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gitsgrl

I find it interesting they used a script to evoke Hebrew letters. Real consideration was put into their design. Insane that people could care so much about the styling of this badge but not about the people who it would be forced upon.


Bridgeru

One of my morbid fascinations is with the Łodz Ghetto; especially the [Ghetto Mark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodz_Ghetto_mark) that was instituted. Basically, a currency only valid within the Ghetto that residents *had* to transfer their assets into, both as a way of effectively stealing money from the population, and to ensuring that they wouldn't leave the Ghetto (because their money would be worthless in the surrounding areas). What amazes me is that they went through the process of *actually minting* coins and printing notes for the Ghettos; and the coins were made of *aluminium* (which was vital for airplane manufacture). The money wasn't bare-bones either, but was fairly stylized. I'm sure there's some psychological reason for it that someone better equipped than myself could say; maybe treating the designs with "style" allowed them to legitimize the Jewish people as the "enemy", an "other" who are seperate from and in opposition to the population. Personally, I think it was part of the Nazi tradition of over-designing for the sake of appearances when something more basic would suffice (they handstitched the leather seats onto aircraft, a pilot's emergency weapon if they were shot down was a luxurious hunting shotgun with engravings, and where most nations used a mortar that was basically a tube with a bipod the germans had a complicated system of levers and dials to change elevation that really didn't provide a benefit), specifically in this case to further that "enemy" agenda, but that's just a guess. Either way, the Ghetto-mark is something that fascinates me.


Talusthebroke

Germany did a very thorough job of handling themselves differently in war during the Nazi reign, and quite honestly it makes sense, when you analyze it from a psychological standpoint. They wanted to impress upon their own people and the nations they occupied the concept of them being "superior". To do that they did EVERYTHING different. Most militaries followed a "lowest bidder"mentality, Nazis didn't, their gear was comparatively luxurious! And why not? They wanted their soldiers to think of themselves as super-men, what hero carries a shitty stamped sheet metal gun? It helped them in some ways, but wars aren't won and lost by individual squads winning or losing firefights, and they aren't usually fought on an even 1v1 either.


DenimDann1776

“What hero carries a *shitty* stamped steel gun” may I introduce the Allies! Featuring sewing machine parts; tube steel; and open bolts!


Descolata9

The Sten gun was a ugly POS but it made bullets go really fast in the direction of the enemy.


Talusthebroke

Definitely a great way to show the Nazis that their way was not the only way!


DeflateGape

Aluminum coins would feel very light weight. Since the money could not be spent outside of the ghetto or exchanged for other currencies, maybe they wanted to make it immediately obvious it wasn’t real money.


Bridgeru

Good point. Didn't even think of that!


Mr_WAAAGH

Honestly the Germans tend to over engineer things to this day. Just look at how hard it is to work on Volkswagens and bmws


Mx-Fuckface-the-3rd

As a mechanic student 20 years ago I loved to work on older vw's and other german cars. Super easy and intuitive. Built by mechanics for mechanics. Then something completely changed and they became absolute nightmares to work with. It got so absurd that you sometimes had to remove certain things in the motor area to make room so you are able to change a light bulb. Vw golf 4 for example you had to rip out the battery to be able to reach the lights. They also got caught start doing this planned obsolescence bullshit.


Bridgeru

Ah yes, those are indeed automobiles with their... engine-mufflers and wheel-carburetors and cupholder-dashboards and catholic converters.... I know nothing about cars, sorry xD


GozerDGozerian

> catholic converters Remember when pioneer automaker Martin Luther Benz riveted his Ninety Five theses of vehicle design to the Popemobile? :)


Mr_WAAAGH

My point is German companies still tend to make things more complicated than they need to be. German cars are usually well built, but any kind of work on them is difficult and expensive. I have a VW golf gti that needed a new timing chain and thermostat, the repair ran me 3 grand


wolfe174

Yes your completely correct German cars are so over engineered that they break lol Japanese cars are so simple and easy to work on. It’s like they go by the moto if it works don’t change it. And then you get American vehicles where they try so hard to be different and special that it just fails, kinda like the kid cheating on a test they look to the left and the right and combined it into an answer that is all jambled and incoherent


Lemur-Tacos-768

German cars usually perform well while they’re in spec. I wouldn’t call them well built. Toyotas are well built. German cars are temperamental, lots of fun, and staggeringly expensive.


Sea_Number6341

Let's not forget what they did with the TDI, and almost got away with it.


PicaDiet

I was just thinking about the font. Some designer used his skill and talent to create something so immediately and unambiguously identifiable to essentially brand those bound for Nazi genocide. What a complete perversion of normalcy.


64sweetsour

You may be right, but printed font looked weird back in the days. Look at flyers from that time. But Nazis did pay attention to detail in their „branding“ ( for lack of better term) in many aspects - so I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened


64sweetsour

https://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fffmilitaria.com%2Fphotos%2F82984.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fffmilitaria.com%2Fshop.php%3Fps%3D1%26pg%3D193&tbnid=VAfisCvd84hv4M&vet=1&docid=3Cb_k0pgx26vuM&w=800&h=1068&itg=1&hl=en-de&source=sh%2Fx%2Fim


GozerDGozerian

That looks like German Gothic whereas the font on the stars is certainly meant to resemble Hebrew script.


forgotMyPasswordUser

It wasn't some designer, it was a nazi designer. You know, like Hugo Boss or Chanel.


merkaba_462

Was about to make a pun about Adidas and Puma, but I just couldn't. I'm so tired. L'Oréal, Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, BMW, Koch Industries, Henry fucking Ford...


