The lucky survivor

Holocaust survivor shares memories

Holocaust survivor Nesse Godin holds photograph of her family taken before the war.

Mounds of bodies. One hole for a toilet and another for graves. Every body cavity searched for gems. These are some of Nesse Godin’s memories as a survivor of the World War II Holocaust.

Continue reading

Good thing he’s not a revisionist!

SSC professor aims to debunk myths about Holocaust in book

PEABODY — Salem State College History Professor Christopher Mauriello had a warning for those attending the Holocaust Center Boston North’s annual Holocaust commemoration ceremony Sunday afternoon, especially the 14 local survivors of the persecution and murder of 6 million Jews that occurred from 1933-1945, which he called “one of the most important moments in history.”

Continue reading

Stark, Horrible, Evil & Magnificient, Unforgettable

This book has haunted me since I found it in our local library. I am ordering a used copy since it is out of print. Basically the book is a copy of a kind of souvineer scrapbook made by someone on the staff of the notorious camp. It is mostly pictures by the camp official photographer. The pictures are actually quite prosaic & even nostalgic. It documents the various phases of the camp operation. The pictures of the dead & their disposal are not included but this actually heightens the effect. Pictures of groups of ordinary people most of whom were dead an hour after their picture was taken. The book was found by a camp survivor, became a famous artifact & rare document of the holocaust. The book is designed to simulate the original scrapbook. The pictures are accompanied by quotes from accounts from other books & captions which illuminate what is going on beneath the almost tranquil surface. I worked in a military film archives years ago which had footage taken during the camp liberation. This is far more disturbing.

Continue reading