Holocaust Memorial Day - Don't forget the Others

[Nigel Gordon]

Today, January 27th, in the UK and most of Europe is Holocaust Memorial Day. As always there has been the story of a Jewish survivor of those events on the morning radio news programme. The anchor man stated at one point that this is the day that we remember the "six million Jews and the others" who died in the death camps.

He did not name who the others were, no doubt because the list is too long. Amongst them were the Roma, the Jehovah Witnesses, the Evangelical Christians and the Homosexuals.

When remembering the Holocaust today remember the homosexuals who were shot or who died in the gas chambers. Remember the seventeen year old boy who naked with his hands tied behind his back was led out before the camps inmates, had a bucket placed over his head and then had the camp guard dogs set upon him who mauled him to death. This taking place in front of his lover who was amongst the inmates lined up to watch.

Also let us remember the final insult, were after they were freed from the camps homosexuals were repatriated to their countries of origin where most were then treated a criminal prisoners and put back into prison.

[ChrisR]

Thank you for the reminder, Nigel. Do you know of any good book which focuses on this aspect of the holocaust? I've never seen much more than, effectively, footnotes and addenda that detail it at all.

[Nigel Gordon]

Unfortunately I have not found any books, never mind good books, on the none Jewish victims of the holocaust. The most I have found is some chapters in books about the Roma and other specialist history books. It is something I have been looking into as I have a half finished story about gay victims of the holocaust, but checking historic facts is difficult.

[Chris James]

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/77421.Best_Gay_Holocaust_Survivor_Books

Just a few listed on Google, not sure if a library will have them but they might be inexpensive on Amazon.

On the subject of the Holocaust: I was always shocked that there is evidence that the US government knew about the death camps as the war progressed and yet said little to nothing about them. Then in the aftermath of the war as the guards and officers of the camps were captured and brought to trial I would have expected massive firing squads in retaliation.

In my own reading I have heard that the Jews were not worth unsettling the peace terms of the war. German civilians were not thought to be aware of what happened in the camps...now that is total BS. I don't know how Germany survived the aftermath except that Russia held half the country and the west felt sorry for those people.

Too many unanswered questions in my mind...except Genocide still exists in various conflicts around the world. The lessons of the Holocaust have not been learned.

[ChrisR]

Thanks Chris. I'll have to check on a couple of your book suggestions.

Your points are all valid. I agree the western allies didn't want to behave like the SS, not to mention there was still a war going on on the other side of the globe. The Russians were far more thorough, however. They thought nothing of machine gunning German captives or letting them die in the snow. Just check the numbers from the 6th Army. About 108,000 were captured in Stalingrad of which some 6,000 came home after the war.