The Holocaust ~ Our Duty

Chapter One

I

LIVERPOOL is proud of its large Jewish community and mindful too of what the Nazis had drawn up in their plans for the occupation of Britain, their particular intent with regard to how they were intending to occupy Liverpool, and what this would mean.

The directive makes chilling reading. For revisionist historians who argue that we should not have been so obstinate in our refusal to negotiate with Adolf Hitler, it is a salutary lesson.

For they had plans too for Edinburgh which puts into the grass that they only thought in terms of a part of England below a line drawn from the mouth of The Severn Estuary - the City of Gloucester - to The Wash on the East Anglian Peninsula. To foreigners, annoyingly, the geographical term England meant Britain. So when the Luftwaffe were bombing Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, they would still refer to England.

Their plans are mirrored today by what happens to peace-loving peoples who fall to the total absence of mercy of Daesh.

It is frightening, that here in the United Kingdom, our news does not show us all of the graphic images of brutality that the people of Cyprus see on their news bulletins. We are too far away. Cyprus is on the doorstep, so to speak.

II

It is our duty to remember the Holocaust and to ensure that we teach this whole dark episode in world history in our schools.

It is sad to learn this morning that people in their forties have a cursory knowledge; some children, ironically, have a better understanding of the Holocaust than their parents.

One book sharpened my mind on this subject - outside the independent study of the Holocaust in the 1990s and through the Noughties, prompted by my visits to Berlin, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and to Jerusalem.

The Past is Myself

by Christabel Bielenberg

Chapter Two

I

This Memoir by Christabel Bielenberg was first published in 1988, British by birth and then became a German citizen in the 1930s upon her marriage to her husband Peter. After the war, the Bielenbergs emigrated to Ireland with their family, Christabel Bielenberg became a Citizen of the Republic of Ireland and, throughout her life, a tireless advocate of mercy, compassion and reconciliation.

With the brutality we see in Daesh-occupied towns and cities in its so-called self-appointed islamic state caliphate, a study of the Holocaust is crucial, for at the centre of each ‘doctrine’ is the debauched human nature that has one intent: to exterminate all those who do not follow the warped, twisted, bent and evil ideologies that Daesh and Nazism and now Neo-Nazism propagate.

Just because this so-called caliphate has been defeated militarily, in no way makes it equivalent to the total defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945. This time, the defeated have merely gone underground, an ever-present threat with much of their ideology intact.

How do we deal with this? It is difficult to find an answer.

Chapter Three

I

Only today, we read that a prominent think-tank does not see the European Union surviving beyond twenty years. Its dismemberment, it suggests, makes European war inevitable as people once again return to borders and boundaries. As if to rub salt into the wound, it states that many now feel that the upcoming European Election on May 23, 2019, will be the last such elections.

Why this massive shift towards upheaval?

One of the main reasons cited is Brexit. I look at this very soberly. I am saddened too. It is now clear, if this think-tank is correct, to see just what impact the United Kingdom did have behind the scenes before David Cameron listened to the minority and gave in to a simplistic referendum that left the average voter thinking that we could just cross the box and walk out of Europe two years later. 

II

For a nation at peace, the lessons of history are always difficult to assimilate, so the majority choose to sidestep them. They cover their ears, retreat into reality TV, binge TV, and no longer ask What can I do for my Country, but instead demand to know What can my country do for me, Me, ME!?!?

I voted to remain. But I believe in democracy and therefore gave full support to enabling our country to exit the European Union. My hope was that we could do this cleanly, and rebuild trust with our European Partners, and especially Germany and France.

This morning, I read that Cyprus is negotiating with France to help it to develop its deep water ports. Why?

Because it has given up on Britain because Britain is too embroiled, distracted and, bluntly, not interested in helping Cyprus. Is this true? Or is this the Greek Cypriot government stirring things up in the hope of winning the advantage; or is it the same government following the policy of divide and rule, and oh, while we're at it, run with the hare and the hounds? Is this cynical? No. It has an eye on history.

History is our compass, giving us our course for the future as we see that from which we have travelled, into the waters we currently find ourselves, and wish to navigate ourselves out safely.

22 May 2019
All Rights Reserved

© Kenneth Thomas Webb 2022

Image Courtesy of my Nieces Suzie and Caroline and to each of whom all rights are reserved