On Plugged In…
The world marks…
A sobering milestone…
the 75th anniversary..
of the liberation of Auschwitz.
But with hate crimes…
On the rise…
How far has the world really come…
From the dark days…
Of the Holocaust?
(Christopher Wray, FBI Director)
“We're particularly focused on domestic terrorism especially racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists”
In the United States…
the FBI declares…
racially motivated violence…
a threat to national security…
and compares white nationalists..
and neo Nazi groups…
to Islamic State.
Is it still possible ..
To eradicate..
Hate and racism?
On Plugged In…
Lessons from Auschwitz.
(WELCOME INTRO)
Hello and welcome to Plugged in. I'm Greta Van Susteren.
Recently, world leaders gathered in Poland to mark a solemn anniversary.
It has been 75 years since the liberation of prisoners at the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.
It is estimated that more than six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. More than two million of the murdered were executed at Auschwitz.
Reporter Henry Ridgwell traveled to Poland to speak with one man who survived that death camp.
(SURVIVING AUSCHWITZ - HENRY RIDGWELL REPORT)
(NARRATOR)
Along with his photographs and letters Stanislav Zalewski keeps his memories locked away. Occasionally, letting them out to share the horrors of the past. Zalewski was 18 when he was arrested for painting foolish resistance symbols on walls in Nazi occupied Warsaw. After a brutal interrogation, he was imprisoned.
((Stanislav Zalewski, Auschwitz Survivor)
“About 37,000 of these prisoners were killed and about 60,000 were taken from Kaviak prison to concentration camps. I was among the 60,000. I was taken to Auschwitz, Birkenau on October 6 1943. The procedure was as follows: registration in Auschwitz one camp, which involves taking personal information, taking off all our civilian clothes, cutting off hair, shaving, tattooing, putting on prison stripe uniforms. We got only a cap, shirt, jacket, underwear, pants and wooden clogs.”
(NARRATOR)
Zalewski was tattooed with the number 156569. Guards referred to prisoners only by number. Many new arrivals were taken directly to the gas chambers. Stronger men and women were used as forced labor.
((Stanislav Zalewski, Auschwitz Survivor)
“If one of the prisoners did not look fit enough of further work. The SS pointed him out with a stick to the camp writer who would write down the prisoners number. Afterwards, these prisoners were pulled out and taken on foot to the crematorium. One day lorries arrived at the barracks and women were let out, ordered to strip naked, and they were loaded as though they were some commodity. These trucks were followed by a soldier on a motorbike as they move toward the crematorium. I still remember today the screams of these women. The transportation lasted several hours until they emptied the barracks.”
(NARRATOR)
Zalewski was imprisoned for his political activities. Most prisoners were Jews sent to Auschwitz to their deaths. The Nazis, so called final solution to wipe out the Jewish race. Zalewski recalls Jewish prisoners arriving on trains wearing bands bearing the Star of David.
((Stanislav Zalewski, Auschwitz Survivor)
“One SS soldier ordered them in one long line with him standing at the front of the line and leading them forward. They followed this one soldier with no signs of worry or anxiety. They were heading toward the crematorium, but only we were aware of this, not them.”
(NARRATOR)
As Soviet soldiers began to approach from the east, the Nazis transferred hundreds of thousands of prisoners to other camps. Tens of thousands died on the journey. Zalewski was taken to the Mauthausen, Guzen camp in Austria. In May 1945 rumors spread of the Allied advance and German guards fled.
((Stanislav Zalewski, Auschwitz Survivor)
On May 5 American military vehicles arrived. Two American soldiers got off. One of them knew some Polish and shouted, you are free. It took me 78 days to get from Nuremberg to Warsaw, I arrived in Warsaw on July 22, 1945 wearing US Army fatigues.
(NARRATOR)
Zalewski is president of the Polish Union of former political prisoners of Nazi prisons and concentration camps. 75 years on, he still struggles to reconcile what happened.
((Stanislav Zalewski, Auschwitz Survivor)
“When I say the Lord's Prayer, there was a phrase, give us our daily bread and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us. I face a dilemma. Can I forgive those who wear an inscriptuion that read, “God is with us on their belt buckles” who killed people with cold premeditation. I put my memories of Auschwitz into a box. I tied it with a string and throw it into the water, metaphorically speaking. I worked, started a family. I have a son and grandchildren. When I visit the camp or when we are talking like we are today, I pull out this box, and present its contents to you. And afterwards I throw it back into the water. There are moments. However, when these memories break into my psyche, causing reflections and questions with no answers. The world has not learned the lesson of what had happened. The world has come full circle, so to speak. This history, this circularity - is powered by people who do not respect the dignity of another human being.”
(NAARRATOR)
Zalewski and around 200 fellow survivors will return to the so called gates of hell for the 75th anniversary of the camps liberation, still determined to teach the world, the lessons of Auschwitz.
(GRETA interviews Henry Ridgwell)
GVS: Henry Ridgwell joins us from London now. Henry. Thank you for joining us. Tell me, what were your impressions are your thoughts, interviewing Mr Zalewski?
HR: I think the first impressions were his incredible recall and his lucidity about what happened 75 years ago. Mr Zalewski is 94-years old. He's seen the full arc really of the latter half of 20th century history from his early days growing up in Warsaw to imprisonment under the Nazis throughout the Second World War, in Auschwitz as you heard there and in other concentration camps run by the Nazis. He’s released after that and life under Soviet rule, and more recently, life in Poland, as a member of the European Union and now renewed worries about the rise of anti-semitism in Europe. So it was just remarkable to speak to a man who could describe his memories in such detail. What you heard there in that report was a fraction of what he spoke of when I met him in Warsaw. He spoke for two hours about his, his memories, many of them very harrowing memories of Auschwitz and of his treatments treatment, and of the treatment of the other people, particularly the Jewish people that he witnessed at Auschwitz. So, as a journalist, as somebody able to meet someone like that it was a privilege, and it's one of those unique experiences that I think I will certainly never forget. And I hope in that report it conveys something of the value that people of this generation, still hold and need to convey to the rest of the world.
