That war touches me and my family. My mother gave her first husband her sweetheart to the war in Europe. Her brother served there as well and survived. My father was in the Pacific with the Navy ground based bombers. He suffered PTSD his entire life. Of course this falls short of those who were killed just for being, but tragedy knows no boundaries.
Wow, I never knew about them. I visited Anne Frank's house in 1990 and it sure has changed. May I suggest reading The Hiding Place? Corrie Ten Boom was a Dutch Reform Christian but she and her entire family smuggled Jews until they were caught.
Thank you for sharing about the "Stumbling Stones" art project memorial. I wasn't aware of their existence. I can't even begin to imagine how long it took the artist to research all the names of those taken away by the Nazis, or to create these markers and get them installed where they belong. They are a painful, but necessary reminder of the horrific times in the past, which we see being echoed across our nation in the present time.
Thank you so much for this. Now I'm going to go down the rabbit hole, and I love learning about things like this. As much as it is horrifying, it is so tangible and important!
We learned about the Holocaust in elementary school. Movies of actual events, furnaces and piles of bodies of people who were killed in gas chambers. This was during a time when they weren't afraid to expose children to traumatic and gruesome images or written history. I knew more about slavery and the civil rights movement than most people of color I knew because of the public school I attended. I am grateful that I was not shrouded from it.
About the Holocaust, I had never met anyone, until I was an adult, who was imprisoned in a concentration camp and I found out purely by observation. Everyone called him "Hunky Steve" and he spoke with a Hungarian accent. I had known him for a few years already and I had never paid close enough attention to tattoos he had until we were sitting across the table from each other and he rolled up his sleeves while we were talking and the tattoo on his forearm caught my eye. I grabbed his hand and flipped his arm over and I said "is this what I think it is?", he just gave me a crooked smile and a nod and the tears just started streaming down my face. He grasped both of my hands and said "Oh honey, it was a very long time ago and I was too young to remember it". That didn't stop the tears because he lost his entire family to Hitler's gas chambers and death camps.
Steve passed away a while ago and I didn't find out until long after he was gone. That was a funeral I would have walked to if I knew. He was a very sweet and humble man and I had the pleasure of calling him a friend even before I knew. Thanks for educating people about this because there are way too many people that weren't as fortunate to learn about this in school or they deny that it ever happened even with all of the documented evidence out there.
It was so moving to learn about it myself! I had really wanted to do something so grand with the pictures. I am sure in time I can but this moment was the right moment.
Thank you for such a thought provoking article! The parallels to what is happening here in America is terrifying. The Trump supporters are voting against their own interests regarding every “policy” while cheering as they walk the path to fascism. It’s absolutely mind blowing.
It really is wild how many people are so blind to it. But, I also think that goes to show the true shortcomings of our own education system. While people continue to try and water down the reality of it all.
That war touches me and my family. My mother gave her first husband her sweetheart to the war in Europe. Her brother served there as well and survived. My father was in the Pacific with the Navy ground based bombers. He suffered PTSD his entire life. Of course this falls short of those who were killed just for being, but tragedy knows no boundaries.
Wow, I never knew about them. I visited Anne Frank's house in 1990 and it sure has changed. May I suggest reading The Hiding Place? Corrie Ten Boom was a Dutch Reform Christian but she and her entire family smuggled Jews until they were caught.
Thank you for sharing 🌟
Thank you for sharing about the "Stumbling Stones" art project memorial. I wasn't aware of their existence. I can't even begin to imagine how long it took the artist to research all the names of those taken away by the Nazis, or to create these markers and get them installed where they belong. They are a painful, but necessary reminder of the horrific times in the past, which we see being echoed across our nation in the present time.
Great article. Never knew anything about the stones, nor did I see them in Italy. Very interesting.
Thanks
Wow! I had no idea these stones existed! Thanks for sharing 🩷
I do not remember the number of Stumbling Stones we came across in Rome. There were many. Unfortunately, there were very few listed as “Liberato” ❤️
I think we only found that one
Well written, this! … #Señora-Oz
Thank you so much for this. Now I'm going to go down the rabbit hole, and I love learning about things like this. As much as it is horrifying, it is so tangible and important!
We learned about the Holocaust in elementary school. Movies of actual events, furnaces and piles of bodies of people who were killed in gas chambers. This was during a time when they weren't afraid to expose children to traumatic and gruesome images or written history. I knew more about slavery and the civil rights movement than most people of color I knew because of the public school I attended. I am grateful that I was not shrouded from it.
About the Holocaust, I had never met anyone, until I was an adult, who was imprisoned in a concentration camp and I found out purely by observation. Everyone called him "Hunky Steve" and he spoke with a Hungarian accent. I had known him for a few years already and I had never paid close enough attention to tattoos he had until we were sitting across the table from each other and he rolled up his sleeves while we were talking and the tattoo on his forearm caught my eye. I grabbed his hand and flipped his arm over and I said "is this what I think it is?", he just gave me a crooked smile and a nod and the tears just started streaming down my face. He grasped both of my hands and said "Oh honey, it was a very long time ago and I was too young to remember it". That didn't stop the tears because he lost his entire family to Hitler's gas chambers and death camps.
Steve passed away a while ago and I didn't find out until long after he was gone. That was a funeral I would have walked to if I knew. He was a very sweet and humble man and I had the pleasure of calling him a friend even before I knew. Thanks for educating people about this because there are way too many people that weren't as fortunate to learn about this in school or they deny that it ever happened even with all of the documented evidence out there.
Thank you for sharing your experience. Continuing to keep their memory alive by sharing their stories is key. He sounds like he was a wonderful human.
Wow. I had no idea this project existed. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
I had absolutely no idea this was a thing... thank you so much for highlighting these in such great detail for us... We are not going back...
It was so moving to learn about it myself! I had really wanted to do something so grand with the pictures. I am sure in time I can but this moment was the right moment.
Thank you for such a thought provoking article! The parallels to what is happening here in America is terrifying. The Trump supporters are voting against their own interests regarding every “policy” while cheering as they walk the path to fascism. It’s absolutely mind blowing.
It really is wild how many people are so blind to it. But, I also think that goes to show the true shortcomings of our own education system. While people continue to try and water down the reality of it all.