Soon after liberation, surviving children of the Auschwitz camp walk out of the children’s barracks. Poland, after January 27, 1945. — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the day Soviet troops over ran Auschwitz in 1945. This week I received a note from an Israeli survivor friend, shortly after the passing of one of her liberators, Carrol Walsh. Sara lost over 60 of her family there- and her immediate family was saved only because the day they arrived at Auschwitz, the death machinations were working at full capacity and her transport was rerouted to Belsen. She was liberated on 13 April on the evacuation transport near Farsleben, known here as the Train Near Magdeburg…
In her letter she asks important questions of me. I have responded the best that I could, below.
Dear Matthew,
We were very sad to hear that Carrol Walsh passed away. Only lately did I get to know him, and he risked his life in order to save ours. It is a pity we did not get to meet more.
I can’t express in words the loving feelings for the young tank commander that for sure always had a smile on his face, and never stopped smiling after we met- 65 years after the victory. I am sure Carrol Walsh made the best out of his life; I was fulfilled to know him and his beautiful family.
I read about his profession in the years of his life. It was interesting to see how much meeting with us affected him.
I thank you for your unusual courage to initiate the exciting meeting [reunion].
I suppose you were very excited for the event you had initiated. Did the idea come in different parts? I am trying to understand the development of your thinking.
When you first wrote to me about the meeting [invitation to the proposed reunion], it was on the day we were released- the 13th of April. I got home after meeting my brothers and celebrating the release [liberation]day. I couldn’t relax, I immediately told all my brothers. I was so happy, as if it was happening again.
The meeting completed a missing part in the picture for me, after all the horrifying things we went through we couldn’t even dream of a miracle like that coming out of the blue.
I cannot go back more to the extermination camps and escort groups because I don’t have the physical nor mental power to do that anymore.
There are questions that bother me.
Are you able to answer them?
Why shouldn’t the world forget and let this be over?
A. So, some people do want to forget. Others will say that it did not happen. For those reasons, it must never be forgotten. This is the biggest crime in the history of the world.
As Walsh states, how could humanity have stood by and let that happen?
Does my work, the hard work I do, do anything against the forgetting?
A.The most impressionable minds in the world are those of the youth. It is they who the Nazis “educated”; it made it easier for the crimes to be committed. This is why they must hear now.
The work that you, and I do, has an impression. I hope to continue this work after you must slow down. Please remember that.
You are a historian, should the memory be kept?
A.The memory must be kept. As educators it is our duty to keep it alive. We must fight those who trivialize or denigrate its importance.
Is there a proper way to keep the memory?
A.There is no one way except to be open to the discussion of humanity and how humans could do this to one another. We must also bear in mind however, that the soldiers who helped the suffering to new life bore their own pains in doing so, yet also made a choice to redeem humanity. Some did not sleep soundly for years.
I think this is so, and also must not be forgotten. The war brought out the most evil in the world. But I think it also revealed some goodness in the form of the soldiers who liberated or otherwise cared for the victims.
Who should be documenting everything, the “victim” or the “aggressor”?
A.The aggressor fades from memory. New generations asks questions. It is true that some are bothered by the questions. But the young will always be curious and want to know- is this a stain on the German people? I know some Germans today who work very hard to keep the memory alive, as you also do.
The victims give the testimony. This is all they can do. But it is the evidence of the crime, and one that new generations must work with. That is why your work is so important.
Who is in charge of making the conclusions?
A.I would say that institutions such as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem are the world leaders in this area. I have been trained, well, I should hope, by the USHMM. I do not know enough about the German institutions but I hope to raise enough funds to travel to the camps and study there this summer.
Teaching History Matters 
Matt, I always enjoy your posts, but this one was especially riveting, especially as they came on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Your question– ‘Who should be documenting everything, the “victim” or the “aggressor”?’–is a potent one. It must be both sides. Germany today is correct–and overdue–in acknowledging the role of its nation in the Holocaust.
To me, however, a “collective guilt” can only be ascribed to those who today who suppress the knowledge of the Holocaust because they are willfully ignorant of the crimes of the Nazis, or to those who deny the crimes of the Nazis or to those who hide another person’s guilt because of trying to protect the guilty or avoid the shame of their association with the guilty. Germany will bear this stain for generations, but only open education and freely talking about the Holocaust–in Germany and elsewhere–can keep that “collective guilt” from reoccurring.
