Holocaust AoW Impressions

      What I have learned is that even though the Holocaust was 70 years ago, the effects of it have lingered, and will continue to linger, for a significant period of time, even as our firsthand accounts fade. As we search around the camps and ask survivors about their stories, we learn more and more about Nazi atrocities. However, the survivors who have stories to tell are dying out, and we lose a few even if we manage to preserve some. And that's just those who want to tell their stories. Some don't tell anyone until close to death, and sometimes they don't at all, leaving their children to pick up the pieces...if they even know the pieces are there to pick up.
   
      As we find criminals, we bring them to justice, even though it may be futile. These men, despite the atrocities they committed, managed to get away with it for most of their lives. I get it, crime must be punished, but the way it's being done is both the only way, and the least useful. They don't see the error of their ways, and they can fake their way out of punishment with ease, being old men. Overall, who are we bringing to justice, if anyone? Can justice even be applied? Who knows?  I guess the only way to know is to ask our dwindling pool of survivors if this is working... at least we're finding relics to make up for it.

Berlin Memorial Blog

      I learned that the Nazis basically attacked the Jews (and others) via an intense overapplication of beaurocracy. What that means is that the Nazis slowly chipped away at the human rights of their "undesirables" via progressively more hostile decrees until the Allies kicked them off a cliff. It ranges from the absurd (Jewish street names will be renamed) to the cruel (No eggs/deportations), and everything between.
      The monument was most likely built to remind everyone, "Hey, these laws existed too," as most people only know about the deportations. The reason for the reminder? Well, in order to kind of preemptively prevent this from happening again, they posted the depths of the Nazis all over. That way, the Nazis were set apart from the other groups doing mass deportations and the true level of their evil was broadcast to future Berliners.
      I noticed that Nazi decrees started off being passed rapidly, then would taper off a bit (for about 3 years), then pick up again with a similar level. After 1939, there were a lot less, then they'd pick up again from 1941-1943. After that, the Nazis were pretty much kaput. As for the reason: either exhausted policy makers or the Olympics/war/whatever was going on, or a mixture of both factors. Granted, this was merely a fraction of a fraction of their policies, but if we zoomed out, I'd imagine it'd hold up much the same.
      The restriction I'd have the most trouble with would probably be the no pets one. I love both of our cats and I couldn't bear to part with them. They're an integral part of my life, as well as the silliest critters on the block.

To conclude: The Holocaust was horrendously horrific.