HMD 2012 - Speak Up, Speak Out
Published on Tuesday, 31 January 2012 03:23 Written by Ketlan Ossowski
Yesterday's article in the Independent about the recent release of the German film Kriegerin, or Combat Girl, a portrayal of the violence that is endemic in the world of neo-nazis, ended with a peculiar and disturbing little footnote.
'A report published in the run up to Holocaust remembrance day last Friday partially bears him [director David Wnendt, who had stated that "the views of the extreme right are becoming increasingly acceptable in mainstream society"] out. It concluded that around one in five Germans held anti-Semitic views and that the problem was prevalent. The survey also revealed that one in five Germans under 30 did not know what Auschwitz was.'
Unusually for the Independent, there was no link to the survey, not even, surprisingly, on the online article, but assuming the truth of the survey result, just think for a moment about that last statement; that 20% of young Germans have no idea of what Auschwitz was or means.
Like many others, I attended a Holocaust Memorial Day event. Here in Lancaster we went along to the memorial garden beside the town hall to hear a number of speeches, a restating of the commitment to fight against any oppression that could lead to the hell that was the Holocaust by a number of people representing groups that were specifically targeted by the nazis in WW2, and a reading of the Mourner's Kaddish.
For information only, the Mourner's Kaddish is frequently referred to as the Jewish Prayer for the Dead, which it isn't, though it is rapidly achieving that name through popular belief. Frequently nowadays, it is said for those victims of the Holocaust who have no one left to recite the Mourner's Kaddish on their behalf. Call it what you will, for those listening, Jew and non-Jew alike, it is an intensely personal and deeply moving thing to experience.
Being English (no matter what the far-right might say) I have no real idea of how German society works. An easy assumption is that study of the second world war and thus the Holocaust is taught as part of the curriculum in much the same way that is is here in the UK. Obviously not. My two youngest have recently finished secondary education and are pretty knowledgable on the subject - including having a bloody good idea of what happened at Auschwitz (and the other camps - let's not forget them).
How is it possible to avoid knowledge of one of the most barbaric pieces of recent history, particularly when there is a place and a memorial to its horror? I have no idea and without a working knowledge of the German educational system and access to how Germans relate to their own recent history, it's impossible for me to form any judgement beyond a knee-jerk and angry 'teach them or it'll happen again'.
Things are different here, thank God, and this was evidenced for me when I realised that Lancaster's Holocaust Memorial Day event was attended by at least 150 people, an increase over the past couple of years and a good number for such a small place, particularly as there were another couple of HMD-related events taking place at the Dukes theatre.
That 150 people would make the effort to come out on a freezing evening to pay their respects was a tribute to the organisers of the event (NCBI Lancashire) and, naturally, those who attended and took part. My personal thanks to all of them.
For more information about Holocaust Memorial Day, click here.