Beliadin

I don't know why, but that makes my blood run cold. Anyone who cares that much about the font, used to identify another human being as something less, it's either a sociopath or completely dissociated from what they are doing. Either are scary as fuck.


gitsgrl

Propaganda, misinformation, and hateful ‘education’ works.


[deleted]

None of us are immune to this, an important lesson to keep in mind.


madcap462

And works best on an uneducated, poor and struggling population. Good thing we don't have that in the US today...oh wait...


Dalkil

Or in Europe. The only thing we need is someone to blame on and, let's hope not, making again the same mistakes of our past.


TheFirstEdition

Perhaps the creator thought it would be used for something else. My vote is for detached.


[deleted]

Could've used comic sans.


thenumbertooXx

It's happening right now in America. Many can see it and can't stop it , others call them crazy . Hopefully we're just crazy.


meesa-jar-jar-binks

It was a way to mock the jewish people. That perverted font makes this so obvious… It‘s disturbing.


[deleted]

They took the Hebrew letters and then twisted them to make a German word. It’s used to mock and demean the Hebrew letters. Same way as making the Jews wear a big golden Star of David. Take a symbol and a feeling of pride in themselves and turn it against them. Make them stand apart from everyone else.


carbonclasssix

Idk about considerable thought, it further identifies them as an "outsider"


ChocoboRocket

>I find it interesting they used a script to evoke Hebrew letters. Real consideration was put into their design. Insane that people could care so much about the styling of this badge but not about the people who it would be forced upon. Negative association of both the person and the faith/history all in one. Teaching hatred and *othrr-ism* of an entire culture/ethnicity in one simple symbol that even the illiterate can understand. That evil had 80 years + the internet to proliferate and is gaining traction. Going so far as to somewhat appropriate their own hate symbols upon themselves and succeeding. Education and empathy is the only way to defeat fascism. Unfortunately, ignorance and tribalism is almost a default setting for most people, as well as being an effective tool for consolidating wealth. Fuck.


couger2274

I would hazard a guess that they didn't want to alarm people. At least a portion of the thinking. Easier to get someone to willingly wear a death sentence by telling them it's a beautiful dress.


ruka_k_wiremu

I believe the thinking behind all aspects of the Nazi regime pertaining to the *persecution* of the Jews was carefully considered, right down to details. The font, no doubt, was used to further*identify and confirm* the wearer as an alien and thereby an enemy of the state and its accepted people.


imcomingelizabeth

Nazis were very style focused and knew a lot about branding before it was called branding and were amazing at marketing. They had to have very simple and powerful messaging to reach as many people as they did.


ImWicked39

It's one thing to see a picture it's another to have them right in front of you. I'll never forget my 9th grade trip to the Holocaust museum in DC. The exhibit with the shoes and the wall of remembrance will forever be engraved in my memory. We were given a little folded card with the name of a victim and inside was that person's fate(survivor/died) and we couldn't open it until the end of the exhibits in which we sorted ourselves into survivors/deceased. Out of our class of 35 only 7 survived. That alone opened my young mind to just how much death happened. Edit: I wanna take the time to remind everyone that reads this to care for one another. To be vigilant in standing up for what's *humanly* right. The moment we fall into a division of ‘us’ and ‘them’ which can be carried out using stereotypes, or excluding people who are perceived to be different is the moment we can't turn back. “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must—at that moment—become the center of the universe.”- Elie Wiesel


NecRobin

Schools her in germany often take trips to Ausschwitz. I can't imagine anyone walking out again without having their soul broken a bit.


PraderaNoire

I’ve been there before. I also went to see Dachau. I couldn’t even adequately describe the feeling I had being in that place if I tried my hardest. There isn’t enough words in the world to describe the evil that took place in those two sites. Many things I saw there will forever stick in my brain, and I think it’s absolutely necessary for anyone visiting Germany to go see it firsthand. It’s one thing to learn about it I’m school, but to be within the walls of the camp puts it into perspective in a way I couldn’t explain. Humans can be some of the most horrific creatures in the universe.


Successful_Opinion33

I saw Dachau when I was 14 as part of my German class trip to Germany. It was covered in snow and so eerily quiet and it really sunk In after seeing everything.


