163256: A Memoir of Resistance

Preface

ix there is no way to properly describe the horrors of the nazi concentration camps. Even after all these years much of what I saw and experienced is difficult for me to talk about. But genocide—the mass murder of human beings because of their race or religion—continues to happen long after the defeat of the Nazis. I have come to realize that speaking out about what happened to the Jews in Europe from 1933 to 1945 is the only way I can help to prevent similar acts of brutality in the future. I started speaking to students and community groups about Hitler’s “war against the Jews” in 1985. I was shocked to learn how little my audiences knew about the barbaric treatment of prisoners in the Nazi concentration camps. The Nazis and their cohorts excelled at inflicting the greatest possible psychological and physical pain on other human beings, and the camp commanders and guards were so proud of how well they did their jobs that they took photographs of their atrocities and mailed them home to their families. But the Nazis’ wholesale slaughter of innocent people did not begin with the concentration camps or with the gas chambers; it began with words. How was it that the nightmare of the Holocaust came out of a country that had been a shining example of European democracy, a country that has produced an astonishing number of the world’s greatest composers, writers, artists, and philosophers? It happened because after the German people had elected Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party, the fascists’ first priority was to destroy the democracy that had allowed them to flourish. Hitler took full advantage of his democratic right to freedom of speech and used PREFACE it to eliminate the democratic rights of others, especially of Jews and opponents of his regime. He used the media—radio and newspapers—to spread his hatred for Jews and anyone who was not Aryan and blame them for Germany ’s economic and political problems. He convinced Germans that if they could get rid of all those non-Aryans, Germany would rule the world. One of the most important lessons Hitler has taught us is that freedom of speech without any restrictions can be deadly. It’s like driving a car with no brakes. I have written this book so that young people can learn the truth about what happened to the Jews and know not to ever take anything in society for granted. Racism begins in small, subtle—even ordinary, seemingly harmless—ways, but it is a poison to any civilized society. If young people speak out loudly and clearly against racism and hatred, they can help to ensure that the horrors of the Holocaust never happen again. Crimes committed in the name of religion are still crimes. In fact, preaching the destruction of human beings in the name of any religion is the greatest crime against religion itself. —Michael Englishman x Preface ...