Musings

Picture from United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Yesterday I watched BBC's 'Songs of Praise' and was intrigued by the story surrounding The National Holocaust Centre in Nottinghamshire. Established by the Smith brothers in 1995 in their family home after a visit to Israel, it is both a museum and educational centre for the upcoming generations who need to be taught about the atrocities of the Holocaust more than ever. I was shocked by the admission of Dr James Smith: "We couldn't understand how we'd gone through the British education system and not learned about this..." As the world remembers the liberation of Auschwitz seventy-five years ago on this day in 1945, it is essential to continue to highlight the depravity of the Holocaust due to the alarming surge in anti-Semitic behaviour in the world today. France reported a 27% increase in anti-Semitic acts last year and we have witnessed vicious attacks against Jewish communities in America and ...

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.                                                                                                          George Santayana Recently, I read Joel Rosenberg’s compelling novel The Auschwitz Escape and decided that a visit to Auschwitz was a must. The book, which tells a fictitious story based on historical facts, is one of the most vivid accounts I have ever read on the subject. Having watched Schindler’s List , The Pianist , The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas , Life is Beautiful and other films and documentaries on this subject, I was still not prepared for what I experienced last Friday. Nothing could ever prepare you for a tour of Auschwitz!  We...