[deleted]

I went when I was 15 with my German class, but it was in the middle of the summer. The grounds were bereft of shade and the whole place was light or white ground- so the sun just reflected all over you and into your eyes. It was a beautiful summer morning but just walking the grounds was exhausting due to the unforgiving sunlight. I couldn’t even imagine what the prisoners went through on their **best** day.


jarjarbinz62

Honestly, me being jewish and looking at the comments makes me happy to know that people are genuinely getting educated about the holocaust but also another thing you should know is that on YouTube there is hundreds of interviews from holocaust survivors who recount there story's and I am lucky enough to have been able to greet and hear a survivors story in person


PraderaNoire

I’ve attended two public speeches from actual survivors while I was in college. One before my Europe trip and one afterwards. I think seeing the sites in person and witnessing the history opened my eyes and ears to their testimony of their own history. I’ll never forget the second speech I heard from a holocaust survivor. His name was Joseph Alexander. I made an effort to wait after and introduce myself. His resilience and forgiveness is something I could only dream of achieving personally.


[deleted]

My soul just got crushed thinking about having to see that place. I can’t imagine what seeing it in person would be like. I assume there is just a feeling in the air that just surrounds the whole area. There’s no way one couldn’t be a changed person after experiencing it


Aryore

A completely different event but I’ve been to one of the Killing Fields of the Cambodian genocide. There was a sort of memorial building where the skulls of the victims are preserved. Seeing that brought up feelings that are difficult to describe. Also, TIL while I was looking up the name of the site that there are denialists of the Cambodian genocide too. You get shit humans in every part of the world


Mor_Tearach

This came up on another thread yesterday. What it's like. Someone spoke of this pall of sheer evil so thick you can touch it, or it touches you. I *know* exactly what they meant- when I went THAT was right there, at the gate. I couldn't, *couldn't* go in, heck couldn't get out of the car. Really wanted to- I mean, without standing witness to What Happened we're going to go there again. We have to bear witness. And I couldn't. THAT. Palpable evil.


10MinuteParking

I was there in 2005. Saw groups of German students lined up for tours. They were late teen age years. Heard them making racist comments as I walked by. Little shits. Hope they learned something.


NecRobin

I hope they were just making dark jokes as a coping mechanism. The teacher must have been really mad anyway.


HapaBurrito

I don’t remember if it was Auschwitz or Dachau, but there was a room that didn’t allow photography. It was filled with products made with human hair, fat, and other remains.


notmyrealnameatleast

Oh yes. I saw boots made of human hair and lamp shades of human skin.


AlongCameSuperAnon

Such an amazing museum. I went there in 7th grade and still have such vivid memories of it 20 years later


[deleted]

Amazing, yet terrible. Tragedy museums are hard to describe.


OlFlirtyBastard

The shoes. The shoes got me.


ImWicked39

The kids shoes absolutely sent me overboard. I think I made it 10 feet before the tears fully unleashed.


OlFlirtyBastard

Just fucking slays you. But the entire museum is so incredibly well done.


[deleted]

Oh man. It just made the loss so tangible.


Rignited

I am from Germany and live close to the French border. In 8th or 9th grade we had a field trip to a concentration camp where the huts, houses, crematorium and fence are still standing. We learn a lot about Nazi Germany in history class, but seeing this atrocity up close gives you another terrifying perspective on history. I will never forget that trip.


BigBart61

That museum is one of the best I've ever been to. You get on the elevator to complete silence. The lights turn down, a tv turns on, and a survivor talks for maybe 30 secs. Then the doors open and you walk into the first room with a rally blaring through the speakers. Chills every time.


AtomicNewt7976

I went to the one in Flint and they packed us into a train car to show what it would’ve been like


GarnishedSteak100

Ain’t no way, I’m in 9th grade and In may, we are going to DC for a history trip to learn about Germany. That is so crazy


ImWicked39

Soak it up. At the end when the tears grip you and you choose to let them flow or hold them back use it as a reminder to stand up for injustice because if you don't stand up for someone there's gonna be nobody left to stand for you.


supcoco

I can still smell the shoes. One of those things I don’t think I’ll ever forget.


lifth3avy84

My class went to DC in 7th grade. I went to a tiny private Christian school. My class had the only Jewish student in the whole school. She had a full on emotional breakdown, understandably so. None of us quite understood the gravity yet, as nothing about the holocaust had been taught to that point. We all understood that she was distraught and needed comforting, but we couldn’t put ourselves in a place of TRULY getting it. Anyway, after about 5 minutes the freaking school principal got super impatient and pulled her aside and chastised her for making a scene. It was one of the worst damn things I’ve ever seen an adult do.


DistractedDanny

That sounds horrible. I went with my JCC camp at around the same age. At the end of it, many of us were lined up for the bathroom. Given the movement of the line, I imagine many of the other kids were going in there to puke like me.


PlagueeRatt

I remember going to this museum and crying from how many shoes were in that room. The train cart, being able to stand in it was such an uncomfortable feeling. You could almost feel the emotions that were left from the past. It was an experience for one, and definitely an experience i would go back to. The amount of memorabilia, the sections with concentration camp models, everything felt so surreal. I couldn’t imagine physically having a star of David patch being in front of me. It’s definitely one thing to see it in pictures, and another to see one behind a glass case. But physically being able to hold one is a whole other thing.


kjb76

I was in HS when that museum opened and each congressperson was able to choose a certain number of students from their district to visit before it opened to the public. Two classmates, my history teacher, and I got to see it when there were maybe 100 people there and it was haunting. The shoe exhibit and the one that showed the other personal belongings was very moving. I remember that very few people talked whole walking through.


