Burning Children and the Duty to Resist
In May 1968 Jesuit priest Daniel Berrigan wrote a statement on behalf of the Catonsville Nine as to why they were performing an act of civil disobedience in protest of the Vietnam War. It reads,…
Category: Khurbn
The Way It Looked in 1999
Oslo required us to forget and renounce our history of loss and dispossession by the very people who have taught everyone the importance of not forgetting the past. Thus, ironically, we are the victims of…
Compromismo (Touching a Nerve)
On a summer day in 1944 My mother was herded from a cattle car Along with the rest of its human cargo Which had been transported from Belgrade To the concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen She…
The Roles That Made It Possible
Neither superhuman nor subhuman Neither God Nor animal Nor monster. But always simply Additional kinds of humans: The bomb droppers The capo The body burners The throat slashers The exterminators in the forest The scalpers…
Shema, Primo Levi
You who live secure In your warm houses Who return at evening to find Hot food and friendly faces: Consider whether this is a man, Who labours in the mud Who knows no peace Who…
On Segev’s The 7th Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust
The following is a short summary and commonplace passages with comments on Tom Segev’s book, The 7th Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust. It’s one of the many books I examined when writing my first…
J. A. Topf & Sons
Someone had an idea Someone mentioned it to a colleague Someone sent a memo to the higher-ups Someone gathered a group of movers and shakers Someone got the engineers on board Someone set production goals
The Nazis Come To Power by Hedy Epstein
I was eight years old when Hitler came to power on 30 January 1933. I knew that my parents and other family members had hoped that this wouldn’t happen. They were hoping Paul von Hindenberg…
Hedy & Heine
The year after Mev died I read a lot of literature– Poetry, novels, plays One volume I took refuge in Was a bi-lingual edition of Heine’s Songs of Love & Grief I have a favorite…
Taking a Stand: A Reflection on Elie Wiesel and Hedy Epstein
These days I am thinking of two Holocaust survivors. I met with one today: 86 year-old Hedy Epstein and I had lunch at Blackberry Cafe in Clayton. The other is receiving an honorary doctorate tomorrow…