GVS: Henry, so much time has passed. 75 years has passed and, you know, and I worry I suppose a lot of people worry that people will not, you know, will lose sight of what did happen and the lasting impact. What did Europe do? What did the EU do what did the nations do to commemorate this, to keep this alive?
HR: Well, there was that ceremony in Auschwitz and there were other ceremonies in several other European cities to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation. And of course in Israel as well. Just to give you an idea I'm here in Golders Green which is a suburb of London. This has a very large Jewish population and that population grew dramatically after the Second World War, or during the Second World War as Jewish people fled Nazi rule in Germany and across Europe. And that phenomena happened in countries across Europe, and there are Jewish communities dotted across the continents, of course. After the Second World War, many Jewish people did go to help set up the State of Israel, but there are still surviving Jewish communities thriving here in Europe. But as we've been discussing many of them say that in the last decade, they have become more fearful. A recent survey of European Jewish communities, suggested that 89% of Jewish people in countries in Europe, felt that Anti-Semitism has been on the rise. So while we commemorate these events and that very important 75th anniversary, their last month at Auschwitz, bringing this right up to date there are fears that, as Mr Zalewski said in that report, those lessons have been learned.
GVS: Henry, which is in Poland, but I am certainly curious what, if anything, Germany did specifically whether Angela Merkel has made any statements or any special acknowledgement of what happened?
HR: Germany is credited across the world as being one country that has managed to atone for its sins during the Second World War, for their huge crimes against humanity that were carried out not only against the Jewish race but against, of course, other populations as well. And we have had over the decade since the Second World War repeated apologies from not only Chancellor Merkel but from other German leaders in history. Of course there was that famous moment when a German leader got down on his knees and apologized for Germany's conduct during the Second World War. Chancellor Merkel attended the ceremonies to mark the 75th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation as well. And she will be deeply involved in other events this year. Of course the outfits anniversary event, just kicks off several events this year that will mark the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. We have the anniversary of the bombing of Dresden coming up. We have the anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima, victory in Europe day, victory over Japan days. So this is a very big year and I think you will see the German government and Chancellor Merkel at the center of those events.
GVS: Did Mr. Zalewski tell you how tough it was for him to go back to Auschwitz and was that his first trip back?
HR: No it wasn't his first trip back. He has made several trips back there and he makes a point of doing so. And being as active as he can, despite being 94 years old in educating younger generations especially. He does numerous school visits, he travels overseas on several occasions throughout the year. And I think he has managed to process the scale, really of the history that he witnessed and the magnitude of those events that he witnessed. What he still struggles to overcome them and what did bring tears to his eyes during that interview were the images that have stuck with him from his time at Auschwitz. He mentioned there, the arrival of the Jewish prisoners, with the Star of David on their hands. Them arriving with their suitcases in half, not knowing that they were being taken directly to the gas chambers. He spoke of the treatment of the women who were stripped naked and put on lorries to be taken to the crematoria. And numerous of those details that came out were so harrowing that it was difficult to put them on camera. One last one that sticks in the mind is that when he was freed, many of the prisoners from the camp looted the local shops. They hadn't had much to eat for ages. And they ate so much that their stomachs could not deal with it they had been starved for years, and the next day they died. It's minor details like that that we don't hear about that I think really stick in his mind and the minds of viewers.
GVS: Henry thank you. Henry Ridgwell, VOA Europe correspondent Thank you Henry.
(GRETA)
The video and photos of the Holocaust are horrific. Documenting and preserving the many items from that very dark period Is vital. And so is it vital to preserve those haunting stories from those who survived the death camps.
Gretchen Skidmore is the director of civic and defense initiatives at the Holocaust Memorial Museum
here in Washington.
(GRETA Interviews Gretchen Skidmore)
GVS: You know, it's just, it's just unthinkable isn't it doing it, they're just no words that I wouldn't go back and look at these videos, it's really, it's hard to describe.
GS: It really is and that's why we spend a lot of time really thinking about the complexities of the history so you have to think about it couldn't have been possible just a few Nazi leaders. It really involves millions of people, some actively collaborating, some really just acquiescing to what was going on around them but trying to understand that phenomenon, trying to understand how and why the Holocaust happened, think critically about it. Think about the impact that the history of European anti semitism had on those events. It’s really, it's really a complex thing and we're trying to help educators do that work in the classrooms every day,
GVS: but are the classrooms really covering it? And I'm always wondering if I go out to the streets say it's to you know to somebody, ‘what's the Holocaust?’ I always wonder what answer I may get and of course, you know, when you go to the holocaust museum here in Washington, just see the shoes. You know, it's, it's, you know, the people who are executed. It’s unbelievable.
GS: I think, I do think there is an interest in this subject. We just had a survey from the Claims conference nine out of 10 Americans surveyed said it's important for students, students to learn this in school. Now teachers are up against some challenges right there are time limits, there's resource limits so as a federal institution, our goal is to make sure they have accessible resources that the framing is there for them. The teachers that might not have training in this have the opportunity to really understand it and and introduce it to students in a way that they can grasp and that it’s relevant to them.
