Problem
What is the difference between a holocaust and a massacre and what will I see at a Holocaust or Anne Frank Museum or memorial event?
The term was coined to refer to the extermination of Jewish people across the continent of Europe. (And also refers to the use of gas chambers at Auschwitz.)
Why would anybody go to Auschwitz or Birkenau and how do they differ from other camps?
I did not understand the significance or scale of the Holocaust until you visit Birkenau, a couple of miles down the road. Huge hangars for each nationality. Not just a massacre of people from one village or town or city, dreadful though that tragedy might be, nor refusing entry, nor expelling people, but the extermination of a group of people right across a continent.
Anne Frank
The Anne Frank Foundation sets out to try to stop a process of gradual victimisation of groups of people. You might think that the holocaust was an entirely different event, because of the scale, or you might think that it was the result of creeping prejudice, discrimination which leads ultimately to decimation.
Harrow Arts Centre
Modern holocaust commemoration events such as the one held in the Harrow Arts Centre Hatch End, yesterday, have involved other groups. I normally visit Harrow Arts Cetnre for a Writers' Cirlce, and various jollier events. I went to a previous year's holocaust memorial event when we had a girl of Romany descent, who was a pupil at a local school, reading a poem after a brief account of place names and events.
I have heard three different opinions. One says, commemorating the holocaust alone ignores the suffering of others, and later events.
The answer to that is that the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam, when I visited it, had an exhibition at the end about other groups and other events. Each group's survivors and descendants should and does sympathise with the other victims.
I have also heard the opposite view, that the holocaust was on a totally different scale, and that each event should be commemorated by those concerned. A commemoration of WWI should focus on that.
Other museums and days, such as can Remembrance Day in November, could and should recall that event and all subsequent wards, soldiers and survivors.
On a practical note, each museum and event attracts more participants and observers each year. This year the holocaust commemoration at Harrow Arts Centre in Hatch End was on a Monday, rather than the Saturday when I expected it. Being on the mailing list, I was sent notification of other events through the year, comedies, pantomimes and so on, then the Holocaust memorial event. The seats were free, but had to be booked online.
Why Book A Free Seat
Why not book early? The same dilemma as with making a restaurant booking. If you are very busy or in poor health, or travelling a lot, then decide not to go very near the date, or cannot go because you come down with flu on the day, you have taken up a space which could have been used by somebody else. However, on the day, if anybody wanted to go, the capacity was already filled. So if you wish to attend next year, apply early.
Poland and Camp Location
On a related note, the Polish government and the guides to museums in Poland want to ensure that although camps are called Nazi camps, not Polish camps, to make it clear the camps were run by the Nazi government although they were in Poland, near the border where the Naxi invasion took hold, and where the Nazis made their HQ the small, pretty historic city of Krakow, easily conquered, unlike Warsaw, further away and larger and better able to resist.
Warsaw
If you wish to visit the capital, Warsaw, you have many sites connected with WWII, the holocaust and Jews and the orphanage, and films you may have seen.
Diary Dates
If you wish to attend a commemoration or plan to participate or organize one, now is the time to note dates in your diary for next year.
November is remembered for the end of WWI. January is remembered for the liberation of Auschwitz.
Catch up on forthcoming and recent past events in Harrow with Harrow Times, Optima and other free and local newspapers and magazines for local areas.
Why Go
There's always something new to learn.
Why not go? Because it might be depressing? If you want to end on an uplifting note, I have three:
The saying which rape survivors have been taught to repeat so they stops eeing themselves as victims:
1 I am a survivor.
2 The video of the lovely lady pianist who lost many members of her family but survived with her son and in her nineties was still happily playing the pinao daily, entertaining her lifelong friends and visitors.
3 The phrase used to end the poetry evening organised by Jewish Poetry Society organiser Judy Karbritz: As night follows day, so life must go on. Ah yes, 'the darkest hour is before dawn'. I was surprised when I re-read the article. I remembered it as the opposite and more positive, 'As day follows night, so life must go on'.
Places To Visit - When and Where
Harrow Arts Centre Holocaust Memorial Date (January 2019)
Anne Frank Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Auschwitz, near Krakow, Poland
Useful Websites
HARROW, N W LONDON, UK
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrow_Arts_Centre
http://www.harrow.gov.uk/site/custom_scripts/php/events/events_info.php?eid=ev-1296
http://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/15904140.Holocaust_survivors_to_connect_with_students_as_part_of_educational_programme/
http://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/15906413.Poets_reflect_on_Holocaust_Memorial_Day/?ref=mr&lp=11
http://www.optimamagazine.co.uk/read/features/history-and-heritage/1251-behind-the-barbed-wire
UK
visitbritain.org
POLAND
http://auschwitz.org
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/poland
USA
http://www.holocaustandhumanity.org (USA)
https://www.ushmm.org/learn/timeline-of-events/before-1933
http://www.visit-usa.com (Links to all States you might visit)
WORLDWIDE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Holocaust_memorials_and_museums
For more details see my previous posts.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer, speaker. See my previous posts on Poland and Jews and Anne Frank and Holocaust museums and statues. Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.