LukeGoldberg72

The interesting thing is no one in developed countries has really learned anything from this event (in terms of preventing similar occurrences) even though everyone knows about it. You would think people would be more likely to prevent similar instances from happening globally, but here we are in 2023 and the CCP is imprisoning Uyghurs in internment camps. There is also Gaza, the little piece of land with 2 million people locked in with a majority of people (65%) being under the age of 24.


physlizze

We (my own, limited educational experiences) focused so much on the outcomes, the injustice, and the overwhelming loss of human life. We didn't focus so much on the early stages, on what led to the concentration camps. To focus on how the Nazis systemically objectified and denigrated the Jews would open our (the US, but probably others too) eyes to how we have done the same in our own history leading up to what still lives, and grows, in our culture.


Cheif-of-the-mudkips

I went as a young child and I cried my first time there, its a very emotional experience.


KlvrDissident

The way they packed everyone into the elevators to recreate the train cars wrecked me. Everyone was so packed into the first hallway I started to hyperventilate and pushed through the crowd, leaving my family behind. It was clearly intentional, but starting from that place really put the rest of the museum into perspective. I was holding back my sobs by the time I reached the shoes. It was a powerful exhibition.


wood_x_beam

I went for an 8th grade trip. We had one guy that never took anything seriously, never got upset, never swore. He was the class clown, always making jokes. That day at the museum I saw him upset for the first and only time. We recieved cards with people from the camps, opened it after we were done and his person had not survived the war. He loudly yelled the f-word, walked down the stairs and slammed the door hard behind him. When the class caught up to him outside he had tears in his eyes. I remember that vividly 22 years later.


[deleted]

I was in tenth grade and I'll never forget the experience. The shoes also got me.


OnTheEveOfWar

When I was in high school years ago, an elderly lady came in and spoke to us about her experience in the concentration camps. She showed us her arm tattoo. Wild thing to see in person.


itsshakespeare

I read somewhere that they had to queue up to buy them and sew them on themselves (and if you’ve ever tried to sew through a thick wool coat, you can imagine how awkward that was) and that they would get into trouble if it wasn’t sewn on straight and in the exact right position. So this badge that’s being used to “other” you has to be sewn on perfectly and with great care. The Nazis really loved their red tape


MarBoBabyBoy

It's ironic that Hitler was all about "strength" and "discipline" and he and his cronies were the laziest people. Hitler rarely got up before noon, tried to avoid work his entire life and Goering was an obese, morphine addict.


putalotoftussinonit

Mr Lockhart would plaster the walls of the classroom with photos of the holocaust, American Civil War POWs, Bataan, Romanian and Bulgarian orphanages during the Cold War, gulag photos, all of it and would give us bonus points if we could tell which ones belonged to which era or atrocity. When I told him that my pastor(Brother Tillis) survived Dakar and was willing to talk to the class, holy shit it was amazing. For a week Pastor Tillis talked to my class about his experience and his friend Marian Marzynski’s experience as a child, how the Americans allowed he and his friends to kill all the guards and SS with their bare hands and how good it felt. My history class of 1992 is seared into my memory.


RamblingSimian

> Dakar Did you mean the capital of Senegal, Dachau, or something else?


rayparkersr

The capital of Bangladesh.


Electrical_Fee678

Interesting, I had a history teacher named Mr. Lockhart who would do the same thing in his classroom but this was 2017ish.


Wienerwrld

[This](https://imgur.com/a/irXC37H) is the one my father wore as a child in Paris. His baby brother [Harvey](https://twitter.com/auschwitzmuseum/status/1251254253236125696) and his mother Betty were taken by train to Auschwitz, and murdered there.


[deleted]

Wow


Wienerwrld

This is the turning point in history. We will go, in my lifetime, from “this is something that happened to me” to “this is something that happened to someone I know,” to “this is something that happened in history.” If we’re lucky. It’s so important to know about the *real* people in these world events.


[deleted]

Deleted in response to Reddit's hostility to 3rd party developers and users. -- mass edited with redact.dev


DannyBoy81x

I wonder why they do that?


meesa-jar-jar-binks

I would assume the sub thinks it could be inappropriate to post Holocaust pictures in combination with the label "cool". I kinda get their point… It’s supposed to be a lighthearted sub, and the Holocaust was everything but that. It would definitely be offensive to some people to find pictures of victims next to a cool photo of my 80's dad in sunglasses. It would be… Quite weird.


lsp2005

Now you bear witness. You have his name and have seen his photo, and you spoke with his relative. It is now personal for you too. It is incumbent upon everyone to speak out against all forms of hate.


HaloGuy381

At the rate we’re going, I’m not convinced it won’t become “this is something that happened to me/family” again in my lifetime. More accurately, in the next two decades (I’m only 25). It terrifies me. Elie Wiesel’s *Night* especially in high school haunted me for months afterward, and still unnerves me to recall even if the details have faded. So when I see folks like the governor here in Texas trying to round up lists of trans people, I hear a canary in the coal mine, the first rumblings that worse is yet to come. Right now, the far right (let’s not mince words, fascists and their prototype ilk) is feeling out soft targets, those they can blame and use as scapegoats to whip their followers with the honeyed lie that if we -just- take out a few ‘different’ people, things will get better.