GVS: well you know as Time marches on you need so many of us probably know someone who might know someone who was released from a camp, we're getting beyond that and that's what I worry about is that when family members are no longer around to sort of, you know, to remind others, and for the those others than to talk to other people. I worry about that. 75 years.
GS: so we honor and remember the victims and survivors by encouraging people to study and understand this history and history education. The Holocaust is always relevant but I think right now it is particularly relevant. It’s a study and human behavior and choices people make and how those choices matter today in their lives.
GVS: I don't mean to minimize in any way the Holocaust by asking this next question but other a parallels to the anti semitism today? Are we seeing, you know more of a rise in it? In or even bigotry in other ways?
GS: So people have always, there's been a long history of hatred, a long history of people being susceptible to misinformation. I think what's changed is the presence and the amplification of this through social media. People are no longer isolated in this they're in a community now. And that makes it socially acceptable. And so that means we have to meet those trends in society and in human nature. The rise of hatred and the ongoing, you know, sort of presence of that in communities with awareness, the power of that in the past and how we need to continue to work all across platforms, in order to combat it today.
GVS: So social media is almost an accelerant?
GS: it is, it's an amplifier.
GVS: Any thoughts on how to sort of reverse set up an amplifier to do just the opposite?
GS: Now we have a very active Instagram page for example. Reach youth where they are. That's where they go for information that's where we post about history of anti Semitism. The role it played in the Holocaust, key facts about understanding, enough about that phenomenon, to recognize it today and to be able to think critically, what am I seeing what should I do about that what's my range of responses on that, and we have to be where they're going. And so, social media, other platforms YouTube, other things that are on our website are an opportunity for people to engage in the facts of the history and how it can inform their understanding of today.
GVS: You know, it's so horrible that when you see the videos you think that this could possibly be in the sense of because it's just so it's so horrific so evil.
GS: but I think that, you know, we, we can't change human nature, but we can respond and we can change how we set up structures that educate people to see the dangers, when hatred is unchecked. And that's what we learned from the history of the Holocaust.
GVS: And let me say again, my next statement is not to minimize what happened Holocaust because it stands alone, but you know I tip my hat to the, to the museum because the holocaust museum here in Washington is one of the few entities that has condemned as genocide what has happened to the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, as they get pushed out into Bangladesh.
GS: So when you look at early warning indicators and societies that help us not only respond. Once there have been group targeted violence but also to get people understand that we can look for these indicators and prevent some of these things that's the mission of the museum,
GVS: but it's interesting how you know everyone said never again. Now we've had Rwanda and now we have this mean there is sort of a there's a little bit of, you know, looking the other way.
GS: But we can also recognize that there are structures that are possible to implement within the United States government and a lot of the work of our centers at the museum are about engaging governments in setting up structures that recognize these things and respond early.
GVS: you said to help in terms of having educators that have questions of time, so is that teachers don't have the time in the classroom?
GS: Sometimes we don't have time sometimes we..
GVS: How can you not have time for something when it’s so important because it has so many branches in terms of our, history is important, we have past behavior, we don’t want to repeat behavior so we can take appropriate action.
GS: there's a lot of a lot of pressure on teachers to cover a lot of subjects and certainly there's an appropriate emphasis on STEM. There’s things that, that must be covered right but we know that the history of the Holocaust, the history of Western civilization, the history of the world is being taught in a lot of different disciplines now. It might not just be the history classroom, it might be the English classroom might be, it might be civics, it might be sort of political science, it might be sociology. So what we're trying to do is make sure that all of those educators see that the history of the Holocaust and an understanding of these types of events hatred and communities and you know the history of anti semitism, they can be incorporated into other disciplines and courses.
GVS: Well I have to give another shout out to the museum because it does help capture help capture the atrocities and educate, just by going to the museum, do a collection. Thank you. Thank you. Gretchen Skidmore us holocaust museum here in Washington.
(GRETA)
It is 75 Years since the gas chambers and the Holocaust. And yet the Neo Nazi movement is alive and well today. One man, once a member of a Neo Nazi punk rock band is trying to change that.
Today Christian Picciolini is the author of several books and the founder of the Free Radicals project - which aims to free radicalized youth from the same racist views he once held.
Plugged In's Mil Arcega spoke with him on Skype.
(Mil Arcega report)
((NARRATOR))
Christian Picciolini is an expert on hate.
“In 1987, I was recruited into America’s first Neo-Nazi skinhead group”
Picciolini’s testimony to Congress in 2019 was the latest step in his transformation that began as a discontented teenager - from a loving, hard-working immigrant family.Former
((Christian Picciolini, Founder Free Radicals Project))
“So I went searching for a sense of identity, community and purpose, sort of on the fringes – having been bullied for most of those 14 years. And on those fringes I found a narrative. A man walked up to me in an alley when I was 14 years old. I was smoking a joint and he pulled the joint from my mouth and looked me in the eyes and he said that’s what the Communists and the Jews want you to do to keep you docile. And I have to be honest at 14 I didn't know what a communist was or even if I'd met a Jewish person, or even what the word docile mean. But it was the first time in my life that I felt that someone had actually seen me, that had included me.”
((NARRATOR))
He stayed with the movement for 8 years.
((Christian Picciolini, Founder Free Radicals))
“I started a record store in 1995 to sell racist racist music that I was importing and making as well. But at that record store I was also selling different kinds of music – things like punk rock music and hip hop and heavy metal and I started to meet people who were black, who were Jewish, who were gay for the first time really and having meaningful interaction with them. So over, you know the course of having that record store, I started to really challenge the demonization that was happening in my head with humanization. and it was those people that I'm so grateful for because they knew who I was. And yet they still chose to challenge me with compassion. and it was the compassion that I received from them at a time when I really, I least deserved it. That was the most powerful transformative moment for me.”