What is the difference between a holocaust and a massacre and what will I see at a Holocaust or Anne Frank Museum or memorial event?
The term was coined to refer to the extermination of Jewish people across the continent of Europe. (And also refers to the use of gas chambers at Auschwitz.)
Why would anybody go to Auschwitz or Birkenau and how do they differ from other camps?
I did not understand the significance or scale of the Holocaust until you visit Birkenau, a couple of miles down the road. Huge hangars for each nationality. Not just a massacre of people from one village or town or city, dreadful though that tragedy might be, nor refusing entry, nor expelling people, but the extermination of a group of people right across a continent.
Anne Frank
The Anne Frank Foundation sets out to try to stop a process of gradual victimisation of groups of people. You might think that the holocaust was an entirely different event, because of the scale, or you might think that it was the result of creeping prejudice, discrimination which leads ultimately to decimation.
Harrow Arts Centre
Modern holocaust commemoration events such as the one held in the Harrow Arts Centre Hatch End, yesterday, have involved other groups. I normally visit Harrow Arts Cetnre for a Writers' Cirlce, and various jollier events. I went to a previous year's holocaust memorial event when we had a girl of Romany descent, who was a pupil at a local school, reading a poem after a brief account of place names and events.
I have heard three different opinions. One says, commemorating the holocaust alone ignores the suffering of others, and later events.
The answer to that is that the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam, when I visited it, had an exhibition at the end about other groups and other events. Each group's survivors and descendants should and does sympathise with the other victims.
I have also heard the opposite view, that the holocaust was on a totally different scale, and that each event should be commemorated by those concerned. A commemoration of WWI should focus on that.
Other museums and days, such as can Remembrance Day in November, could and should recall that event and all subsequent wards, soldiers and survivors.
On a practical note, each museum and event attracts more participants and observers each year. This year the holocaust commemoration at Harrow Arts Centre in Hatch End was on a Monday, rather than the Saturday when I expected it. Being on the mailing list, I was sent notification of other events through the year, comedies, pantomimes and so on, then the Holocaust memorial event. The seats were free, but had to be booked online.
Why Book A Free Seat
Why not book early? The same dilemma as with making a restaurant booking. If you are very busy or in poor health, or travelling a lot, then decide not to go very near the date, or cannot go because you come down with flu on the day, you have taken up a space which could have been used by somebody else. However, on the day, if anybody wanted to go, the capacity was already filled. So if you wish to attend next year, apply early.
Poland and Camp Location
On a related note, the Polish government and the guides to museums in Poland want to ensure that although camps are called Nazi camps, not Polish camps, to make it clear the camps were run by the Nazi government although they were in Poland, near the border where the Naxi invasion took hold, and where the Nazis made their HQ the small, pretty historic city of Krakow, easily conquered, unlike Warsaw, further away and larger and better able to resist.
Warsaw
If you wish to visit the capital, Warsaw, you have many sites connected with WWII, the holocaust and Jews and the orphanage, and films you may have seen.
Diary Dates
If you wish to attend a commemoration or plan to participate or organize one, now is the time to note dates in your diary for next year.
November is remembered for the end of WWI. January is remembered for the liberation of Auschwitz.
Catch up on forthcoming and recent past events in Harrow with Harrow Times, Optima and other free and local newspapers and magazines for local areas.
Why Go
There's always something new to learn.
Why not go? Because it might be depressing? If you want to end on an uplifting note, I have three:
The saying which rape survivors have been taught to repeat so they stops eeing themselves as victims:
1 I am a survivor.
2 The video of the lovely lady pianist who lost many members of her family but survived with her son and in her nineties was still happily playing the pinao daily, entertaining her lifelong friends and visitors.
3 The phrase used to end the poetry evening organised by Jewish Poetry Society organiser Judy Karbritz: As night follows day, so life must go on. Ah yes, 'the darkest hour is before dawn'. I was surprised when I re-read the article. I remembered it as the opposite and more positive, 'As day follows night, so life must go on'.
Places To Visit - When and Where
Harrow Arts Centre Holocaust Memorial Date (January 2019)
Anne Frank Museum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Auschwitz, near Krakow, Poland
Useful Websites
HARROW, N W LONDON, UK
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrow_Arts_Centre
http://www.harrow.gov.uk/site/custom_scripts/php/events/events_info.php?eid=ev-1296
http://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/15904140.Holocaust_survivors_to_connect_with_students_as_part_of_educational_programme/
http://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/15906413.Poets_reflect_on_Holocaust_Memorial_Day/?ref=mr&lp=11
http://www.optimamagazine.co.uk/read/features/history-and-heritage/1251-behind-the-barbed-wire
UK
visitbritain.org
POLAND
http://auschwitz.org
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/poland
USA
http://www.holocaustandhumanity.org (USA)
https://www.ushmm.org/learn/timeline-of-events/before-1933
http://www.visit-usa.com (Links to all States you might visit)
WORLDWIDE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Holocaust_memorials_and_museums
For more details see my previous posts.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer, speaker. See my previous posts on Poland and Jews and Anne Frank and Holocaust museums and statues. Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.
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