My cyber sister, Maria, inspired this post. She has a wonderful bit up on her blog Kirkepiscatoid about the Japanese Shindler. Clearly Sugihara was an independent thinker who saved many many Jews at great personal cost.
I first learned of this man when I visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. The museum is laid out in a timeline fashion so that as you move further into the museum you hit "bottom" as it were half way through with a railroad car display - from that point on the second half of the exhibit takes you out of the depths of the horror and ends with my favorite portion of the exhibit.
The governments of Europe claimed that there was nothing they could do in the face of the Nazi power but hand over there Jewish citizens. This final section of the museum debunks that argument. There is a Wall of Fame and Sugihara's story is included.
There also is a panel that tells the story of the people of Denmark. Denmark alone of all the occupied countries of Europe fought the deportation of their 8,000 Jewish citizens. The story is powerful. In the end, a German diplomat informed the Danish resistance of the impending deportation and the people of Denmark moved quickly. As a national community they transported their fellow Danes to Copenhagen and the coast where Danish fisherman ferried them to neutral Sweden.
In the end, 500 Jews were still deported to the camps. Yet all but 51 of these survived, in large part because the Danish government continued to pressure the Nazis with concerns for their deported citizens. Would that the other countries of Europe had done the same.
Of course, in my previous post I spoke about revisionist history - a modern version of that is that the Nazi's alone were responsible for the Holocaust. What is forgotten is that many of the countries gladly handed over their Jews - France in particular. Britain kept Jews from emigrating to Palastine. The U.S. severely restricted the number of Jews who could enter the country.
I like to think that if I ever am faced with such monstrous oppresion I would be a member of the resistance. I'd like to believe my home would have been part of the Underground Railroad. I'd like to believe I would have hidden Jewish children in my basement. Truth be told, I won't know really how I will react to blatant authoritarian destruction if it means my life will be in jeopardy. God willing I will never have to know.
On this Independence Day, raise a glass to independent heroes everywhere fighting tyranny and oppression.
I first learned of this man when I visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. The museum is laid out in a timeline fashion so that as you move further into the museum you hit "bottom" as it were half way through with a railroad car display - from that point on the second half of the exhibit takes you out of the depths of the horror and ends with my favorite portion of the exhibit.
The governments of Europe claimed that there was nothing they could do in the face of the Nazi power but hand over there Jewish citizens. This final section of the museum debunks that argument. There is a Wall of Fame and Sugihara's story is included.
There also is a panel that tells the story of the people of Denmark. Denmark alone of all the occupied countries of Europe fought the deportation of their 8,000 Jewish citizens. The story is powerful. In the end, a German diplomat informed the Danish resistance of the impending deportation and the people of Denmark moved quickly. As a national community they transported their fellow Danes to Copenhagen and the coast where Danish fisherman ferried them to neutral Sweden.
In the end, 500 Jews were still deported to the camps. Yet all but 51 of these survived, in large part because the Danish government continued to pressure the Nazis with concerns for their deported citizens. Would that the other countries of Europe had done the same.
Of course, in my previous post I spoke about revisionist history - a modern version of that is that the Nazi's alone were responsible for the Holocaust. What is forgotten is that many of the countries gladly handed over their Jews - France in particular. Britain kept Jews from emigrating to Palastine. The U.S. severely restricted the number of Jews who could enter the country.
I like to think that if I ever am faced with such monstrous oppresion I would be a member of the resistance. I'd like to believe my home would have been part of the Underground Railroad. I'd like to believe I would have hidden Jewish children in my basement. Truth be told, I won't know really how I will react to blatant authoritarian destruction if it means my life will be in jeopardy. God willing I will never have to know.
On this Independence Day, raise a glass to independent heroes everywhere fighting tyranny and oppression.
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