((NARRATOR))
Picciolini has written several books about his journey and founded an organization called Free Radicals to give young people better options than the pull of extremism.
((Christian Picciolini, Founder Free Radicals))
What I’m seeing with White nationalism today is very similar to what I saw in the early days of let’s say al Qaeda or ISIS. The propaganda tactics are the same, recruitment is very similar, the use of high quality marketing videos showing kind of this, this hope of of glory, if you join the fight.”
((NARRATOR)) ((PHOTOS montage to close))
Picciolini says he is trying to be the person he wishes approached him when he was 14-years old … so many years ago.
Mil Arcega VOA News Washington
(GRETA)
Christian is one example of someone who turned his hate around.
But violence, hate and xenophobia are growing in some places in some countries.
Deadly shooting sprees in El Paso, Texas and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania have prompted the FBI to declare domestic attacks as dangerous to US national security as ISIS and al-Qaeda.
(Christopher Wray, FBI Director)
“A majority of the domestic terrorism cases that we've investigated are motivated by some version of what you might call white supremacist violence but it includes other things as well. We're particularly focused on domestic terrorism, especially racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists. Not only is the terror threat diverse, it's unrelenting in the last several months alone, just to name a few important examples.”
(GRETA)
Just as the number of hate crimes has risen in some parts of the world, one thing remains a constant and that is the fight against it.
Joining us from New York is Oren Segal of the Anti-Defamation League.
Mr. Segal is vice president of the ADL's Center on Extremism, which combats anti-Semitism and extremism. Combats anti-semitism and leads a training initiative for law enforcement public officials and companies in the private sector.
GVS: Mr. Segal, first of all, what is the Anti Defamation League?
OS: (audio garbled) Well, the ADL is an over a hundred year old organization, whose mission is to not only stop the defamation of Jewish people but also to secure justice for all. Much of our work is focused on battling extremism and hate wherever it may arise.
GVS: Have there been an uptick in attacks, for anti-semitic attacks and extremist action like that?
OS: In the past, you know year and a half, we have seen the deadliest attack against the Jewish community in American history in Pittsburgh. And that was followed 6 months to the date (inaudible), more recently in Jersey city in ?? New York. (audio grabled). Combine that with the rise in hate crimes in general, it emboldened white supremacy in this country. We are in a unique moment in history.
GVS: And what is it, how is social media been a contributing factor to the uptick?
OS: I think social media is the key. Most of us spend the majority of our time, you know, looking at our feeds, whether it's established platforms like Facebook and Twitter or even for a younger generation - on other platforms. And the same place that my kids spend their time, is where my investigators spend their time, trying to root out and identify extremist behavior (inaudible) hate, xenophobia and more broadly the glorification of hate is normalized (inaudible).
GVS: The FBI Director, Christopher Wray is talking about how, you know, how important it is, the whole growing issue of anti Semitism is too and the terror attacks, is to the FBI. But there's a big difference in my mind, between responding to a shooting, or a situation and catching it before it happens. Do you find that the FBI has been effective at sort of helping to stop some of the violence that's gone on some of the anti-Semitism violence?
OS: I think when we look at sort of extremist violence more broadly, certainly the Jewish community is in the crosshairs but it's not only the Jewish community. You know, look at El Paso, and the Hispanic community or other incidents that we see across the country. And I think the FBI is doing a pretty good job in the sense that, even the last couple of weeks, we have seen several white supremacists in particular, have been arrested for various plots in this country to do damage. Now, you know, that is something that occurs, even though, domestic extremists are not designated the way you know ISIS and Al Qaeda are. So law enforcement and government have different tools to deal with foreign terrorist organizations. But I think there are steps that can be taken to improve how we understand the domestic terror threat. But I don't think that law enforcement is ignoring it. I just think it's a bigger challenge, because so much of what motivates domestic extremists is freedom of speech.
GVS: So what are the steps that could be taken?
OS: We've been advocating at ADL for the Terrorism Prevention Act which at its base form requires government to at least collect data on extremist domestic terror incidents in this country. You know you need to have the data before you give resource to the threat. And that's why at ADL we have a heat map where we provide information on terrorist plots and attacks, white supremacist propaganda, which has nearly doubled this past year 2019 from the previous year. As well as anti-Semitic incidents and other hate types of activity. Data is key to understanding where we put our resources to combat the threat.
GVS: And beyond that, do you have some other suggestions? I mean obviously getting data is important but are there other suggestions that can be used to combat this?
OS: Yeah I think this requires a wholistic approach, right? It's not just law enforcement, it's not just government, but as you mentioned earlier, so much of what is motivating people to violence is the memes and the narratives and tropes that are online that can spread pretty much anywhere at any time. And so, the tech industry in and of itself has a responsibility. Not just to enforce their terms of services, but to have some corporate responsibility. It's not unreasonable for users of these platforms to expect that they do more to protect their users and frankly all the communities.
GVS: How do you separate the First Amendment and speech from the hate speech extremism?
OS: Well you know hate speech is very much protected in this country. What we do is try to identify that hate speech in order to find clues of where, you know, violence may be incubated. And so, you know, it's a difficult line, we don't want government to, you know, be able to investigate anybody at any time because of the beliefs that they have. But there are certain clues, certain glorification of violence, certain tropes that really animate these extremist movements that law enforcement needs to make sure that they're on top of. And this is where ADL helps.
GVS: Thank you. Oren Segal, from ADL’s Center on Extremism.
(GRETA)
That's all the time we have for today.
Stay Plugged In by liking us on Facebook at Voice of America.
