I have just finished a terrible and evil book. Not terribly and evilly written - just the opposite totally gripping and thought provoking - but about a terrible and evil subject. And yet to those who (proudly) accomplished this thing it was about efficiency on an industrial scale - to these people it was about how to transport, process and dispose of large quantities of articles that were no longer required - not people - not little children, mothers and fathers - just articles.I have seen photographs of concentration camp victims, but have never been so involved and affected as by reading this book.
To any who think it could not happen in their country, read and think again!
5 comments:
I have seen several programmes and films that have dealt with the horror of the final solution, but for me, the most haunting image that conveys this inhumanity was Jacob Bronowski's "the Ascent of Man" when he reaches down into the swamp land surrounding Auschwitz, picks up a handful of soggy mud and stares intently at the camera and tells you that he is holding the bone meal of his relativesin his hands.
Must have been 13 I saw that, it still sends a shiver down my spine.
Yes - that had a great effect on me too - he waded into the water quite casually, fully dressed, whilst still talking to camera, bent down, scooped up the mud and said "you must reach out and touch people"
Haven't read the book, but as you know saw J B. Watched it again recently and his words and the image of him stayed with me for days.
Thankyou for encouraging your children to watch The Ascent of Man. Some of it was a struggle to comprehend way back then, but the struggle led to questions and that is always good.
Thankyou for adding Secrethill to your Links.
Isn't it something, the whole challenge was to dispose of human individuals in the most efficient manner possible, disposable people. They spend much of their time in the thought process of how best to do this. Hard to imagine such evil and indifference to human suffering.
My husbands family were Jewish in Russia/Lithuania during the years when being Jewish was not smart.
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