Resources

Pinchas teaching us his
story, so we learn first hand
at Plashov.

How can one teach without resources? They can't. And what is the best resource? One's own education, so I have several links etc to pass on to you, again. Educate yourself, know your surroundings, and educate others.


First, a poem, written by a past MRH participant which I hope to incorporate and use in the Evening of Education and Inspiration, as it is a fantastic look into the thought process that went into building these camps as well as someone trying to grasp this, after visiting.

Majdanek

                by Elizabeth Spalding

 What did the people of Lublin think as they saw

the road being built to Majdanek?

The barracks go up

The watchtowers rise

The barbed wire fence with a sign bearing death’s head declare, “Achtung!”

If not residents of Lublin,

then who won the contract on

The rubber seals for the gas chambers

The bricks for the crematoria

and the coke that fired them?

Who delivered seven thousand hundred kilograms of Zyclon B?

What did they think as three hundred thousand people, dazed,

disembarked from cattle cars and marched through their town

Clinging to a single suitcase of all their workdly possessions

And the delusion of resettlement

that made the inevitable bearable?

Did music blaring from two loudspeakers really mask the sound of

Twelve solid hours of machine gun fire it took

To kill eighteen thousand in a single day?

Who served the executioners their meals

When they took their breaks in town?

What did they think was burning in Majdanek

As two hundred thirty-five thousand corpses went up in smoke?

And the the camp was liberated

What math did they use to calculate

How many square acres thirteen hundred cubic meters

of compost rich in ash and bone could fertilize?

How fifteen hundred living inmates could wear

Eight hundred thousand pairs of shoes?

I wandered through those shoes.

They filled three prison barracks at Majdanek.

Floor to ceiling, rows on rows.

I could not comprehend this crime.

The numbers were too huge.

But when I saw a pair of red high-heeled sandals

Still bright among the piles of rotting shoes

I stopped.

What kind of woman would wear

High-heeled sandals to a death camp?

I realized: my mother.

And then I understood and wept.

Posted with permission of the author

Also, feel free to visit the following links, and share them with your friends and family to put a stop to hatred and anti-Semitism, and to stand up.

"Teen gets probation for painting anti-Semitic graffiti on synagogues, Holocaust memorial" as told by the Calgary Herald.

"Top Nazi Rudolf Hess exhumed from 'pilgrimage' grave" as told by the BBC.

"Debate: Anti-Semitism remains a problem on Canadian campuses" as told by the National Post.

"German Concentration Camp Criticized for Charging Entrance Fee" as told by Spiegel Online.

"Holocaust Survivor forms bonds with Indian residential school survivors" as told by APTN National News.

"Poland asks Jews for forgiveness on 70th anniversary of Yedvabne massacre" as told by Haaretz.com.

Advertising

Tomorrow morning at approx. 8:37, I will be speaking to Terry Seguin on CBC Radio regarding An Evening of Education and Inspiration. At this time of the morning on Wednesdays, Public Service Announcement call-ins are welcome, and Terry said he would do a short interview with me, advertising and explaining the event.

This being said, feel free to tell your friends and family about it - the more, the merrier! The photo, to the left, is available for you to post on Facebook or spread around via email - helping me advertise would be greatly appreciated.

Admission is by donation which will be sent to the Canadian Centre for Diversity for future programs. Refreshments will be available, and doors open at 7pm.

Special guests include Dr Israel Unger, Dr Lisa Todd and Mayor Brad Woodside.

For your interest..

I thought tonight I would pass along several links that I've saved over the last few weeks to share with you, my viewers.

I can't begin to express how proud I am, how happy and fortunate I am, that I have the opportunity to share my knowledge, the stories of others, with you. Together, we can make a change in the world.

1. Article on 2011 MRH participant Dustin Hutton-Alcorn, as seen in the Abbotsford News on 13 June 2011.

2. Article on 2011 MRH participant Allison Miceli, as seen in the Burlington Post on 29 June 2011.

3. Movie trailer for the movie "Paper Clips".

4. A blog of a friend of a friend's and her experiences in Palestine, studying the conflict, there.

5. An excellent piece on stereotypes of the Jewish peoples, "Hebrew Mamita".

6. An article about a gay survivor of the Holocaust, as seen in Spiegel Online International.

"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." - Mother Teresa

Progress

I am so thrilled to see that my blog has reached over 5,000 viewers...this is not only a huge honor but absolutely fantastic and heart-warming. Just in the last week, two followers have approached me to tell me how fantastic the program is and how great it is that I decided to embark on this journey and allow you all to follow me, as well.