And you can also like my Facebook page at facebook-dot-com-forward-slash-Greta.
And follow me on Twitter at Greta.
Thanks for being Plugged In.
The world marks…
A sobering milestone…
the 75th anniversary..
of the liberation of Auschwitz.
But with hate crimes…
On the rise…
How far has the world really come…
From the dark days…
Of the Holocaust?
(Christopher Wray, FBI Director)
“We're particularly focused on domestic terrorism especially racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists”
In the United States…
the FBI declares…
racially motivated violence…
a threat to national security…
and compares white nationalists..
and neo Nazi groups…
to Islamic State.
Is it still possible ..
To eradicate..
Hate and racism?
On Plugged In…
Lessons from Auschwitz.
(WELCOME INTRO)
Hello and welcome to Plugged in. I'm Greta Van Susteren.
Recently, world leaders gathered in Poland to mark a solemn anniversary.
It has been 75 years since the liberation of prisoners at the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.
It is estimated that more than six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. More than two million of the murdered were executed at Auschwitz.
Reporter Henry Ridgwell traveled to Poland to speak with one man who survived that death camp.
(SURVIVING AUSCHWITZ - HENRY RIDGWELL REPORT)
(NARRATOR)
Along with his photographs and letters Stanislav Zalewski keeps his memories locked away. Occasionally, letting them out to share the horrors of the past. Zalewski was 18 when he was arrested for painting foolish resistance symbols on walls in Nazi occupied Warsaw. After a brutal interrogation, he was imprisoned.
((Stanislav Zalewski, Auschwitz Survivor)
“About 37,000 of these prisoners were killed and about 60,000 were taken from Kaviak prison to concentration camps. I was among the 60,000. I was taken to Auschwitz, Birkenau on October 6 1943. The procedure was as follows: registration in Auschwitz one camp, which involves taking personal information, taking off all our civilian clothes, cutting off hair, shaving, tattooing, putting on prison stripe uniforms. We got only a cap, shirt, jacket, underwear, pants and wooden clogs.”
(NARRATOR)
Zalewski was tattooed with the number 156569. Guards referred to prisoners only by number. Many new arrivals were taken directly to the gas chambers. Stronger men and women were used as forced labor.
((Stanislav Zalewski, Auschwitz Survivor)
“If one of the prisoners did not look fit enough of further work. The SS pointed him out with a stick to the camp writer who would write down the prisoners number. Afterwards, these prisoners were pulled out and taken on foot to the crematorium. One day lorries arrived at the barracks and women were let out, ordered to strip naked, and they were loaded as though they were some commodity. These trucks were followed by a soldier on a motorbike as they move toward the crematorium. I still remember today the screams of these women. The transportation lasted several hours until they emptied the barracks.”
(NARRATOR)
Zalewski was imprisoned for his political activities. Most prisoners were Jews sent to Auschwitz to their deaths. The Nazis, so called final solution to wipe out the Jewish race. Zalewski recalls Jewish prisoners arriving on trains wearing bands bearing the Star of David.
((Stanislav Zalewski, Auschwitz Survivor)
“One SS soldier ordered them in one long line with him standing at the front of the line and leading them forward. They followed this one soldier with no signs of worry or anxiety. They were heading toward the crematorium, but only we were aware of this, not them.”
(NARRATOR)
As Soviet soldiers began to approach from the east, the Nazis transferred hundreds of thousands of prisoners to other camps. Tens of thousands died on the journey. Zalewski was taken to the Mauthausen, Guzen camp in Austria. In May 1945 rumors spread of the Allied advance and German guards fled.
((Stanislav Zalewski, Auschwitz Survivor)
On May 5 American military vehicles arrived. Two American soldiers got off. One of them knew some Polish and shouted, you are free. It took me 78 days to get from Nuremberg to Warsaw, I arrived in Warsaw on July 22, 1945 wearing US Army fatigues.
(NARRATOR)
Zalewski is president of the Polish Union of former political prisoners of Nazi prisons and concentration camps. 75 years on, he still struggles to reconcile what happened.
((Stanislav Zalewski, Auschwitz Survivor)
“When I say the Lord's Prayer, there was a phrase, give us our daily bread and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us. I face a dilemma. Can I forgive those who wear an inscriptuion that read, “God is with us on their belt buckles” who killed people with cold premeditation. I put my memories of Auschwitz into a box. I tied it with a string and throw it into the water, metaphorically speaking. I worked, started a family. I have a son and grandchildren. When I visit the camp or when we are talking like we are today, I pull out this box, and present its contents to you. And afterwards I throw it back into the water. There are moments. However, when these memories break into my psyche, causing reflections and questions with no answers. The world has not learned the lesson of what had happened. The world has come full circle, so to speak. This history, this circularity - is powered by people who do not respect the dignity of another human being.”
(NAARRATOR)
Zalewski and around 200 fellow survivors will return to the so called gates of hell for the 75th anniversary of the camps liberation, still determined to teach the world, the lessons of Auschwitz.
(GRETA interviews Henry Ridgwell)
GVS: Henry Ridgwell joins us from London now. Henry. Thank you for joining us. Tell me, what were your impressions are your thoughts, interviewing Mr Zalewski?
