this is a really interesting article I found about a warehouse in Germany containing over 50 million documents which has just recently been opened to the public.
While many are relieved at the prospect of finally finding answers to their questions from such a haunting period in their lives, others believe this is something they have waited too long for.
Questions:
What do you think a development like this would mean to Holocaust survivors?
What kinds of obstacles would it present?
Do you think it would cause more harm than good?
What do you think people are hoping these documents will lead to?
Why do you think they have been kept locked up for so long?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
First of all, wow. I can't believe so many files exist and have been kept private for so long. I think this can only be good to share with the public. I can see why it was kept closed at least in the years immediately following wwII, security purposes. But I don't see what could be wrong with opening it now. It can give survivors closure, connect remaining family members and provide even more concrete evidence of the genocide for the people of the world. I'm excited to hear what these documents will lead to. My one question is, the article mentioned that multiple countries were invovled in the suppression of these documents, which countries controlled that decision and why? Why were they in charge of these documents and why did they individually decide to keep them from the public?
this is crazy. To answer some of your questions, I agree with Gaby that it was most likely kept closed for security reasons following the war. I also think that opening this exhibit to the public could be very beneficial for holocaust survivors and their families because there is a sense of closure and possibly forgiveness that arises from knowing the depressing truths about this horrific event. While i can understand why some believe that it has come "too late", I think that some sort of closure is better than living with the heavy emotional bearing of not knowing. The only thing I wonder about is how useful and archive such as this can be to individuals before it is organized into some sort of database...
i think for holocaust survivors, such as those in the film we watched during class today, opening the archives to the public would offer information that can be necessary to save individuals lives (such as finding out what Dr. Mengele really did) - granted, as mentioned in the film, such information may not have been written down at all so it might not actually be that helpful.
I'm curious as to the effect opening this to the public will have on holocaust deniers... any ideas? will it even have an effect?
sorry to post again. To answer Tal's question about deniers...I think these documents will make it very difficult for them to make any defendable denial. But in my opinion deniers have been shown tons of evidence through out the years and they have chosen to ignore it or claim it is invalid. I think deniers are the type of people who will see wht they want to see, and will deny no matter what information is given. what i think these documents will accomplish is that people who might have been swayed by deniers, in forums like in Iran, will realize the truth of the holocaust.
I'm not sure another set of documents will sway any Holocaust deniers...to my understanding, there's already a ton of documented evidence. Although this set of archives is enormous, to be a Holocaust denier already requires disbelieving other documented evidence.
I think the German government may have kept them closed out of shame for what their predecessors did, which has lessened over time. Maybe concerns for victims' privacy also played a part? I wonder if things like the chemicals Dr. Mengele used on specific patients, as mentioned in the video could be found somewhere in that warehouse.
My question: Why did the Nazis, and other groups which committed genocide (such as the Khmer Rouge at S-21), keep such huge detailed archives, if they make it easy for them to be caught? Is it out of necessity? Because they believed there was no chance of them being caught?
I've noticed some misunderstandings about the International Tracing Service (ITS) and what it does. I'm also saddened and confused as to why so many are disappointed at the ITS. The ITS has provided a great service to many individuals (not just now, but since its creation).
The ITS has never really "suppressed" information about the Holocaust...before this decision to open the entire archive to the public, one could write in and request information about certain individuals. Obviously, they did this to protect and respect the privacy of Holocaust victims.
The ITS is managed by 11 countries through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). These countries include France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom, United States.
Now, with this decision, each of these nations will receive a copy of the archives and these copies will be housed in museums (e.g.: the Holocaust Museum in Washington, Yad Vashem in Jerusalem). More importantly, these archives will be finally open for historical analysis.
The ITS's stated mission is to "clarify the fates of millions of individuals." They have information about 17.5 million civilians who were persecuted by the Nazis.
The above should clarify the misconceptions about the ITS. Now, to answer the questions... :)
I've noticed that a lot of revisionists point to "evidence" that gas chambers in Auschwitz don't and never have existed. These documents should provide solid evidence to refute their claims (there's info on 17.5 million people persecuted; there are records from 50 different concentration camps). So, I do think that some deniers will be swayed. The numbers alone (17.5 million!) can't be ignored.
Nazis wanted to effectively and systematically rid the world of specific enemies. Records vastly improves the efficiency of massacres and the Nazis and the Khmer Rouge knew this...
---
Genocide is defined as the systematic destruction of a race, culture, or nation. Do you think that through analysis of the ITS archives cultures can be salvaged?
in response to Rene's question, I do not think that archives such as this could salvage cultures. Culture lies in the everyday life of a community, not in documents; documents are the result of a culture, not the cause. I think that archives such as this could educate people about cultures and allow them to study the cultures more thoroughly, but if the culture is gone, it will not come back.
In response to Diego, I think these governments kept such meticulous records because they thought they were actually doing a service to the community. In the case of the Nazis, they were ridding society of "undesirables" and experimenting on the victims to further better the "German race." Just as in modern experiments that use lab rats or other animals, the Nazis saw the Jews as their lab rats, and so conducted experiments as any scientist would and writing down all observations as any scientist would. I don't think the issue was "will we get caught" because they didn't understand what they would get caught for if they weren't doing anything wrong. This is my interpretation of the Holocaust and Khmer Rouge, but I may be way off.
Now that the records are open, will there be problems with victim privacy? Would you want the most traumatic event in your life open to the general public?
Post a Comment