SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:The original slogan sign at the entrance to Auschwitz prison in Poland was
stolen last night. Of course, an awful lot of people are up in arms about it. Jewish authorities are totally ticked off, because they seem to consider the death camp sort of a holy place.
Myself, I'm upset over the theft, but not for the same reason. Regardless of the reason for pulling the sign down, the people who did this have destroyed an important piece of humanity's past. Not a piece that we should be particularly
happy about. But it's important in any event.
IMO, anyone who damages a piece of historical importance is an agent of ignorance... and THAT is someone I believe is an enemy to all people.
Oh my, SFI, I am having trouble understanding your attitude. Aushwitz viewed as a holy place? That is an ugly thing to say and about as false a statement as it is impossible to make. The Jews view Aushwitz as a symbol of pure evil, and as an important reminder of the terrible results of hatred of others who are different in some way. What Aushwitz represents is not merely the millions of Jews Hitler's minions murdered. It is equally a symbol of hatred of homosexuals, gypsies, black people, and any other types of people against whom the Germans were prejudiced. The GLBT community should be just as "ticked off" (as you put it) as Jewish authorities. Hitler systematically rounded up and deported to Aushwitz (and other concentration camps) people with alternative sexual orientations.
Hitler systematically rounded up educated white Christian people in Poland, France and other conquered countries and had them deported to concentration camps because he realized that educated people tend to be more tolerant of diversity—and might oppose his extermination of minorities—and that educated people were more likely to found opposition movements against his power.
Hitler systematically rounded up and sent to Aushwitz (and other concentration camps) people who had birth defects, people who were mentally ill or mentally handicapped, and people who were Gypsies or non white because he didn't want them adding to the gene pool.
Aushwitz a holy place? No. It is a reminder to all the people of the world that we must forever struggle against our human tendency to define those who are different from us as "subhuman" and without worth.
The people who should be outraged include anybody who fits into one or more of the categories of people Hitler tried to exterminate, or who perhaps loves somebody in one of those groups. People should be outraged, not that a “holy place” was desecrated. They should be outraged because one important reminder of our human nature and the need to fight against those who would ask us to forget or to downgrade the importance of what happened at Aushwitz was stolen.
