New Blog: It is a myth?
This month on my reading list are three new books that are about WWII and the inhumane treatment of people. Last month, there was one and the month before there was still another one. In the 17 years I have belonged to Goodreads, I have read 65 books about WWII ranging from Great Britain to Russia to Egypt to France and Holland and Germany. The main storylines were not always focused on the death camps and the Nazis. Some focused on the people waiting at home, doing without, helping the troops in various ways. This all leads up to a phone conversation I had this week with a member of my family.
A phone conversation left me gasping in shock. A woman (with a respectable job and clear communication skills) stated that the Holocaust never happened. It was a story that was not true. I was flabbergasted as was the person relaying the story. It never occurred to me that real people believed the myth that the Holocaust never happened. I had heard about it, but shunted it off to some fringe crazy group. Damn, I was wrong.
Often when I read the author’s notes on books from WWII and the death camps, I find that parts of the book are autobiographical. People were there, and remembered the horror. Soldiers who freed the camps were horrified. Approximately six million Jews were erased. There are pictures and artifacts from the actual camps. Some of the actual camps are historical sites. There are museums and societies to help spread the truth.
In 1993, the United States Holocaust Museum was opened to the public. On a trip to Washington, Peter, my mom and I were able to get tickets and view the museum. Every step, every artifact, every picture relayed the horror of what one group of people could do to another. Personally, I struggled with the room full of shoes that smelled like foot odor and leather.
We use books to help educate us about the past. We use books to help spread information about people and places. We use people’s memories and memoirs to open up our eyes. How can people believe it is a myth?
Elise sent in an interview with Yishay Ishi Ron, an author of two books Dog and The Girl who Rode the Lion. An interview that goes along with this subject!
Newest books I read:
Up From the Ashes by Sharon Cameron
The Storyteller of Krakow by Carly Schabowski
The Last Library in Paris by Kerry Barrett
The Resistance Book Club by Ellie Curzon
The Tatoosit of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