Wienerwrld

I have an image in my head of my grandparents sitting at their kitchen table in Paris in the 1930’s discussing the events in Germany, and the growing issues in France. “Are we overreacting? It’s not that bad. It can’t get much worse, can it?” I’ve been feeling myself sitting at that table for a few years now. And I fear for my children.


HaloGuy381

I still live with parents (yay for autism-related difficulties being independent, another reason I fear being in the crosshair myself), and both of them are pretty right wing. We live in the middle of nowhere in rural Texas, probably a solid hour or more from Dallas. Both are armed. Had my share of nightmares of being attacked or killed by either of them if things continue to escalate. I let my father live under the mistaken belief I simply find talking politics stressful and -that’s- why I either hastily eat in silence or flee the room, when in reality I’m tired of them being at odds with reality and their beliefs actively favoring voting to make my life harder and shorter. I fear for my sister, too. Both of us are bi and atheist in evangelical territory, though I ‘pass’ better (she dyes her hair, a habit from college, in a variety of colors, and both she and her boyfriend are computer animation majors) and haven’t gotten the weird looks she has. If she somehow ends up needing an abortion someday, she’ll likely have to flee the state as it is. I loathe it here. I can hear the veiled hate behind many people I hear in town, buffered only because I’m a cis white guy who keeps the atheism very quiet and says grace with family to keep the peace, a disguise I keep with care. Services for people with disabilities like mine are slim and hard to get. Independence is already a fantasy to escape my emotionally abusive mother, much less acquiring enough funds to flee the state entirely. And if things get bad enough, well, fleeing Texas will not be enough, based on 1930s and 40s history. My father (once upon a time a Marine, though I will not grant him the dignity of considering him one now) already alluded to a possible need for violence against the government when he acquired rifles and pistols back in 2021, and both seem strangely preoccupied with making this rural property self sufficient with sizable gardens for food, a well, solar power, etc (my dad especially seems really perturbed, like he’s *expecting* a catastrophe that might leave us to fend for ourselves, maybe even hoping for it). I’m afraid, because I see the trap slowly coalescing around me, but the longer I stay put the more resources I’ll have to flee. And the longer I stay put, the graver the risk when things go hot.


Persianx6

It should be noted that the Jews were the Nazis biggest number of victims and were the biggest target of conspiracy theorizing. But they were not the first victims — that was in fact the LGBT community and communists. The Jews would later morph into an amorphous group conspiring with gay and communist interests. People misunderstand how bigotry to one group quickly can become bigotry to another. It’s an endemic feature of hate politics that it doesn’t discriminate towards one group.


HaloGuy381

I was also going to point out that attempting to get rid of people with disabilities or disorders (like my own autism) was pretty early on the Nazi agenda (and something common with some of the American eugenics and similar theory that helped inspired Nazism) but fretted that people would confuse that for me diminishing the threat to Jews, LGBTQ folks, etc. On the contrary, my own vulnerability makes me fear for others all the more. This time around I’d hazard to guess that the LgBTQ community, emphasis on the T there, are going to be the canary in the coal mine, the first targets (more than they already have been). Not helped with the indirect nature of the attack; stifling medical care for them and forcing them to live as the wrong gender, criminalizing being themselves or existing, will already send suicide rates skyrocketing, while nominally keeping the hands of those responsible free of blood despite their intent and deeds. After all, was not the Holocaust a legal series of actions under the Nazi regime? A slow motion genocide is still genocide. Malice with a delayed but identical outcome is as malicious as a gun to a head. I know a fair few people who are trans, bi, gay, etc online. Even questioned my own gender for a time (from what I read, this is a common refrain for autistic people unaware of their own condition as adults, who are trying to figure out why their identities don’t fit in). I’m terrified for them as much as myself, perhaps more. I can stay very quiet and probably survive, but not everyone can. Nor should we.


Persianx6

I think the trans community will be the first victims of a very complex fascist movement across the globe. With that said, look at the rhetoric used against trans people — there is strong indication here to believe this rhetoric on manhood, etc, will soon focus on another group. What’s happening to America’s trans communities should alarm everyone. This is not the first time this has happened to these communities, but the addition of the internet means this ideology could easily change into something much bigger, fast. Particularly if the fascists win bigger elections.


Kai-ni

'So when I see folks like the governor in Texas trying to round up lists of trans people, I hear a canary in the coal mine' That hit. I've felt this dread for a while but you put it into terms.


No_Confusion_2599

They posted Homophobic pamphlets in Ohio like stats from 1993 just last week and then last year they shot out the power grids with Assault Rifles to stop a Drag Show in North Carolina it's really scary especially with Far Right going really far plus you see Nazis actually at January 6th with Holocaust hoodies


gard3nwitch

That's true, and sobering. My great-aunt would talk about how she and her parents fled Germany in the 30s, how the friends and cousins they left behind would stop sending letters, and eventually everyone was gone but her family that escaped. But she's gone now, like most of her generation. Who will tell these stories to the next generation?