We are all “collective guilty” when we don’t confront today’s Holocaust deniers, the Neo-Nazis and other white supremacist groups who thrive on ignorance and hate. You need only view the films of the Nuremberg rallies and other similar propaganda footage to see how easily ignorance, hate and fear can be glorified and spread among good people. There is a tendency to assume that at the start of Hitler’s rule in 1933, Germany was filled mostly with evil people who somehow foresaw the concentration camps and extermination camps and supported the Nazis every inch of the way. The evil that ultimately developed in Germany did happen rapidly, and anti-Semitism was present, but one must read about it and speak with everyone knowledgeable on the subject to understand the horror of how the German people ended up where they did. Many good German people were swept into a current of hatred and became silent out of fear. It was neither a simple path the German people took into the horrors that evolved, nor a path that is easily explained today. Most especially this is because, when we acknowledge what happened there and then, we must acknowledge it could happen here and now. Only education and its challenge to ignorance can help prevent it when combined with the courage to speak out.
Every generation learns anew. Thank you for educating all of us through your teaching, your website and your other work.
Joe Cutshall-King
Joe, thank you for your measured insights. I have always been impressed with your way with words, going back to the “Over My Shoulder” columns that I still have clipped.
It was just 80 years ago this week that Hitler was named chancellor, using the tools of democracy to dismantle democracy. How soon and how conveniently we can forget this. I have heard it said that in any democracy we are just a generation away from something similar happening. The key is not allowing the past to be forgotten.
The question you mention was posed by a survivor who has been welcomed in Germany and is actually the subject of a new documentary produced in Germany.
She has lectured there and exhibited her paintings there. Why Sara asks me is a good question- maybe as an educator whom she trusts. I took “aggressor” initially to mean the perpetrator. They did document much, and this was revealed at Nuremberg and continues today with the International Tracing Service. What they were careful not to put down was the actual conditions and experiences in the camps. For this we must rely on the victims. Also, I myself have been on several occasions the target of Holocaust deniers. I used to discard the emails and nasty comments but now I save them as educational tools. Thankfully, every kid I have ever revealed them to is aghast and incredulous.
Unfortunately history education is given lip service by policy makers who claim education is a national priority. In our state the opportunities to bring history alive are now being pushed aside for mandated exams. If it may not be on the test, you better not go there… I “get” the unhappiness with student performance-but what are we really measuring? Skill engineers built the gas chambers. Educated scientists conducted horrific experiments. Trained doctors and nurses killed. I’m sure they passed all their mandated exams. We are all collectively guilty when we allow our educational emphasis to be shifted away from humanity.
Joe, the World War II experience is being pushed aside in high schools all over this nation. The fact is that I could probably spend 20 minutes on World War II, including the Holocaust, and get a kid off to college in most of our nation’s high schools. This I have difficulty with. This past January exam period I noted one multiple choice question on World War II, and none on the Holocaust.
(As an aside, this past January exam period in NYS we were told we could not even grade our own students’ exams. Instead we were told by administration that there is now an elite state “Test Security Unit” that may at any time swoop down upon us. Our tax dollars at work-to make me a better teacher, I suppose. But I digress…)
I agree that collective guilt is rightly assigned to those who make the choice to look away. I guess that’s why my blog is titled as it is. I hope to travel this summer to Germany. I have German friends who work very hard to keep the memory alive, at Bergen Belsen and elsewhere. It is great to hear from you, thanks for stopping by! Matt
Matt,
Thank you for your swift reply. When I was writing my column, I was targeted by pro-Nazi, white supremacists. I kept their comments. I was appalled at first, but upon reflection thought the comments to be the greatest flattery.
I am aghast how high school has been downgraded. The current methodology assumes the teachers are raging incompetents and that the students are congenitally stupid, unteachable dolts.
Your statement, “We are all collectively guilty when we allow our educational emphasis to be shifted away from humanity” is wonderful. You will not be held among the guilty, Matt. You will have made a profound difference in the lives of your students. Keep up your great work!
Joe Cutshall-King