15 August in Auschwitz Birkenau Poland
It is a coincidence that today is India's independence day and we were visiting the most infamous place in history of mankind. This irony was not lost on Sneha and she pointed it out. Sonali explained, it is very pertinent that we are visiting Auschwitz today, what better way to understand the importance of Freedom.
We all know the history behind this horrible place and also many sad stories. You are already mentally prepared for what to expect, but still the realty hits very hard and heart aches and eyes numb when you stand in front of each exhibit and the guide narrates in detail the exact purpose of these exhibits and the horrors thereof. Kids gasped on more than one occassion and few in our group could not control the tears, especially an elderly woman, maybe she had lost one of her kins or maybe just her humanity in her was overwhelmed. Few exhibits like the huge collection of human hair (40 tonnes) which was cut from the jewish victims by the Nazis (before sending them to gas chambers) to be sent to German factories for making rugs and fishing nets, this simple collection suddenly made us realise the human face and suffering behind the numbers and statistics. The clothes and shoes of a days old child who was sent to the gas chambers- How can someone be so inhuman.
But the good thing is that the evil has been captured and destroyed.
The stories of the 'Final Solution', as horrible as they are, I am very sorry to say, have not made some of us learn the bitter lessons from history. As is my wont I think from an Indian perspective. Hitler planned to cleanse the Europe of Jews as he felt that Jews dont deserve to live just because they were Jews. A similar ideology of false supremancy led to the calls of 'Raliv, Galiv Ya Chaliv' genocide in Kashmir 45 years later. Nazi sympathisers justified the atrocities by saying that Jews are greedy, they control all businesses in Europe. In the same vein people like barkha dutt justified the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri pandits by saying that Pandits were a rich community, educated community, controlled all businesses and government jobs in Kashmir. Not much has been learned even after 33 years of the ethnic cleansing in Kashmir. When one attempt was made to present the genocide as a movie, the leftist leaning ecosystem /goebbles-reincarnated dismissed it as propagonda. So much so that one CM of a half-state had the audacity to call it a Jhooti-film.
Thank God atleast Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany/Europe. In India the victims of the genocide are still waiting for the world to atleast recognise that the ethnic cleansing actually happened.
At one point during the tour, I remembered a so called 'very learned' 'Highly intellectual' poltician who according the some 'should be actually be a face of India to the world instead of a chaiwala'. The tour guide was referring the transport train used for bringing the jews to the camp for extermination as 'cattle carts' as they actually were cattle carts. I remembered the foot-in-mouth ex-minister for his frivolous remark on Indian train 2nd class compartment as 'cattle class'. When this is the attitude despite your immense knowledge how can you empathise and even understand the suffering due to the calls of Raliv, Galiv Ya Chaliv.
As it always happens discussions led from one point to another, from Hitler to Jews to Gypsis to Taimur to Aurangazeb to suffering of Guru Teg Bahadur to the horrible torture of Sambhaji Maharaj. Perpetrators of
'Raliv, Galiv Ya Chaliv' and torture on Sambhaji Maharaj atleast gave the option to convert, the Jews of Europe had only on option DIE a horrrible death.
But there is one solace. Atleast we still talk about the holocaust. Same way atleast now we are talking about the Kashmiri genocide along with many such horrible chapters in Indian history which were whitewashed. The first step is taken. Hopefully victims of such horrors get justice soon.
Since many years kids regularly attend Independence day celebrations in the Indian consulate in Frankfurt (except since the Corona), this year visiting Auschwitz on this auspecious day was definitely a huge learning experience.
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