A woman holds a child in her arms as Nazis prepare to murder them and their neighbours, 1942

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image showing A woman holds a child in her arms as Nazis prepare to murder them and their neighbours, 1942

Cybermat4707 on July 17th, 2024 at 16:21 UTC »

‘There were people of every age—children, old people. They had been told to gather because they were going to be taken to work somewhere and that they should take some food and their children because there would be nurseries in which they would be looked after…The Jews had a sort of armband. Then they were told to undress and they were thrown into the pits. At the end of the day I went to look; the earth was moving.’

- Testimony of Nikolai Olkhusky

When the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union on the 22nd of June 1941, their forces quickly overtook Ukraine - the home of 2.45 million Jewish people. Those who could not escape were murdered.

On September 29th and 30th, 33,771 Jewish men, women, and children were murdered in the ravine of Babi Yar near Kyiv by German forces. 33,771 people, each of them just as alive and human as you are right now, murdered for their ethnicity. Another 100,000 - 150,000 Jews, Romani, Soviet POWs, and Communist Party members would be murdered at Babi Yar throughout the war.

‘… the soldier must learn fully to appreciate the necessity for the severe but just retribution that must be meted out to the subhuman species of Jewry.’

- From the Severity Order issued by Walther von Reichenau, general of the German 6th Army, on the 10th of October 1941

‘My nanny was not able to imagine the danger that was awaiting us and took me there. After we passed the first cordon and heard the gun fire she understood that they were going to kill us. I cried and wept. A German walking with us pushed us aside and pointed to a narrow passage and said: “Make the child sit down there” … The line of those condemned to death moved forward and the German lost sight of us. We stayed there until it was dark.

- Testimony of Wassili Michailowski, Babi Yar survivor

Babi Yar was not the only site of such massacres. In August, German troops and their collaborators murdered the entire adult Jewish population of Bila Tserkva. Disturbed by the cries of the babies and toddlers who remained, some German troops attempted to have their lives spared. However, these children were murdered on the 21st on the orders of von Reichenau. On the 27th and 28th, 23,600 Hungarian and Ukrainian Jews had been murdered at Kamianets-Podilskyi.

‘The wailing was indescribable. I shall never forget the scene throughout my life. I find it very hard to bear. I particulary [sic] remember a small fair-haired girl who took me by the hand. She too was shot later... The grave was near some woods. It was not near the rifle-range. The execution must have taken place in the afternoon at about 3:30 or 4:00… Many children were hit four or five times before they died.’

- August Häfner recalling his murder of children at Bila Tserkva, while on trial for war crimes

In 1942, the Jewish inhabitants of a village called Ivanhorod were massacred. This photo was taken of some of their final moments by one of the perpetrators (it was common for such massacres to be used as disturbed photo opportunities). It was then sent back to Germany, but was intercepted in the Warsaw post office by a young resistance fighter named Jerzy Tomaszewski, who sent a copy on to London. The photo was then published in 1959.

A West German far-right newspaper, the German Soldiers’ Newspaper, denounced the photos as fakes in 1962, claiming that the weapons and uniforms used were not those used by Germans during WWII. However, the photo was verified as authentic by Professor Roman Karsk at the request of West German publisher Verlag Kurt Desch, and again by the Polish government. Additionally, a German veteran named Kurt Vieweg stated that the weapons and uniforms in the photo were the same as those used by his unit.

‘What better way, in short, to make the world safe again for anti-Semitism [sic] than by denying the Holocaust?’

- Walter Reich

The world cannot forget or deny the Holocaust or any of the other genocides and atrocities committed by the Nazis, or by anyone else. To do so is to invite more indescribable suffering and death to destroy countless lives.

‘It’s difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart. It’s utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more. In the meantime, I must hold on to my ideals. Perhaps the day will come when I’ll be able to realize them!’

- From the diary of Anne Frank, 15 year-old victim of the Holocaust

SpankThuMonkey on July 17th, 2024 at 16:56 UTC »

Yet people tattoo swastikas on themselves to this day.

I’d like to clockwork orange their eyes open and force them to see everything they pretend they are knowledgeable enough to support. See how quickly they regret their ignorance.

bard329 on July 17th, 2024 at 17:13 UTC »

A couple days ago, a group of nazi's marched through nashville with swastika flags. Yesterday, I was scrolling tiktok and came across a video of a man with SS thunderbolts tattooed on his throat, the comments were overwhelmingly supportive of him. A couple months ago, i commented on a tweet posted by someone with a username containing "waffen" and "88". Before i even noticed their username, i called them a nazi for something they had posted (which was very pro-nazi). Before I knew it, about 30-40 others swarmed my comment with things like "you call us 'nazi' like its a bad thing" or "when things kick off, we'll look for you".

I'm not saying we're on the verge of another holocaust. I don't think we're at that point. But there are definitely things happening that encourage people like this to start popping their heads out of their burrows and become a bit more brave in making their presence known.

"History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes"