Finally, they are opening the records
Jan. 24th, 2007 09:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trystinnSome days I wonder about what happened to our family who didn't leave Germany after World War I. And then I read things like this, and I stop wondering because I can't stand to let my imagination go there. Growing up, I knew men with these tattoos, ran my fingers over them and kissed their tears with all the gravitas a young girl possessed.
Every year, we lose more of our survivors. It was feared that the Shoah Project was all that we would have left of them until the Red Cross opened the archive.
American soldiers liberated Jack in 1945. On a personal effects card that he had signed at Buchenwald, there was reference to a number: A11832. Asked if he's seen that number before, Jack tells Pelley "I see it every time. You wanna see it?"
A11832 is the inmate number the Nazis tattooed on Jack's arm. "It’s there. And when I die, they shouldn’t cover up my arm. They should keep it like this, because when the good Lord will see this, I hope he’s gonna put me front row, center. Because I deserve it," he says.
More, if you can stand to read it,here
Humanity has learned so very, very little.
Every year, we lose more of our survivors. It was feared that the Shoah Project was all that we would have left of them until the Red Cross opened the archive.
American soldiers liberated Jack in 1945. On a personal effects card that he had signed at Buchenwald, there was reference to a number: A11832. Asked if he's seen that number before, Jack tells Pelley "I see it every time. You wanna see it?"
A11832 is the inmate number the Nazis tattooed on Jack's arm. "It’s there. And when I die, they shouldn’t cover up my arm. They should keep it like this, because when the good Lord will see this, I hope he’s gonna put me front row, center. Because I deserve it," he says.
More, if you can stand to read it,here
Humanity has learned so very, very little.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-01-24 06:10 pm (UTC)"Because they wanted to show they were getting the job done. So, in terms of people whose destiny was to be murdered, recording how well that was being done was very important," Shapiro explains.
No. That's wrong. The records had nothing whatsoever to do with those being murdered. The Germans kept records because that's what Germans do. They were methodical because that's how they are. Order is everything. Conformity is everything.
This hasn't changed one bit.
I will be doing my own family research somewhere down the road. I'm 25% Austrian Jew. Only some of my family came to the US during the late 1800's. The other 75% is Russian Jew. There will be no records there.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-24 06:28 pm (UTC)What a considerably more joyous time I had going through Ellis Island records for the Irish side of my family. And oddly enough, I get OCD from the Irish side of the family, not the German. :) :) :)