A LIFE AFFIRMING PICTURE IN A SEA OF UNIMAGINABLE HORROR

It's difficult as a gentile to fully appreciate the horror that Jews in Europe experienced in the 1930s and 1940s.

Having visited Oskar Schindler's Factory in Krakow and nearby Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp complex it’s hard to take in how utterly cruel and sadistic mankind can be. The clinical precision by which Jews were systematically tortured and exterminated in the 100s of thousands is difficult to comprehend that it's a real concern that antisemitism is still alive and well in 2022.

Yet, amongst the sea of misery in 1945 there was hope and the picture above sums up what that can look like.

On Friday, 13 April 1945 the US Army 743rd Tank Battalion stopped a train outside the German city of Magdeburg in the final dying days of World War II in Europe.

US Army Major Clarence Benjamin, who took the picture, had come across a cargo train outside the German city of Magdeburg, Germany on 13 April 1945.

When they forced opened the box cars to see what was inside they saw a sea of faces. They were packed with women, children and men all destined for a concentration camp.

On that fateful day his regiment liberated 2,500 Jews from the train. Liberated them from certain death. Their joy at being released from hell is evident to see in their faces and arm gestures.

You can read more here: https://teachinghistorymatters.com/the-liberation-photos/

The Sunday Times magazine (23 January 2022) carried an interview with 91-year-old Manfred Gildberg who survived a Nazi slave labour camp outside Riga (in now what is Latvia).

Gilberg in his interview with Johnathan Glancy had a few simple messages to share at talks he gives to schools and colleges on his experiences of The Holocaust:

“Never overlook injustice. All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to stay silent. That is often the message that I ask people to inscribe into their hearts.”