Lest we forget

Blackrat wrote an interesting post a few weeks ago regarding the book by Laurence Rees' entitled Auschwitz, The Nazis & The Final Solution, which I'll review here once I've read it.

Like many people, I presume, I learnt about the death camps at school, although we were probably exposed to a santized version "suitable" for grammar school girls.

Years later I saw Schindlers List which had much more of an impact on me. Apart from the the dramatic black and white portrayal of it's amazing story, one other thing will stick with me from that film:

the absolute silence from every single person as the credits rolled.

You could have heard popcorn drop. Not one person rushed to get out of their seats like they normally do. We were all in some personal place of thought. Even through the lobby and into the car-park everyone was very subdued. At the time I only wanted to see it once and decided not to buy it. However, I might have to get it on DVD as hubby has never seen it. Perhaps it's time it came back into the cinemas. It would be appropriate for the next generation of cinema goers to see this film.

Going back to Blackrat's post, it's impossible for me to get my head round
the number of deaths mentioned. However I look at it, it overwhelms me.

A couple of years ago I visited the Holocaust Exhibition at the Imperial War Museum and would urge anyone that has the chance to go. There are rolling videos showing interviews with those affected - either survivors or families of those killed. The different sections are interspersed with cabinets showing things that would have been "confiscated" from people entering the camps - I found the piles of shoes particularly haunting for some reason. There is also a scale model of the camp to help you visualise the scale of the place. Some parts of the exhibition were quite disturbing but that's good. Things like this should disturb us all.

The sad thing is that "we" as humankind have not learnt from these shocking events.

According to the Peace Pledge Union, in the 20th century there have been between 130 and 142 million people killed in and by war (including starvation and disease as a result of conflict). Include deaths caused by political decisions and the total grows to between 214 and 226 million.

Take a look here for more detail.

And according to one of Amnesty International's Current Campaigns, some countries are training the next generation already.

How much longer and how many more lives until we learn?