Day 141: Auschwitz-Birkenau

Tough and triggering post today, but we must cover it and relevant topics.

When traveling, it’s important to learn local history, even when subject matter is disturbing. If you do visit Poland, it’s imperative that you go to the largest German Concentration Camp and Memorial Museum to learn about the 1.3 million Jews, Poles, Hungarians, Czechians, Slovenians, Romanians, and Soviet prisoners who were murdered viscously in Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The Holocaust and Jewish extermination was meticulously planned by Hitler, the SS, and German Wehrmacht and supported by everyday Germans; the prisoners, survivors, and victims were beaten, experimented on, starved, tortured, gassed, and shot in Auschwitz. Most Jewish victims were uprooted from their homes, trained to Auschwitz, and shuffled into gas chambers within 30 minutes of arrival. When the Soviet Army was close to victory on the Eastern Front, the Nazis attempted to hide their war crimes by blowing up the gas chambers, evacuating prisoners, and lighting fire to the lodging. This was a State ran and State executed operation from the top to bottom, and Auschwitz was only three camps of its entire Jewish camp and ghetto extermination system.

To this day in America and Europe, there are Holocaust deniers and neo-Nazis who make light of this tragic history and commit hate crimes in person and online; they continue to conduct anti-Semitic rallies and work their way into American political discourse. There are also existing Middle Eastern extremist governments and terror organizations in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Gaza who also would like to see death to Jewish people, as evident in the Hamas October 7 terrorist attack and attempts to underestimate the total number of Jewish Holocaust victims.

But let us be clear on where we stand on current events: the Israeli state government and military is actively committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Through the denial of aid and food; intentional bombings of hospitals, schools, mosques, water sanitation facilities, refugee camps; and the systematic raids, prison torture, settler attacks, and bulldozing of homes in the West Bank, the state of Israel and specific Israeli politicians/commanders are enabling the systematic destruction of a specific group of people. The Geneva Convention, ICC, and ICJ does not factor in who starts wars and tit for tat military actions: each party is solely evaluated on the atrocities they commit in isolation. Hamas will face ramifications for its terrorist attack and constant targeting of Tel Aviv/other cities and Israeli government leaders will face ramifications for the the destruction of the Gaza Strip.

The Biden Administration, due to military strategic importance and the desire to play identify politics with Jewish super PACs and voters, continues to shield the Israeli state government from international criminal courts. We think this is bad for America overall and our nation is losing the trust of international communities to protect democracy and distribute justice equitably. Despite all this, it’s important that right wing leaders and Jewish hating politicians do not enter our US government and political system. We will still vote for Biden because the alternative is so much worse.

TLDR: We continue to hope for a Palestinian State based on the 1967 borders and a free, safe Israeli State where Jewish citizens can live without the fear of missiles, bombings, and attacks.

#FreePalestine #StopGenocide #CeasefireNowBaca lagi