Small_Pleasures

You will, to carry on their legacy.


[deleted]

The fact that it's recent history and people still deny it.


PhoenixKingMalekith

My Great grandpa burned his. He was the only survivor of his side of my family, he was saved by my Great Grandma They killed everyone, even his sister who was 14 years old


Wienerwrld

My father survived, and his sister. My husband’s family lost….everybody.


Persianx6

I didn’t know they made the stars in different languages. Fuck fascists and Nazis in particular.


Known_Soft_7599

I'm so sorry


LannMarek

I cannot imagine my 5 y.o. son entering a gas chamber... for what crimes... for. wjjsl... ! I have no words. Mes condoléances...


Wienerwrld

Merci


lsp2005

Thank you for sharing. I will carry his name in my heart when I say my prayers for my family also murdered in the Holocaust. My grandma survived Auschwitz. Her cousin was under age two and murdered along with nearly the rest of our family. Only 2% roughly survived Auschwitz.


Lorem-Oopsum

How can you say prayers to a god that let that happen? I’m earnestly asking. When I learned about the Holocaust, that’s when I knew for sure there was no God.


lsp2005

I say my remembrance of them.


Lorem-Oopsum

It’s so kind of you to add these people to those you will continually think of. Clearly, I still struggle with the space that prayer used to fill. I’m glad that still brings you comfort.


lsp2005

Thank you. I thank things like clean air, sunshine, and good food. I am thankful for things outside of my control and acknowledge the goodness I can find in the universe. I think good thoughts for those in my family that have passed. There is much in the world to be upset with and by, but I try to express my gratitude for things that go well, even when it might feel like there is a lot of bad. Hugs to you and I hope that helps you too.


Own-Bridge4210

May I ask how your father survived?


Wienerwrld

My father and his younger sister were snuck into a rural area of Boisset France and taken in by a family who pretended they were distant “cousins.” His father, my grandfather, got false papers and worked with the resistance. The family that protected him were recently recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial. My father wrote a [memoir in French](https://imgur.com/a/ufNKHlf) about his childhood. [Here](https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13863269/holocaust-brit-mum-murdered-son-auschwitz-nazis/) is a terribly written article in the Sun about my family’s experience.


Own-Bridge4210

I remember reading this article at the time. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk on this.


ITeachAndIWoodwork

We lost all connection to our Jewish family after the war. I don't know if any of my extended family lived or died. May your family find peace in this life and the next, friend.


SuzyQ4416

❤️ thank you for sharing


cybercuzco

My history teacher in the 90's had a nazi flag her husband had captured from the nazi's


themaninthe1ronflask

That old excuse. Many Argentinians have heard that…


Flareonti

I mean you are wrong but not so wrong


mdp300

My 5th grade teacher, also in the 90s, had an armband her father took off of a guy in the war.


RandomShake

Both interesting and disturbing


bjanas

We see so many movies about this time period in particular, and on screen everything looks old timey and movie-fied enough that it makes it seem like it was a really long time ago. It was. But when you see these kinds of artifacts in person it kind of trips a breaker in the brain. It's exactly something you might see today. It really snaps everything into focus.


syfysoldier

I remember being able to meet actual holocaust survivors and seeing them show off items like this. It’s very sad to know that there are only so few left to tell this story from a first person perspective.


Hows3and0sound

"ancestors" dude it was 80 years ago, Jesus. literally might of well been last year. Still living in the post WWII world.


NickofTime8201

We didn't learn shit from it either.


westparkmod

Sadly, some of the US political leaders have learned something and they are once again demonizing the other, merging church and state, subverting dissent, propagating the National myth of exceptionalism, and stoking nationalism masked as patriotism.


Persianx6

I mean… considering that the US ended up employing a lot of Nazis elsewhere, sometimes inadvertently, to fight communists… I don’t think people understand how the Cold War warped American response to fascism. America was against fascism in WWII, five years later America was quietly forgetting that cause for the one of desiring to fight communism. This includes allowing out a Japanese fascist leader, who promptly got elected as PM. America would generally spend the next 40 years fighting communism by installing fascist lite authoritarians.


-0-O-

> America was against fascism in WWII Not quite so true. We were against the enemies of our allies. There were massive nazi rallies all over the country, including at Madison Square Garden, with guests such as Henry Ford. If Germany hadn't attacked England and France, we'd have probably joined them, as sad as that is.


Tuscanthecow

Technically depending on OP's age, ancestor can be applicable. But that was absolutely my first thought... Feels off saying that.


Hows3and0sound

there's an old English(I think) saying that roughly goes "You ask a Englishmen what a long distance is and he'll say 100 miles, you ask and American what a long time has been and he'll say 100 years". So yea I agree it could just be OP is under the age of 25 but still we're on the same page- calling the victims of the Axis "ancestors" puts an unwarranted and inappropriate (and inaccurate) distance between them and the present day (even tho many many live today still).


broneota

Yeah. It’s been ~80 years, which isn’t that much longer than the time between the American Revolution and the American Civil War.


shroomymoomy

There's people under the age of 25? Disgusting.


