75+1: Remembrance, Revenants, Resonance...Resounding Voices

         - International Holocaust Remembrance Day: January 27, 2021

1940's-2021: We are reminded by vivid photos, what initially appear to be a macabre presentation by a sadistic artist, what happened in someone's 'backyard' for several years, resulting in the forced imprisonment, torture, and deaths of millions, principally those found or accused of being Jewish. An attempt to extinguish a people from the face of the earth. A particularly effective photo capturing the terror those about to become inhabitants of these 'camps' experienced, that of train tracks leading in only one direction, ending at a building about which they have heard horrific rumors...

Such as the concentration-extermination camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, responsible for at least 1.1 million murders...

Don't look Away, Read on...Making the story even more macabre are photos we see every year at this time of children who were liberated, children who were taught to survive in part by hiding under fetid, decaying corpses when the Nazi's, anticipating the arrival of the allies, routinely shot those few lucky enough to have survived this long...

Keep Looking, be Vigilant: The children who grew up after surviving the camps, as well as the millions of descendants who died in the camps, continue to sound the alarm that such atrocities not only can happen again, but are happening in different parts of the world...

Unexpected Acts of Humanity: In his book "Man's Search for Meaning", most of which he wrote in the crucible of the concentration camp (after his initial manuscript was shredded by the Nazi's shortly after he was separated from his loved ones), Viktor Frankl reflects on the many times the guards were befuddled by the acts of humanity, acts of sacrifice, between prisoners despite being treated inhumanely. On a current worldly view, the Jewish News and the human-rights group Rene Cassin, setting aside the widespread antipathy between Jews and Muslims, drew a comparison between Nazi's murderous anti-Semitism, and China's current mistreatment of the Uyghur Muslim ethnic group: "few issues could...be more urgent than human atrocities currently taking place...under the world's nose". Assertions accompanied by yet more railroad photos, this time aerial views taken by drones of rails leading to Chinese "re-education camps" in the province of Xinjiang. 

Music pierces the atrocities: Written during the COVID-19 lockdown, "Broken Instruments" is the story of a violinist who survived the Holocaust. Ari Vander, a jazz and classical musician, having survived Auschwitz (during which time he and other musicians were forced to provide concerts for the German guards), went on to play his own violin while bringing countless other damaged instruments back to life. Meanwhile Rose, another featured character, who is the leader of a women's orchestra, becomes a strong source of encouragement for her fellow prisoners, despite the German's best efforts to defeat morale: "Broken instruments can be mended...they will play again once more..." In harmony, Amnon and Avshalom Weinstein, the father and son pair who have spent 20 years restoring instruments belonging to Jews who lived through the Holocaust, cite: "Our violins present the victory of human spirit over evil and hatred".

Resounding Voices: Become instruments of justice when we speak out on behalf of others.