HR: I think the first impressions were his incredible recall and his lucidity about what happened 75 years ago. Mr Zalewski is 94-years old. He's seen the full arc really of the latter half of 20th century history from his early days growing up in Warsaw to imprisonment under the Nazis throughout the Second World War, in Auschwitz as you heard there and in other concentration camps run by the Nazis. He’s released after that and life under Soviet rule, and more recently, life in Poland, as a member of the European Union and now renewed worries about the rise of anti-semitism in Europe. So it was just remarkable to speak to a man who could describe his memories in such detail. What you heard there in that report was a fraction of what he spoke of when I met him in Warsaw. He spoke for two hours about his, his memories, many of them very harrowing memories of Auschwitz and of his treatments treatment, and of the treatment of the other people, particularly the Jewish people that he witnessed at Auschwitz. So, as a journalist, as somebody able to meet someone like that it was a privilege, and it's one of those unique experiences that I think I will certainly never forget. And I hope in that report it conveys something of the value that people of this generation, still hold and need to convey to the rest of the world.
GVS: Henry, so much time has passed. 75 years has passed and, you know, and I worry I suppose a lot of people worry that people will not, you know, will lose sight of what did happen and the lasting impact. What did Europe do? What did the EU do what did the nations do to commemorate this, to keep this alive?
HR: Well, there was that ceremony in Auschwitz and there were other ceremonies in several other European cities to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation. And of course in Israel as well. Just to give you an idea I'm here in Golders Green which is a suburb of London. This has a very large Jewish population and that population grew dramatically after the Second World War, or during the Second World War as Jewish people fled Nazi rule in Germany and across Europe. And that phenomena happened in countries across Europe, and there are Jewish communities dotted across the continents, of course. After the Second World War, many Jewish people did go to help set up the State of Israel, but there are still surviving Jewish communities thriving here in Europe. But as we've been discussing many of them say that in the last decade, they have become more fearful. A recent survey of European Jewish communities, suggested that 89% of Jewish people in countries in Europe, felt that Anti-Semitism has been on the rise. So while we commemorate these events and that very important 75th anniversary, their last month at Auschwitz, bringing this right up to date there are fears that, as Mr Zalewski said in that report, those lessons have been learned.
GVS: Henry, which is in Poland, but I am certainly curious what, if anything, Germany did specifically whether Angela Merkel has made any statements or any special acknowledgement of what happened?
HR: Germany is credited across the world as being one country that has managed to atone for its sins during the Second World War, for their huge crimes against humanity that were carried out not only against the Jewish race but against, of course, other populations as well. And we have had over the decade since the Second World War repeated apologies from not only Chancellor Merkel but from other German leaders in history. Of course there was that famous moment when a German leader got down on his knees and apologized for Germany's conduct during the Second World War. Chancellor Merkel attended the ceremonies to mark the 75th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation as well. And she will be deeply involved in other events this year. Of course the outfits anniversary event, just kicks off several events this year that will mark the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. We have the anniversary of the bombing of Dresden coming up. We have the anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima, victory in Europe day, victory over Japan days. So this is a very big year and I think you will see the German government and Chancellor Merkel at the center of those events.
GVS: Did Mr. Zalewski tell you how tough it was for him to go back to Auschwitz and was that his first trip back?
HR: No it wasn't his first trip back. He has made several trips back there and he makes a point of doing so. And being as active as he can, despite being 94 years old in educating younger generations especially. He does numerous school visits, he travels overseas on several occasions throughout the year. And I think he has managed to process the scale, really of the history that he witnessed and the magnitude of those events that he witnessed. What he still struggles to overcome them and what did bring tears to his eyes during that interview were the images that have stuck with him from his time at Auschwitz. He mentioned there, the arrival of the Jewish prisoners, with the Star of David on their hands. Them arriving with their suitcases in half, not knowing that they were being taken directly to the gas chambers. He spoke of the treatment of the women who were stripped naked and put on lorries to be taken to the crematoria. And numerous of those details that came out were so harrowing that it was difficult to put them on camera. One last one that sticks in the mind is that when he was freed, many of the prisoners from the camp looted the local shops. They hadn't had much to eat for ages. And they ate so much that their stomachs could not deal with it they had been starved for years, and the next day they died. It's minor details like that that we don't hear about that I think really stick in his mind and the minds of viewers.
GVS: Henry thank you. Henry Ridgwell, VOA Europe correspondent Thank you Henry.
(GRETA)
The video and photos of the Holocaust are horrific. Documenting and preserving the many items from that very dark period Is vital. And so is it vital to preserve those haunting stories from those who survived the death camps.
Gretchen Skidmore is the director of civic and defense initiatives at the Holocaust Memorial Museum
here in Washington.
(GRETA Interviews Gretchen Skidmore)
GVS: You know, it's just, it's just unthinkable isn't it doing it, they're just no words that I wouldn't go back and look at these videos, it's really, it's hard to describe.
GS: It really is and that's why we spend a lot of time really thinking about the complexities of the history so you have to think about it couldn't have been possible just a few Nazi leaders. It really involves millions of people, some actively collaborating, some really just acquiescing to what was going on around them but trying to understand that phenomenon, trying to understand how and why the Holocaust happened, think critically about it. Think about the impact that the history of European anti semitism had on those events. It’s really, it's really a complex thing and we're trying to help educators do that work in the classrooms every day,
GVS: but are the classrooms really covering it? And I'm always wondering if I go out to the streets say it's to you know to somebody, ‘what's the Holocaust?’ I always wonder what answer I may get and of course, you know, when you go to the holocaust museum here in Washington, just see the shoes. You know, it's, it's, you know, the people who are executed. It’s unbelievable.
GS: I think, I do think there is an interest in this subject. We just had a survey from the Claims conference nine out of 10 Americans surveyed said it's important for students, students to learn this in school. Now teachers are up against some challenges right there are time limits, there's resource limits so as a federal institution, our goal is to make sure they have accessible resources that the framing is there for them. The teachers that might not have training in this have the opportunity to really understand it and and introduce it to students in a way that they can grasp and that it’s relevant to them.
