As the world marked International Holocaust Day yesterday, Israel Consul General Orna Sagiv said it was important to remember the past so that one could learn from it
As the world marked International Holocaust Day yesterday, Israel Consul General Orna Sagiv said it was important to remember the past so that one could learn from it
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This week, a suicide bomber blew himself up (there are theories that it could be a woman) at Moscow's Domodedevo airport killing 35 people. The bombing prompted Russian president Dmitry Medvedev to say, that the only option for Russia is to adopt, "Israeli style" security checks.
Israel Consul General Orna Sagiv
Security
Some Mumbaikars got a taste of "Israeli style' security checks at the National College in Bandra yesterday, Holocaust Memorial Day. Bag contents were so minutely checked that stray papers were opened up, a packet of sweets was peered into and a compact was turned upside down. Then media and students were ushered into the Conference Room at the Bandra (W) College where Israel Consul General Orna Sagiv was going to speak about the Holocaust to mark Memorial Day, which falls on January 27 every year.
Mossad
A grey-attired gentleman who was security movedu00a0 through the clutch of students and down the college corridors. As he did, his eyes seemed to be everywhere, darting, quick, scanning the conference room. If this was one of those thrillers I would be tempted to say this was the famed Israel secret police -- the Mossad. Yet, this is fact and not fiction so there is no jumping to any such conclusions intriguingly exciting though it may sound. One got a little taste of what it must be like to be a potential 'target' anywhere in the world. To live a life always under so much security that almost everybodyu00a0 innocuous though they may seem, is seen as a threat and every object has the potential to become a potential missile.
Genocide
Yet, not even those granite-faced security officers could temper bubbly teenage spirits and when Sagiv entered the room at 3.20 pm, it was buzzing with conversation and laughter. A young voice was heard explaining to other students, "there is so much security because yeh log Jew hai (these are Jews)." After the perfunctory felicitations, Sagiv used a lucid slide presentation to talk about the Holocaust, the most systematic and extreme genocide in the world where nearly six million Jews were 'ethnically cleansed' out of mainly Germany and Poland. Slides behind her showed images the world is familiar with but never fail to shock: barbed wire fences, death trains, gas chambers and concentration camps.
Mein Kampf
While Sagiv said this towards the tail end of her 40-minute presentation it was a strong appeal to Mumbai, "Whenever I visit famous bookstores in Mumbai, I see Adolf Hitler's copy of the Mein Kampf lying there. I ask bookstore owners why they stock this book, which is full of racist hate and rubbish. They tell me it is a best seller. I do not understand how this book can be a best seller in this country. How can it be sold? I also see sometimes on the roads here, youth wearing t-shirts with Hitler's face emblazoned on them. I don't understand this. Maybe one of you can tell me."
Utopia
Earlier, Sagiv said, "We do not talk enough about the Holocaust. Some of the pictures that you would see are not going to be easy to watch. This war was initiated by Nazi Germany because of ideological reasons and their desire to rule Europe and through it, the world. They wanted to build a racial hierarchy with Aryans at the top." Outlining the insidious nature of these ideologies, the way they seem to unknowingly creep up on you and before you know it, take over your mind, Sagiv stated, "It was repeatedly said that to make a better world one has to exterminate the Jews. The Nazis built a dream of a Utopia where they wanted to rid the world of Jews, Gypsies and Poles."
Family
As a room full of silent young students listened, Sagiv gave a personal anecdote. "My grandfather was in Germany in 1933. He read the writing on the wall. He told his family now is the time to leave the country. Some family members went to the USA, the others went to Israel. Only the smartest people could read the map that early. After a while, it became impossible to leave."u00a0 Like in every war or genocide, it is the de-humanisation of people that is most poignant. They become statistics and that is what happened to the Jews, they became numbers, they were tattooed on to their skin. "We still have people who have those numbers in Israel. They cannot be removed," said Sagiv.
Remember
The slide show moved to its gory end: The Final Solution, where Sagiv spoke about the gas chambers. She then went on to explain the universal aspect of a genocide stating, "The Jews were specific victims of the genocide but the implications are universal: who will be the Jews the next time?" Sagiv called Iran, which she said is so strong on religious ideology, as a threat and stated that the Iran President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad has said about Israel, "Which he calls the Zionist state to be wiped off the map, he is not shy of stating that at all. Today, these may be only words but the genocide has shown us what words can create." Finally, the presentation wrapped up with three messages: It is our responsibility to remember, to create a better future and to never be bystanders.u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0
Future
There were several students in the foyer wearing abayas (full covering) and many with hijaabs (headscarves). Conspicuously, there were none of these students in the conference room but the teachers when asked if some students had boycotted this seminar, dismissed the question away saying, "no, nothing like that."
National College vice-principal of Science Dr V Godbole added that the presentation was very lucid in its essence and showed us that we have to learn lessons from the past, so that we do not repeat them in the future."
What is Mein Kampf?
Mein Kampf (English: My Struggle) is a book written by Nazi politician Adolf Hitler. It combines elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's political ideology.
Commemoration
On January 27 each year, the United Nations (UN) marks the Holocaust that affected many people of Jewish origin during World War II. This day is called the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.
The day also commemorates when the Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration and death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland on January 27, 1945. It is hoped that through remembering these events, people will remember the Holocaust and prevent genocide.
What is the Holocaust?
The Holocaust, or Shoah (Sho'ah, Shoa), is the term used to describe the deliberate murder and desecration of millions of people prior to and during World War II in Germany and German occupied areas in Europe. Many of them were Jewish but the Roma people, Soviet civilians and prisoners of war, ethnic Poles, people with disabilities, homosexuals and political and religious opponents were also killed. Many people died in concentration and death camps spread across Nazi-occupied Europe. One of the most notorious camps was Auschwitz-Birkenau, near Oswiecim, Poland. More than one million people died in Auschwitz-Birkenau before Soviet troops liberated it on January 27, 1945.
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