Not only did I have an Uncle who lived through the Shoah, but I was lucky enough to grow-up in an area where many of them settled and brought up their children. It was never easy to listen to them speak of what they had went through, but it was important to listen. Many of them never got over it, and others totally blanked it out.
For better or worse, it will be the defining moment for the Jewish people until the next one. What you ask? The next one! That's right, it can happen again and probably will. Just like Germany, Austria and Hungary, five hundred years ago, when the Jewish People were living graciously in a society, they were brutally attacked and thrown out of Spain. The Spanish inquisition was no less destructive of the Spanish Jews than the Shoah was for European Jews.
Sadly, the post World War Two destruction of the Mediterranean and Asian Jews has been little explored. No one talks about how the two million Jews who lived in North Africa and the Middle East were forced out of their homes, and charged exorbitant 'exit' fees to be thrown out of Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran, etc. Communities that lasted for three thousand years, were obliterated in a few short decades. The story of "Maus" should be a warning to anyone who thinks it can't happen here. |
Maus : A Survivor's Tale : My Father Bleeds History/Here My Troubles Began/Boxed Used Books New.