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I've just read all of these posts, and was almost in tears while reading a few of them. If anyone has any stories regarding the Holocaust by family members or friends, I would be very interested in hearing about them...it helps remind us of what the Jews went through...sometimes memories are entirely too short. Thanks.
Last edited by Kimbercuddles; 12-14-2006 at 07:55 PM..
Reason: never use spellcheck and realized error...blonde.
I'm shocked that this is even in question. This wacko in Iran is hosting KKK members and we are taking this seriously. Where is Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton condeming this? I think they are part of the group that thinks we need to sit down with this kook and ask him for help. That's scary!!
Normally I would agree that nutty leaders may not represent the people, but in this case I would not agree. The hatred of the Jewish race by most non-jews in the middle east is a centuries old ingrained bigotry. I am sure there are those in Iran who would be moderate in their beliefs about the Jews, but I am quite sure that they would never say anything in public. This, of course is why it is difficult to determine the level of tollerance, but I think it would be a pretty low percentage.
I cannot speak for every person in Iran, but I can say that of the Iranians I have known --- and I've known quite a few --- none of them felt this way and all of them were horrified at the extremism in their country.
Yes, and we keep hearing how we're supposed to sit down with Iran and Syria to help solve Iraq. At what cost? I don't like this war, but this country (Iran) is out of control and we CANNOT allow them to have a nuclear weapon at any cost. We know exactly where that missile would be headed, as this conference easily points out.
I cannot speak for every person in Iran, but I can say that of the Iranians I have known --- and I've known quite a few --- none of them felt this way and all of them were horrified at the extremism in their country.
I'm sure they don't all agree with these views, but to be fair, most of the Iranians I've known are now Iranian-American... and the extremism in their homeland is a major reason they came here. My former boss was an Iranian man who moved here 20+ years ago, because he was ostracized for not being Muslim (he follows the Christian faith, more or less). He didn't want his kids growing up in that environment, so he immigrated here for the freedom of religion. I also know an Iraqi-Jewish family, who came to the U.S. for the same basic reason. Obviously there are still plenty of Iranians in Iran who'd agree, but don't all move away... just thinking that we'd mostly meet the more "liberal" ones in this country!
I've just read all of these posts, and was almost in tears while reading a few of them. If anyone has any stories regarding the Holocaust by family members or friends, I would be very interested in hearing about them...it helps remind us of what the Jews went through...sometimes memories are entirely too short. Thanks.
It is horrible to think about, though important to remember! I told a brief version of my great-aunt's story already, but there's much more to it... I don't know a lot of details, though, since she never talked about it. So everything is basically second-hand information. Basically she was born in Lodz, Poland, and lived there until the invasion when she was about 12-13 years old. They sealed off Lodz into a Jewish ghetto, where her family remained for a year or so... eventually they were taken to Auschwitz, and her parents, grandparents, and every other family member (aside from one brother) were killed. The story of why she survived isn't confirmed, but it's been said the reason was her beauty... she was - and still is! - a gorgeous woman, and the soldiers most likely took advantage of that. She and the brother who survived were liberated at the end of the war, and emigrated to New Jersey, where she found work as a model and sales-lady. Soon afterward, she met and married my grandmother's brother (maternal side), who actually served in the US Army for WWII. Therefore she's not a blood relative to me, though obviously I've only known her as my great-aunt! Unfortunately my great-uncle killed himself in the 1960s, for a number of complicated reasons... before his death, they adopted 3 children, since she wasn't able to have kids (probably a result of being in the camp); that's the main reason she's still an active part of the family, since her kids are my mom's first cousins. I remember visiting her house in New Jersey when I was young, and spending most of the holidays with her... she's a really neat lady, and has the cutest Polish accent - which is still VERY thick after 60+ years!
Anyway, that's unfortunately just one story of what people endured... growing up, we'd have Holocaust memorial services & studies every year, and survivors would often come to speak at our Temple. The stories were absolutely heartwrenching, but I'm honored to have heard them directly from the survivors. Hopefully their stories will stay alive long after we're all gone. Btw, I'm sure some of you have heard of Congressman Tom Lantos? He's from this area, and a Holocaust survivor, so he'd occasionally be one of our guest speakers... really great guy & fascinating stories to tell! Here is his biography, if anyone wants to read - http://www.lantos.org/biography.html (broken link)
Gizmo980...thank you so much for sharing your family stories...to me, it's so much more interesting to learn about history through someone real...if that makes sense. I've read many books (Corrie TenBoom) and seen movies regarding this subject...there are so many things that my mind just cannot grasp. How could there have been so many people who were so cruel to people just like themselves? There's no one who would be able to convince me that any life is not worthy....no matter what. It's bad enough to hear stories about men and women...but the children...how could anyone possible harm a child intentionally? Sorry, I didn't mean to go on and on...it's just something that is so difficult for me to fathom.
I'm sure they don't all agree with these views, but to be fair, most of the Iranians I've known are now Iranian-American... and the extremism in their homeland is a major reason they came here. My former boss was an Iranian man who moved here 20+ years ago, because he was ostracized for not being Muslim (he follows the Christian faith, more or less). He didn't want his kids growing up in that environment, so he immigrated here for the freedom of religion. I also know an Iraqi-Jewish family, who came to the U.S. for the same basic reason. Obviously there are still plenty of Iranians in Iran who'd agree, but don't all move away... just thinking that we'd mostly meet the more "liberal" ones in this country!
You see they want to live in America. Everyone is suppose to hate us around the world, but yet people are coming here in droves to get away from that environment and live a better life. Why do you think some a lot of Arabs are living in Israel? Israel is a shining jewel in that wasteland called the Middle east.
Still I can't even believe this is a topic for discussion. This wacko in Iran threatens Israel on a daily basis. If he gets a nuke he will attempt to destroy them and then us.
I think the real power in Iran is not President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, it is the clerics, especially the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei--they themselves have no love for Jews. Elections were held yesterday for local councils, I've heard that reformists were trying to unite.
There are nuts here in the USA who deny the Holocaust. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussian_Blue_(duo)
I know a lot of people get tired of the handwringing; they talk about the Holocaust "industry" and indeed there is some truth to those accusations.
Germany has done so much in terms of atonement.
But we should never forget. The horror was very, very real, and all too systematic.
I've visited the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. Last summer I took this picture of an "examination table" at Natzweiler in France:
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Btw, I'm sure some of you have heard of Congressman Tom Lantos? He's from this area, and a Holocaust survivor, so he'd occasionally be one of our guest speakers... really great guy & fascinating stories to tell! Here is his biography, if anyone wants to read - http://www.lantos.org/biography.html (broken link)