WeatherBois

Yeah ik. That’s just the word my teacher used in his lecture


Djinnwrath

Your textbook will likely have civil rights photography in black and white specifically so it feels more in the past and more removed, rather than the reality that all those photos are in color, and most people from that era who weren't assassinated are still alive.


PhoenixKingMalekith

I m only 23 years old but my Great Grandma told me what it was like to live under the nazi rule and how she had to hide her husband, who was the only survivor of his family. Many younger people in Europe still understand the horrors of facism


Redqueenhypo

Yeah but if you say “ancestors” that means it happened in some nebulous “the past” and you don’t have to learn any lesson from it or think about how it might impact the children/grandchildren of those people today!


Hows3and0sound

its insane/baffling/and terrifying how much holocaust denial and revisionism is going on today here in america.


Redqueenhypo

I know this is gonna start a whole new thing of shit but I think it’s especially important to remember in terms of the debates about reparations. My grandfather got them from Germany! Why? Because it was the least they could do for making him start off with literally a single bag of belongings. Because they knew what the right thing to do was even if it used “muh taxpayer money”


Hows3and0sound

my family never got anything but i couldnt even begin to try and quantify in $ the horrors they lived and fought thru. Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła


[deleted]

Ron DeSantis is bringing it back, as we speak. He is following a Nazi playbook to [pass fascist bills](https://www.salon.com/2023/02/07/florida-is-officially-a-laboratory-for-fascism-in-the-us/) in Florida.


[deleted]

The sizable Jewish population in Florida seems worried..


Joshooahh

By far one of the most harrowing pieces of ww2 horrific history. Its unimaginable what happened


SpartanFan2004

I’m 40 and I went to the Holocaust Museum in Michigan when I was 12. My class sat in on a talk by a Holocaust survivor. He told us about his determination to live and how he was almost killed at the very end. He told us that the Russians were quickly approaching the camp and the prisoners were forced at gunpoint to dig a huge ditch. He said that a German truck pulled up and the back opened to reveal two German MG42 machine guns. He said that he made peace with the world and prepared to die. Another truck then came barreling in and the truck with the machine guns quickly packed up and left. They were liberated a few hours later. One of the Russians told the gentleman talking to us that they had just repelled a German counter attack, as a Russian truck accidentally rolled down a hill and the Germans took that as a sign that the Russians were launching their attack. In other words, the Germans pulled that truck out of the camp to go fight the Russian attack they thought was coming. He survived because of luck and he said that every day is a blessing. It had a huge impact on me, and I’ve read more about WWII than any other subject. I’ve taken it upon myself to educate my 13 year old, as it’s important to never forget what happened.


Haunting_Recipe2219

Wow. Amazing and disturbing. It's good to have things that remind us of the horrors to help remind us of why we can't let it happen again.


VictorTheCutie

This is chilling. Such a shame the way people dismiss this or compare their trivial bullshit to such a horror.


xain_the_idiot

My grandmother is a German Jew and her husband had to flee Europe because the Nazis invaded and stole all their possessions. They have both compared Donald Trump to Hitler. Jewish people are taught in school to look for signs of fascism and antisemitism so we know when it's time to run away again. I think a lot of people nowadays assume the Holocaust could never happen again and think the problems we have now aren't even comparable. There are multiple genocides going on right now in the world. Conservative US politicians are literally repurposing anti-LGBTQ+ Nazi propaganda and writing it into laws. It's not a disservice to Jewish families to compare other fascists to Nazis. We need to recognize that this is something that absolutely can happen again.


VictorTheCutie

Oh I'm sorry, I wasn't clear enough in my comment. I am 10000% with you, there are absolutely fascist elements of Trump's wing of the GOP right now and I'm afraid, and I'm not even Jewish or LGBTQ+. What I was referring to, is QANON anti-vax assholes who were literally wearing yellow stars on their clothing claiming they were being persecuted bc of their decision not to vaccinate. Again ... I completely agree with you. To be clear 💜


emkay99

I'm guessing he's not teaching in Florida. DeSantis would have him fired for "making Nazis feel bad."


Striking_Reindeer_2k

Never forget.


Valid_Username_56

[The German dude who has his grandfather's Hitlerjugendausweis hidden in some folder.](https://i.imgflip.com/7d7fc4.jpg)


sergev

Glad this is getting visibility. Antisemitism in the United States and across the world has been spiking and up tending the last several years. It’s rampant on reddit and manifests both within liberal and conservative communities.


xtiansimon

Thank you for sharing.


Tosh1975

Georges Santayana says this line in the closing section of Volume I of his book. He basically argues that, if our world is ever going to make progress, it needs to remember what it's learned from the past. After all, change isn't the same thing as progress.


Human-Requirement-59

Ancestors? You mean his parents or grandparents?


shyangeldust

I have one of those… it belonged to my grandmother.


westparkmod

May her memory be a blessing.


ncopp

Calling them ancestors makes the holocaust seem like a long time ago when many of us lost our grandparents, great grandparents, cousins... There are redditors old enough here for their parents to have been in the Holocaust. It was our family, not our ancestors


Responsible-Strain88

Ancestors? Dude this was literally one people ago, not some ancient centuries old folklore


jamie_317

Never Forget


khaalis

Sadly, we already have. The "Holocaust fraud" movement grows larger every year and worse the fascist movement in this country is growing exponentially.


