The nice thing about all these people tracing their ancestors and family trees, is that now we can all finally map our origins. Everyone is on the map--not just today, but maybe even those in the past.

Historians and educators need to keep knowledge of the Holocaust alive for every generation--so that it doesn't get turned into heresy, and then thousands of years later end up like the Bible with half believing it and half not. If it all stays documented and preserved by trusted individuals then the evidence will always be there.

Eisenhower was adament about it, too. He went so far as to have Germans from local villages bury the victims in certain areas so they saw it and believed.


He said to preserve it because some bastard will try to say it never happened...his words.

pickupyourwill

Electric_Delta wrote:

Eisenhower was adament about it, too. He went so far as to have Germans from local villages bury the victims in certain areas so they saw it and believed.


He said to preserve it because some bastard will try to say it never happened...his words.

Awesome. I have a newfound respect for him. I will definitely read up more on it.

sparky_fry

People will always deny facts no matter how overwhelming the evidence (ex: evolution, moon landing) its up to us educated folk to pass on the knowledge and experiences

fuck

All this talk of being related to Nazi's reminds me of that episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia when Dennis finds out his grandfather was a Nazi

sparky_fry

___________ wrote:

All this talk of being related to Nazi's reminds me of that episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia when Dennis finds out his grandfather was a Nazi

reminds me of Nazi zombies. Damn i wish i wasn't at work....