Your essay echos my thoughts and fears exactly , Andrea. Your beautiful writing brings it all so close to home. "Most of all, I am appalled by the gullibility of ordinary people who follow demagogues into disaster—blindly, mesmerized, seduced by webs of lies." This statement says what so many of us are dealing with... You have first-hand experience of what can happen, has happened in the past. Like millions of others, I am praying that things will turn around before all is lost. Thank you for your insight and courage.
...It feels like a high-speed train to disaster has pulled away from the station.... And it feels difficult to figure out what one does next. You can't look away and yet our single person actions don't seem to amount to much. BUT we must find the light in the darkness and keep taking our actions until there are enough of us to make a difference. Bernie
Dear Andrea, thank you for articulating your thoughts with clarity and making them public.
I applaud your courage, tenacity and recognise your horror. I am a WW2 survivor who was housed, screaming with fear, in an air-raid shelter at the bottom of a London garden after my birth in 1943. My Anglo-Japanese father was designated an enemy alien, and despite being stateless, had a French birth certificate enabling him to serve the Free French cause in London. He suffered the terrors of racism, paranoia, shame and kept his heritage a secret. His features did not betray him, but his "troubles" killed him too young.
We cannot let "man's inhumanity to man" arise again en masse. Our prayers, if we pray, and our thoughts need to be concentrated in the realms of empathy, wisdom, equanimity and nurturing our human capacity for compassion. We are very grateful to you for speaking out, from your wise heart.
Andrea, There are no words except to thank you for putting your thoughts in writing so that we can all benefit. You're highly skilled in saying it as it is, having a sharp analysis and touching our hearts. I also am appalled by what we are witnessing today as it does appear like history repeating itself. You describe your personal experience (which I appreciate as must not be easy) and how it resonates today. I can only hope that we can find ways to turn things around while acknowledging that it is already too late for many. Hugs. Simone
Dear Andrea, when it seems like there are no words, you have found the right words to express renewed grief and sorrow. I think there is hope in words that bring us together, as yours do, and we must find opportunities and strategies to move beyond despair. Thank you for bearing witness. hugs, Sari
Please don’t lose all hope, Andrea! I am the child of Holocaust survivors, and also fear that history is being repeated. But we must gird our loins and find a way to fight the darkness.
Thank you Andrea for this terrifying post that expresses so clearly what I and so many others are thinking - and foolishly trying to drive to the back of our minds. You bring it directly to front of consciousness and express my fears head on. With gratitude.
Hello Andrea, Thank you for your frank and courageous story of your childhood and adolescent experiences in the wake of the terrible atrocities and especially the emphasis by the German people to draw a curtain of silence and denial over this dreadful period. The stories of children of Holocaust perpetrators and the psychological injuries that many suffered brought to light a remarkable phenomenon.
Thank you for your painfully prophetic words... The horrors of the Holocaust should serve as a message to all that we cannot allow a few evil men to repeat the hell of WW2... People! wake up!
As you have written with such courage, it is one thing for these atrocities to take place. It is quite another for masses of people to behave as if they were not taking place. That is a second layer of horror that you have brilliantly identified.
I had chills this morning reading your powerful story in A Considerable Age. This wake-up is more needed now with each passing day. It feels like our southern neighbours are indeed “slithering into evil” The imagery of being held underwater is terrifying and yet, apt. I feel your grief, sadness and terror.
The conscience speaks and we must listen. It can help keep the darkness at bay.
Your essay echos my thoughts and fears exactly , Andrea. Your beautiful writing brings it all so close to home. "Most of all, I am appalled by the gullibility of ordinary people who follow demagogues into disaster—blindly, mesmerized, seduced by webs of lies." This statement says what so many of us are dealing with... You have first-hand experience of what can happen, has happened in the past. Like millions of others, I am praying that things will turn around before all is lost. Thank you for your insight and courage.
...It feels like a high-speed train to disaster has pulled away from the station.... And it feels difficult to figure out what one does next. You can't look away and yet our single person actions don't seem to amount to much. BUT we must find the light in the darkness and keep taking our actions until there are enough of us to make a difference. Bernie
Dear Andrea, thank you for articulating your thoughts with clarity and making them public.
I applaud your courage, tenacity and recognise your horror. I am a WW2 survivor who was housed, screaming with fear, in an air-raid shelter at the bottom of a London garden after my birth in 1943. My Anglo-Japanese father was designated an enemy alien, and despite being stateless, had a French birth certificate enabling him to serve the Free French cause in London. He suffered the terrors of racism, paranoia, shame and kept his heritage a secret. His features did not betray him, but his "troubles" killed him too young.
We cannot let "man's inhumanity to man" arise again en masse. Our prayers, if we pray, and our thoughts need to be concentrated in the realms of empathy, wisdom, equanimity and nurturing our human capacity for compassion. We are very grateful to you for speaking out, from your wise heart.
Andrea, There are no words except to thank you for putting your thoughts in writing so that we can all benefit. You're highly skilled in saying it as it is, having a sharp analysis and touching our hearts. I also am appalled by what we are witnessing today as it does appear like history repeating itself. You describe your personal experience (which I appreciate as must not be easy) and how it resonates today. I can only hope that we can find ways to turn things around while acknowledging that it is already too late for many. Hugs. Simone
Dear Andrea, when it seems like there are no words, you have found the right words to express renewed grief and sorrow. I think there is hope in words that bring us together, as yours do, and we must find opportunities and strategies to move beyond despair. Thank you for bearing witness. hugs, Sari
Thank you, Sari, for your kind words, commenting on what mine said.
It’s a big undertaking , to move beyond despair. Still, worth a try, for sure.
Hugs back to you, dear Sari.
Andrea
Please don’t lose all hope, Andrea! I am the child of Holocaust survivors, and also fear that history is being repeated. But we must gird our loins and find a way to fight the darkness.
Dear Elaine,
Thank you for offering encouragement - and courage!
It sure is needed.
Andrea
Thank you Andrea for this terrifying post that expresses so clearly what I and so many others are thinking - and foolishly trying to drive to the back of our minds. You bring it directly to front of consciousness and express my fears head on. With gratitude.
Lovely piece, beautifully written, heartbreaking.
Hello Andrea, Thank you for your frank and courageous story of your childhood and adolescent experiences in the wake of the terrible atrocities and especially the emphasis by the German people to draw a curtain of silence and denial over this dreadful period. The stories of children of Holocaust perpetrators and the psychological injuries that many suffered brought to light a remarkable phenomenon.
Chilling and depressing to think that history repeats itself.
Excellent piece . Resonates with me . I am grieving too !
Bless you, and bless all the Peacemakers. No human being anywhere deserves to be obliterated 🙏
Thank you for your painfully prophetic words... The horrors of the Holocaust should serve as a message to all that we cannot allow a few evil men to repeat the hell of WW2... People! wake up!
As you have written with such courage, it is one thing for these atrocities to take place. It is quite another for masses of people to behave as if they were not taking place. That is a second layer of horror that you have brilliantly identified.
I had chills this morning reading your powerful story in A Considerable Age. This wake-up is more needed now with each passing day. It feels like our southern neighbours are indeed “slithering into evil” The imagery of being held underwater is terrifying and yet, apt. I feel your grief, sadness and terror.
Brava, Andrea!