GVS: well you know as Time marches on you need so many of us probably know someone who might know someone who was released from a camp, we're getting beyond that and that's what I worry about is that when family members are no longer around to sort of, you know, to remind others, and for the those others than to talk to other people. I worry about that. 75 years.
GS: so we honor and remember the victims and survivors by encouraging people to study and understand this history and history education. The Holocaust is always relevant but I think right now it is particularly relevant. It’s a study and human behavior and choices people make and how those choices matter today in their lives.
GVS: I don't mean to minimize in any way the Holocaust by asking this next question but other a parallels to the anti semitism today? Are we seeing, you know more of a rise in it? In or even bigotry in other ways?
GS: So people have always, there's been a long history of hatred, a long history of people being susceptible to misinformation. I think what's changed is the presence and the amplification of this through social media. People are no longer isolated in this they're in a community now. And that makes it socially acceptable. And so that means we have to meet those trends in society and in human nature. The rise of hatred and the ongoing, you know, sort of presence of that in communities with awareness, the power of that in the past and how we need to continue to work all across platforms, in order to combat it today.
GVS: So social media is almost an accelerant?
GS: it is, it's an amplifier.
GVS: Any thoughts on how to sort of reverse set up an amplifier to do just the opposite?
GS: Now we have a very active Instagram page for example. Reach youth where they are. That's where they go for information that's where we post about history of anti Semitism. The role it played in the Holocaust, key facts about understanding, enough about that phenomenon, to recognize it today and to be able to think critically, what am I seeing what should I do about that what's my range of responses on that, and we have to be where they're going. And so, social media, other platforms YouTube, other things that are on our website are an opportunity for people to engage in the facts of the history and how it can inform their understanding of today.
GVS: You know, it's so horrible that when you see the videos you think that this could possibly be in the sense of because it's just so it's so horrific so evil.
GS: but I think that, you know, we, we can't change human nature, but we can respond and we can change how we set up structures that educate people to see the dangers, when hatred is unchecked. And that's what we learned from the history of the Holocaust.
GVS: And let me say again, my next statement is not to minimize what happened Holocaust because it stands alone, but you know I tip my hat to the, to the museum because the holocaust museum here in Washington is one of the few entities that has condemned as genocide what has happened to the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, as they get pushed out into Bangladesh.
GS: So when you look at early warning indicators and societies that help us not only respond. Once there have been group targeted violence but also to get people understand that we can look for these indicators and prevent some of these things that's the mission of the museum,
GVS: but it's interesting how you know everyone said never again. Now we've had Rwanda and now we have this mean there is sort of a there's a little bit of, you know, looking the other way.
GS: But we can also recognize that there are structures that are possible to implement within the United States government and a lot of the work of our centers at the museum are about engaging governments in setting up structures that recognize these things and respond early.
GVS: you said to help in terms of having educators that have questions of time, so is that teachers don't have the time in the classroom?
GS: Sometimes we don't have time sometimes we..
GVS: How can you not have time for something when it’s so important because it has so many branches in terms of our, history is important, we have past behavior, we don’t want to repeat behavior so we can take appropriate action.
GS: there's a lot of a lot of pressure on teachers to cover a lot of subjects and certainly there's an appropriate emphasis on STEM. There’s things that, that must be covered right but we know that the history of the Holocaust, the history of Western civilization, the history of the world is being taught in a lot of different disciplines now. It might not just be the history classroom, it might be the English classroom might be, it might be civics, it might be sort of political science, it might be sociology. So what we're trying to do is make sure that all of those educators see that the history of the Holocaust and an understanding of these types of events hatred and communities and you know the history of anti semitism, they can be incorporated into other disciplines and courses.
GVS: Well I have to give another shout out to the museum because it does help capture help capture the atrocities and educate, just by going to the museum, do a collection. Thank you. Thank you. Gretchen Skidmore us holocaust museum here in Washington.
(GRETA)
It is 75 Years since the gas chambers and the Holocaust. And yet the Neo Nazi movement is alive and well today. One man, once a member of a Neo Nazi punk rock band is trying to change that.
Today Christian Picciolini is the author of several books and the founder of the Free Radicals project - which aims to free radicalized youth from the same racist views he once held.
Plugged In's Mil Arcega spoke with him on Skype.
(Mil Arcega report)
((NARRATOR))
Christian Picciolini is an expert on hate.
“In 1987, I was recruited into America’s first Neo-Nazi skinhead group”
Picciolini’s testimony to Congress in 2019 was the latest step in his transformation that began as a discontented teenager - from a loving, hard-working immigrant family.Former
((Christian Picciolini, Founder Free Radicals Project))
“So I went searching for a sense of identity, community and purpose, sort of on the fringes – having been bullied for most of those 14 years. And on those fringes I found a narrative. A man walked up to me in an alley when I was 14 years old. I was smoking a joint and he pulled the joint from my mouth and looked me in the eyes and he said that’s what the Communists and the Jews want you to do to keep you docile. And I have to be honest at 14 I didn't know what a communist was or even if I'd met a Jewish person, or even what the word docile mean. But it was the first time in my life that I felt that someone had actually seen me, that had included me.”
((NARRATOR))
He stayed with the movement for 8 years.
((Christian Picciolini, Founder Free Radicals))
“I started a record store in 1995 to sell racist racist music that I was importing and making as well. But at that record store I was also selling different kinds of music – things like punk rock music and hip hop and heavy metal and I started to meet people who were black, who were Jewish, who were gay for the first time really and having meaningful interaction with them. So over, you know the course of having that record store, I started to really challenge the demonization that was happening in my head with humanization. and it was those people that I'm so grateful for because they knew who I was. And yet they still chose to challenge me with compassion. and it was the compassion that I received from them at a time when I really, I least deserved it. That was the most powerful transformative moment for me.”