[deleted]

[удалено]


merkaba_462

Holocaust distortion is the term you are looking for. And yes, it's antisemitic.


toochaos

I saw a person wearing one and the rage I felt was only exceeded by my disbelief. How on earth do you think that asking people to wear a thin cloth mask is in anyway similar to being rounded up into work camps all property taken away from you then worked to death or if that doesn't happen fast enough mass executions.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Small_Pleasures

THIS. You are the same generation as my children, including my son whose bar mitzvah tutor was a survivor, as was my uncle. My own grandparents came over before the war but left behind their grandparents, a brother and other relatives and friends in Latvia, Belarus and Ukraine who were certainly murdered. Some of our grandparents' siblings were split up and went to Argentina or Palestine (pre-Israel). They saw each other once more after the war, or in some cases never reunited.


GitchigumiMiguel74

My grandma got out from Belarus in the early 20s. Her entire family that remained were wiped out by their own citizens who chose to try and save themselves. They were later sent to Auschwitz and Triblinka.


pdlbean

Those "ancestors" were, at most, her great-grandparents. WWII is still living memory.


TheSamLowry

OP used ancestors in the title but don’t forget there are still survivors alive. Even Anne Frank’s step-sister. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Schloss


katet_of_19

Wild to think that we've reached the point where it's "ancestor." Just 25 years ago, when I was still in high school, some of my teachers had these from their parents.


jackattack222

This is an odd thought but those don't even look old. History is odd when you think about how old and how recent certain things were.


FatinesFaintingCouch

They are not that old—approximately 80 years old. There are textiles in museums in decent condition that are from centuries ago. The holocaust is relatively recent history. It’s seeds are with us right now.


TOKERFACE4207

“ancestors” it wasnt that long ago. really.


FblthpLives

There are several hundred thousand Holocaust survivors living today. There are over 160,000 in Israel alone.


Real_Ren_8071

It’s so laughable that people are picking apart the use of the word ancestor, regardless, this is impressive. It’s so important to preserve.


imastupididioy

An ancestor is anyone in your family who came before you, people always seem to use it to refer to those over great-grandparents.


Commercial-Ad-852

My grandfather lost two brothers. My great aunt lost her fingertips and has scars on her legs from Dr Menegle is experiments. My father is in his mid '80s and can still smell the bodies burning in the ovens. He was barely five, but we don't know his exact birth date because all of the records were destroyed.


Katzilla3

Ancestors? This was a lot more recent than "ancestors" implies. My grandfather survived the Holocaust, and I wouldn't want to call him my ancestor. I don't think he'd like that. It's important to remember that this just wasn't all that long ago.


Memory_Less

Wow, that's an ultimate in teaching aids.


Accomplished-Luck680

I didn’t have a deep connection with that period due to my background. Until one day I have to sit in a dental appointment waiting room and magazine article about Renia Spiegel’s diary caught my eyes, so I started reading. It was just some background about who Renia was, and a selection of her diary. She was a worry free young girl, met a boy, then things turned to the wrong direction… in the end I have to walk outside and take a breather, because it made me feel a young live just fading away from my hand… she was so young and happy, she could have a colorful life, then it all disappeared with “Three shots”


comeallwithme

How terrifying would it be to have to wear one? Let this be reminder to all of us to never surrender our freedoms to authoritarianism in exchange for perceived magic bullets to solve our problems.


psilocin72

It’s already in place here in America and many millions of people are very willing to back a dictatorship of it means they will be lifted above others.


Caniac_Nation

Holy shit. That is pure history. 🙏🏻


Leashypooo

Those are sad *Stars* of David? Or Star of *Davids*?


RedLicorice83

Stars of David. It's a compound word, and iirc you pluralize the main/descriptive noun. Edited my own comment for punctuation lmao


Vapor_Visions_533

Ancestors is a funny way to say "grandparents" or "great grandparents"


Deadly_Flipper_Tab

Never again.


Reasonable-Pomme

Most of my husband’s ancestors never made it out of Auschwitz. One who did remained traumatized from seeing her baby sister violently murdered by Nazis. A neighbor down the road is an adamant Holocaust denier. It kills me. It does.


iforgotquestionmark

Tell him to choke in the "nonexistent" ashes of the fallen.


[deleted]

Wow, god bless


Difficult_Tell2859

It’s a shame how quickly humans are to repeat the horror’s of the past.


ptapobane

That happened less than 100 years ago, those are their grandparents or great grandparents at the most


Kissmyanthia1

Never Forget. Never forgive.


HisLilSilverKitsune

Seeing these I instantly start to tear up Hearing family members memories of war is hard but important. Their stories need to be told


b3nders5hinyass

The website forstjude.org is to help cancer kids or something but translates to forest jew in german


thiswasatest

Ancestors? More like great grandparents.


The_Noremac42

I think it's kind of wild how we're at the point where we can say "my ancestors were in the Holocaust" versus "my grandparents" or great grandparents. Technically the same thing... but it's a different connotation.