3 of 14

Write now Article Tools

"The Jews in Terezin are sitting in the cafe, drinking coffee, eating cakes and dancing while German soldiers have to bear all the burdens of a terrible war, its miseries and deprivations to defend the motherland." Goebbels even supplied photographic proof.

A Ghetto.

Mordechai Richler paints a different picture. Terazin. A ghetto for Jews in transit from Moravia and Bohemia. Built to accommodate 7000, more than 125000 were squeezed into this garrison. Terazin. Where some 33000 died from malnutrition and disease on their way to the concentration camps.

Questions.

In 1940, Chaim Kaplan asked in Scroll of Agony "Is there any revenge in the world for the spilling of human blood? I doubt it. The abominations committed before our eyes cry out from the earth: Avenge me! But there is no jealous avenger. Why has a day of vengeance and retribution not yet come for the murderers?" In 1943, Chaim was exterminated, with his questions unanswered.

Stefan Zweig, the Austrian biographer, essayist and playwright fled from Hitler's Europe seeking sanctuary in Brazil. His questions defied explanation. "What was the reason, the sense, the aim of this senseless persecution? They were driven out of lands but without a land to go to. They were expelled but not told where they might be accepted. They were held blameful but denied means of expiation......". The unanswerable became too much. While flight from persecution may have promised survival, it did not offer logic. In 1942 Stefan and his wife died in a suicide pact.

Outcomes.

Would Chaim and Stefan have had their questions answered if they had lived to see 1948? From the ashes of the holocaust rose the reality of a Jewish homeland for the first time in almost 2000 years. Would Stefan and Chaim have said "Yes. This is worth the price paid by so many?" Would they have been able to see and justify that against overwhelming odds, the Jewish people survived? Who among those who sought the earliest destruction of Israel could make the same claim? Where are the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Ammonites? Where are the Hivites, the Canaanites, the Amalekites and the Philistines?

The Future.

In 2008, Israelis commemorated the 60th anniversary of their homecoming. Will this tiny nation on its tiny speck of land ever be able to celebrate its survival? When survival is an hourly battle against millions of hostile enemies who seek their death, can the Jews look back on the Holocaust and ask "Were the death camps a reasonable price to pay for national survival?" Is survival enough?

In the climate of hatred created by Hitler's disciples, survival is the only option left for the Jewish people. Security, safety and peace remain beyond their reach.

Did the Holocaust end in 1945?

Chaim and Stefan might incline to the view that reflections on the Holocaust are premature.

Learn more about this author, Elisabeth Mcgrath.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Reflections: Holocaust?
We want to hear your view. Write now!