Standing cells in the basement of a block in one of the
barracks of Auschwitz. After a 12 hour work day, prisoners
would be sent here to stand in brick walled in cells overnight.
Many people died from exhaustion, here.

I am ashamed to say that I still have one journal entry left to blog, the final day we spent in Poland, which included a tour of the Geisha cemetery in Warsaw, a visit to the town of Tykochin and then to Treblinka. Why have I put this off for so long? Perhaps because I simply haven't had the time to sit down and think and write, with work, etc...perhaps because I've been struggling to pick up and read the memoir I bought at Auschwitz, or perhaps I just do not have an excuse at all. And with that, I apologize. This entry will come soon, I promise.

I did, however, finish reading the aforementioned memoir, just today. Hope is the Last to Die, the story of Halina Birenbaum is an excellent read; an excellent look into the camp life, the horrors and terror and abuse and suffering of the Holocaust victims. But it is not all that; it isn't all sorrow and sadness, but also a look at the happiness and hope, love and compassion through this black time in history.

I couldn't put this book down once I really became engaged in it, but also learned so much, and started thinking about things I hadn't before - the camp staff that were compassionate and helped the prisoners; turning a blind eye or secretly delivering food, keeping friends and family together, etc. I cannot fathom how a human race was able to commit the atrocities they did, but it can be understood that there were some forced to complete a job, against their wishes. It is calming to know not everyone agreed with Hitler and the Nazi regime.

Fellow 2011 participant Victoria Clowater, also of Fredericton.

Halina explains herself beautifully throughout the book, and connects with the reader through her wonderful descriptions and words; real, human, and simple. I cannot understand Halina, despite the connection I feel I have with her. I visited Auschwitz and Majdanek, two camps where she was held during the war, but I will not understand; no one ever will. But I understand her in other ways. I understand, to a degree, when she says

"I also lost my faith in people and the little respect I had left. I became brusque, sharp even with my closest friend Polusia. I was closed up in myself, taciturn and in a constant state of irritation. I could no longer find a common language with anyone" (177).


I'm carrying on daily life as if normal, with my thoughts running through my mind. I've yet to openly talk about my experiences, my thoughts, my struggles. I communicate through my blog, and through planning the upcoming event, on 11 August, in which I hope many members of the public attend. And these memoirs are such hope; that the survivors are strong enough to share their story. I, along with 59 other students from across Canada, have the task of carrying these stories through the generations; ensuring this era of history is not forgotten, is not left behind with the passing of survivors.

I do hope you all are planning to attend the event, An Evening of Education and Inspiration, on 11 August at 7pm at the Fredericton Legion, located on Queen Street. Student leaders include myself, Victoria Clowater and Erin Legare. Special guests include Dr. Lisa Todd, from UNB, and Holocaust survivor Israel Unger.




"Some people think that love and peace is a cliche that should have been left in the sixties...that's their problem. Love and peace are eternal" - John Lennon.

An Evening of Education and Inspiration: Fredericton edition

I hope you're not busy on 11 August 2011 at 7pm, because I hope to see you at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch #4 in downtown Fredericton, for An Evening of Education and Inspriation. This event, similar to the one held last month in Kitchener, will educate the public and allow MRH participants to share stories and lessons learned.

Student leaders will include myself, Victoria Clowater (2011 MRH) and Erin Legare (2006 MRH).

Special guests will include Holocaust survivor Israel Unger and UNB Professor Lisa Todd.

Refreshments will be available, and admission is by donation. Donations will then be sent to the Canadian Centre for Diversity to ensure that future trips are affordable for students.

I'm really excited for this event and glad to see things are coming together.

So, what do you want to know? What stories do you want to hear? What photos do you want to see?
"The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference" - Elie Wiesel