‽istis wonders what to say and do… (weekending January 29th 2022)
This week
listening to ‘Letter to Kamilla’ (1)
thinking and feeling deeply about the Holocaust and the persecution and murder of so, so, so many people and groups (2 & 3)
reading about beliefs that somehow seemed to enable or fail to provide a foundation for challenge or opposition
learning more about the architects and those who obeyed orders, those who spoke out, those who were complicit, those who were silent
appalling at the organisation and structures that supported and enabled
...and now writing on Holocaust Memorial Day
‽istis worries about what to say. Questions the right to say anything. Feels guilty by association and utterly ashamed...
And when sometimes less is more, in silence, head bowed, ‽istis will continue to ponder and wonder two main questions:
‽ If I had been there and then, what would I have said and done?
‽ As I am here and now, what can I say and do?
This week, that is all…
© Pistis
NB: further reflections and comments linked to this week’s theme and past blog
entries to be found on Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t necessarily indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’: @Pistis_wonders. ‘Follows’ and respectful comment and dialogue welcome...
From: https://www.hmd.org.uk/learn-about-the-holocaust-and-genocides/nazi-persecution/ 'In addition to singling out Jews for complete annihilation, the Nazis targeted for discrimination and persecution, anyone they believed threatened their ideal of a ‘pure Aryan race’. Nazi beliefs categorised people by race, and Hitler used the word ‘Aryan’ for his idea of a ‘pure German race’. The Nazis believed Aryan people were superior to all others. Their devotion to what they believed was racial purity and their opposition to racial mixing partly explains their hatred towards Jews, Roma and Sinti people (sometimes referred to as ‘Gypsies’) and black people. Slavic people, such as those from Poland and Russia, were considered inferior and were targeted because they lived in areas needed for German expansion. The Nazis wanted to ‘improve’ the genetic make-up of the population and so persecuted people they deemed to be disabled, either mentally or physically, as well as gay people. Political opponents, primarily communists, trade unionists and social democrats, as well as those whose religious beliefs conflicted with Nazi ideology, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, were also targeted for persecution. Hundreds of thousands of lives were destroyed because of Nazi persecution, and many groups did not receive acknowledgement of their suffering until years after 1945.'
