Berlin and the Holocaust

In the image of Who?

I have just spent 5 days in the German capital Berlin with my family which has turned out to be both enjoyable and reflective. Let me start by saying that the person who came up with the phrase “That God created man in his own image” certainly set a very low bar for mankind.

As part of the holiday, I and my family visited the Memorial to the Murdered Jews and the SS/ Gestapo Headquarters which highlighted the inhumanity of our species. Hitler and his close cabal persuaded a nation to carry out unthinkable crimes against fellow human beings. These crimes against humanity resulted in the extermination of 6 million Jews of all ages and hundreds of thousands of others including homosexuals, Roma and those with perceived disabilities, all to ensure that the Aryan gene pool was not polluted. One victim was a 6-year-old girl who was diagnosed with “Idiocy Syndrome” and was murdered, in fact, she had epilepsy.

What struck me even though I had studied Nazi history was just the sheer causal approach that individual Germans took to the extermination of groups of people, particularly the Jews. Parts of German industry were repurposed to murder on an industrial scale with one objective, to deliver the Final Solution. 

As I and many others walked quietly through the memorial site, we listened to and read stories of individual tragedies of many Jewish families and for a brief second, I thought to myself, this cannot be true. From people being escorted to the gas chambers to people having to dig the pits in which they would fall after being shot in the back of the head by mobile killing units. This was a repetitive process carried out by the same Nazi guards, daily. Any idea of humanity was stripped from their character. What even is more baffling is how Hitler persuaded a nation that Jews were vermin and a threat to the Aryan race. This even though, many Jews saw themselves as German and many fought for Germany during the First World War.

The tragedy of the Holocaust is not just a piece of wartime history but goes to the heart of the capacity of our species to inflict harm. So, when history is taught at our schools maybe a trip to Berlin or Auschwitz would be of benefit, not just to pass an exam but also to tell students to be wary of those who demonise “the other”.

One thing my Dad brought to my attention was the Nazi appropriation of the Swastika, a 2000-year-old symbol from Sanskrit meaning, goodwill and well-being to all.

Those who still believe in a God who created man in his own image and there is such a thing as the “chosen people”, clearly need their heads examined. Just in case someone comes back with the gobbledygook of predestination as a rationale for the murder of 6 million Jews, please don’t go there. Finally, Edmund Burke put it well when he said, those who fail to remember the past are destined to repeat it.

Let us know what you think in the comments below 👇