Martyrdom & resistance, January/February 2018

иштямттштшшшш ШШ SIX MILLION VICTIMS OF THE HOLOCAUST REMEMBERED Warsaw — Elderly Holocaust sur¬ vivors, wearing striped scarves that recalled their uniforms as prisoners of Nazi Germany, made a yearly pilgrim¬ age to Auschwitz on January 27, exactly 73 years after the Soviet army liberated the death camp in occupied Poland. On the date now commemorated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, political leaders and Jewish officials warned that the Nazi genocide must never cease serv¬ ing as a reminder of the evil of which humans are capable. In Warsaw, Poland, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson attended a solemn ceremony at a memorial to the Jews who died fighting the German forces in the Warsaw ghetto uprising of 1943. The head of Warsaw's Jewish community read a prayer, and Tillerson made brief remarks about the importance of not for¬ getting the horrors of the Holocaust. “On this occasion, it reminds us that we can never, we can never, be indifferent to the face of evil,” Tillerson said. “The Western alliance which emerged from World War II has committed itself to ensuring the security of all, that this would never happen again,” he said. “As we mark this day in solemn remem¬ brance, let us repeat the words of our own commitment: Never again. Never again.” Jerusalem — In honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day nearly 8,000 peo¬ ple from 193 different countries joined the Yad Vashem IRemember Wall this year. This annual social media cam¬ paign is a unique and meaningful opportunity for the public to partici¬ pate in a unique commemorative activity to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day. By joining the IRemember Wall, the par¬ ticipant's Facebook profile is random¬ ly linked to the name of a Holocaust victim from Yad Vashem's Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names. *** Some of the most heartbreaking let¬ ters ever penned - written by Nazi vic¬ tims to loved ones they would never see again - have been published ahead of World Holocaust Day. “We Shall Meet Again - Last Letters from the Holocaust” is an online exhi¬ bition staged by the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem. The center holds thousands of mis¬ sives from the doomed and will grad¬ ually publish them over the coming months. In one such letter, Perla Tytelman writes along with her son Samuel and daughter Rega from the Warsaw ghetto to her husband, Jozef, and other daughter Rachel, who managed to flee to Siberia. The letter reads: 'I am drawing on all my strength in order to survive for you. “But you, my beloved ones, have to prove your bravery, you have to prove that you are capable of overcoming this undeserved punishment and the wanderings with strength and dignity. “You should be consoled by the thought that this has to end some¬ time, and that then we will once again be happy together. Our yearning for each other knows no bounds.” Rachel then adds her news to the letter, before saying she has to make room for Samuel, who is complaining there is no space left to write. Samuel says: “I write last, so that the ladies signed above have time to chatter. You have already said every¬ thing and left me no room. “On this occasion, mother watered the letter with her tears. “The situation is now pretty bad because we have been imprisoned in the so-called Jewish quarter. Also at home a lot has changed. We now live in the bedroom [of the parents]. What do I do, you know? I have to come to the end. “Remember, the most impor¬ tant thing is not to take anything to heart and persevere. Then we will definitely meet again.” The letter was sent in the autumn of 1941. All three would later perish in the ghetto, a fact that Jozef and Rachel would not learn until after the war. Staring at grainy video footage of Jewish children marching to their freedom though the barbed-wire fences of the Auschwitz death camp, 79-year- old Vera Kriegel Grossman excitedly points a finger at the screen upon identifying a dark¬ haired girl in a dirty striped uni¬ form as her 6-year-old self. “I can’t believe that happened to me. I wasn’t a child there. I was all grown up ... it was like I was 100 years old.” Archival footage shot by Auschwitz’s Soviet liberators is part of the Yad Vashem Holocaust memori¬ al’s latest exhibition, ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, exploring the power of photography during World War II. The 1,500 photographs and 13 films displayed come from various perspectives, those of victims and perpetrators alike, and look to offer today’s media-saturated visitors a new angle for looking at the horrors of the Holocaust. Photography, perhaps more than anything else, has come to shape our memory of the Holocaust. The “Flashes of Memory” exhibit also offers a glimpse behind the lens — showing the actual cameras used, the photographers who took the pictures and their various motivations. “The exhibit is aimed at the brain, (Continued on page 8) IN THIS ISSUE International Holocaust Remembrance Day . 1, 8-9 We knew, but failed to stop the Holocaust . 3 Wordwings . 4 Nazi havens in South America . 6 The Italian Wallenberg . 7 The post-Holocaust pogrom that Poland is still fighting over . 10 Holocaust suitcase packs stories of survival . 11 Irish aid worker who saved children from Auschwitz . 12 Secret anti-Nazi diary gives voice to man on the street . 14 How artist beat foolproof Nazi system to save 350 lives . 15 Survivors and guests walk past the "Arbeit Macht Frei" gate at the former Nazi German concentration camp on International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Oswiecim, Poland, Saturday, January 27, 2018.