((NARRATOR))
Picciolini has written several books about his journey and founded an organization called Free Radicals to give young people better options than the pull of extremism.
((Christian Picciolini, Founder Free Radicals))
What I’m seeing with White nationalism today is very similar to what I saw in the early days of let’s say al Qaeda or ISIS. The propaganda tactics are the same, recruitment is very similar, the use of high quality marketing videos showing kind of this, this hope of of glory, if you join the fight.”
((NARRATOR)) ((PHOTOS montage to close))
Picciolini says he is trying to be the person he wishes approached him when he was 14-years old … so many years ago.
Mil Arcega VOA News Washington
(GRETA)
Christian is one example of someone who turned his hate around.
But violence, hate and xenophobia are growing in some places in some countries.
Deadly shooting sprees in El Paso, Texas and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania have prompted the FBI to declare domestic attacks as dangerous to US national security as ISIS and al-Qaeda.
(Christopher Wray, FBI Director)
“A majority of the domestic terrorism cases that we've investigated are motivated by some version of what you might call white supremacist violence but it includes other things as well. We're particularly focused on domestic terrorism, especially racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists. Not only is the terror threat diverse, it's unrelenting in the last several months alone, just to name a few important examples.”
(GRETA)
Just as the number of hate crimes has risen in some parts of the world, one thing remains a constant and that is the fight against it.
Joining us from New York is Oren Segal of the Anti-Defamation League.
Mr. Segal is vice president of the ADL's Center on Extremism, which combats anti-Semitism and extremism. Combats anti-semitism and leads a training initiative for law enforcement public officials and companies in the private sector.
GVS: Mr. Segal, first of all, what is the Anti Defamation League?
OS: (audio garbled) Well, the ADL is an over a hundred year old organization, whose mission is to not only stop the defamation of Jewish people but also to secure justice for all. Much of our work is focused on battling extremism and hate wherever it may arise.
GVS: Have there been an uptick in attacks, for anti-semitic attacks and extremist action like that?
OS: In the past, you know year and a half, we have seen the deadliest attack against the Jewish community in American history in Pittsburgh. And that was followed 6 months to the date (inaudible), more recently in Jersey city in ?? New York. (audio grabled). Combine that with the rise in hate crimes in general, it emboldened white supremacy in this country. We are in a unique moment in history.
GVS: And what is it, how is social media been a contributing factor to the uptick?
OS: I think social media is the key. Most of us spend the majority of our time, you know, looking at our feeds, whether it's established platforms like Facebook and Twitter or even for a younger generation - on other platforms. And the same place that my kids spend their time, is where my investigators spend their time, trying to root out and identify extremist behavior (inaudible) hate, xenophobia and more broadly the glorification of hate is normalized (inaudible).
GVS: The FBI Director, Christopher Wray is talking about how, you know, how important it is, the whole growing issue of anti Semitism is too and the terror attacks, is to the FBI. But there's a big difference in my mind, between responding to a shooting, or a situation and catching it before it happens. Do you find that the FBI has been effective at sort of helping to stop some of the violence that's gone on some of the anti-Semitism violence?
OS: I think when we look at sort of extremist violence more broadly, certainly the Jewish community is in the crosshairs but it's not only the Jewish community. You know, look at El Paso, and the Hispanic community or other incidents that we see across the country. And I think the FBI is doing a pretty good job in the sense that, even the last couple of weeks, we have seen several white supremacists in particular, have been arrested for various plots in this country to do damage. Now, you know, that is something that occurs, even though, domestic extremists are not designated the way you know ISIS and Al Qaeda are. So law enforcement and government have different tools to deal with foreign terrorist organizations. But I think there are steps that can be taken to improve how we understand the domestic terror threat. But I don't think that law enforcement is ignoring it. I just think it's a bigger challenge, because so much of what motivates domestic extremists is freedom of speech.
GVS: So what are the steps that could be taken?
OS: We've been advocating at ADL for the Terrorism Prevention Act which at its base form requires government to at least collect data on extremist domestic terror incidents in this country. You know you need to have the data before you give resource to the threat. And that's why at ADL we have a heat map where we provide information on terrorist plots and attacks, white supremacist propaganda, which has nearly doubled this past year 2019 from the previous year. As well as anti-Semitic incidents and other hate types of activity. Data is key to understanding where we put our resources to combat the threat.
GVS: And beyond that, do you have some other suggestions? I mean obviously getting data is important but are there other suggestions that can be used to combat this?
OS: Yeah I think this requires a wholistic approach, right? It's not just law enforcement, it's not just government, but as you mentioned earlier, so much of what is motivating people to violence is the memes and the narratives and tropes that are online that can spread pretty much anywhere at any time. And so, the tech industry in and of itself has a responsibility. Not just to enforce their terms of services, but to have some corporate responsibility. It's not unreasonable for users of these platforms to expect that they do more to protect their users and frankly all the communities.
GVS: How do you separate the First Amendment and speech from the hate speech extremism?
OS: Well you know hate speech is very much protected in this country. What we do is try to identify that hate speech in order to find clues of where, you know, violence may be incubated. And so, you know, it's a difficult line, we don't want government to, you know, be able to investigate anybody at any time because of the beliefs that they have. But there are certain clues, certain glorification of violence, certain tropes that really animate these extremist movements that law enforcement needs to make sure that they're on top of. And this is where ADL helps.
GVS: Thank you. Oren Segal, from ADL’s Center on Extremism.
(GRETA)
That's all the time we have for today.
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