Welcome to the backdrop of my life. My dad was a Holocaust survivor from Poland who managed to escape from his town's ghetto before it was emptied and his family was killed. He rarely missed an opportunity to express his hatred for FDR though I learned from Burns' film that the reality was quite a bit more complicated. He died this past …
Welcome to the backdrop of my life. My dad was a Holocaust survivor from Poland who managed to escape from his town's ghetto before it was emptied and his family was killed. He rarely missed an opportunity to express his hatred for FDR though I learned from Burns' film that the reality was quite a bit more complicated. He died this past June having told my children and me stories of all he experienced and always warned it could happen here. The silver lining around his death was that as early dementia set in during his last year he was unable to process the level of anti-semitism and anti-immigrant feeling that we now see. It was amusing though to try to convince him that yes, Dad, the president of Ukraine is really Jewish.
The doc was soft on FDR frankly. The dude sacrificed European Jews to keep domestic political enemies off of his back because he was afraid that their propaganda on the matter would poison his next presidential run.
Do you think it was soft on FDR? After all, he also coddled southern senators re racism. And FDR was careful not to get ahead of the nation in terms of willingness to help Britain.
The backdrop to your life, to my life, and to so many MILLIONS of others. So many stories of escape or attempt to escape. I have still the exit permit (obscenely adorned with swastika stamps all over it) from Czechoslovakia that my grandfather obtained from a “good” Nazi official (who probably suffered for it at some point). Mere chance led him to find that opportunity. Less than twenty-four hours later the Gestapo knocked on his door, to find that the family had already flown. But so many, including all our other relatives, did not escape. How can humans allow themselves to behave so cruelly, so sinfully?
It was a book recommended by my favorite high school teacher. I didn't read it back then, but not surprisingly it came to mind during the last administration. I not only read it but started giving out copies to anyone who was interested. Totally chilling.
Welcome to the backdrop of my life. My dad was a Holocaust survivor from Poland who managed to escape from his town's ghetto before it was emptied and his family was killed. He rarely missed an opportunity to express his hatred for FDR though I learned from Burns' film that the reality was quite a bit more complicated. He died this past June having told my children and me stories of all he experienced and always warned it could happen here. The silver lining around his death was that as early dementia set in during his last year he was unable to process the level of anti-semitism and anti-immigrant feeling that we now see. It was amusing though to try to convince him that yes, Dad, the president of Ukraine is really Jewish.
The doc was soft on FDR frankly. The dude sacrificed European Jews to keep domestic political enemies off of his back because he was afraid that their propaganda on the matter would poison his next presidential run.
Do you think it was soft on FDR? After all, he also coddled southern senators re racism. And FDR was careful not to get ahead of the nation in terms of willingness to help Britain.
One of the most interesting what ifs is about what if Hitler did not declare war on the US when he did.
This assumes that someone else would have won simply on the St Louis issue alone.
The backdrop to your life, to my life, and to so many MILLIONS of others. So many stories of escape or attempt to escape. I have still the exit permit (obscenely adorned with swastika stamps all over it) from Czechoslovakia that my grandfather obtained from a “good” Nazi official (who probably suffered for it at some point). Mere chance led him to find that opportunity. Less than twenty-four hours later the Gestapo knocked on his door, to find that the family had already flown. But so many, including all our other relatives, did not escape. How can humans allow themselves to behave so cruelly, so sinfully?
We must resolve to do better.
I thought we had resolved to do better...maybe not.
Please see Sinclair Lewis' mid-thirties novel, "It Can't Happen Here." (Spoiler Alert: It can.)
It was a book recommended by my favorite high school teacher. I didn't read it back then, but not surprisingly it came to mind during the last administration. I not only read it but started giving out copies to anyone who was interested. Totally chilling.