Auschwitz was liberated 77 years ago

I'm really not sure that the EEC was set up specifically "so that fascist movements ... would never come to power again"

The EEC initial aim was to bring about economic integration in Europe, including a common market and customs union with six founding members: namely  Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany. It was comprised of a common set of institutions linking to the institutions of the earlier European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). The effective aim of the original ECSC was to regulate the European coal and steel industries with the principle of supranationalism but also to prevent war for economic or territorial reasons as detailed under the The Schuman Declaration.

Some have argued that rather than creating an equal community of nation states under an Economic Union - Germany as the wealthiest member state has gone on to effectively dominate the EEC and later the EU with regard to German interests and economic decisions, which have not necessarily been of benefit to other EU nation states. Some have gone as far as to refer to these interests as an effective third reich with Germany as the head of a federalised europe. Whether that is or is not has any validity is a whole other discussion.

I visited Auschwitz a number of years ago and, as one poster previously stated, it did leave it's mark.

I firmly believe that it is a place that everyone should visit, not soley to bear witness to what evils the Nazis perpetrated but to understand the depths of depravity that the human species is capable of plumbing.

The true horror of Auschwitz for me was not just the scale but the industrialisation of murder and torture.

If you stop to think about it - people sat down and discussed, designed and refined the most efficient way to commit mass murder.

There has been much talk about how the Soviets killed as many, if not more; but not even Stalin went to the lengths the Nazis did in the application of the Final Solution. Architects, engineers, doctors, scientists, accountants - professional people willingly participated and contributed. Yet none of these are ever really mentioned, the focus was always on the camp officials, guards and the Nazi hierarchy.

Look up along the rail tracks in through the gates of Birkenau and to try and imagine the sights, the sounds, the smells.

Remember.

We have to ensure the we and future gererations always remember.

The images are even more haunting in colour. I cannot imagine the pain that I would possibly feel to think of a loved one facing this fate….

It's in Poland though. 600km from German border.

I went in late November a few years ago. It snowed and was bitterly cold which made it even more bleak. I don't think you can ever prepare yourself for how utterly overwhelming it is. The worst part for me was in the huts where they "slept", the stench of death still lingers. I felt nauseous and unsteady coming out of there. I think of the whole experience fairly often and it reminds me how lucky I am. Agree that everyone should visit, it should be part of the school curriculum imo.

Exactly, whatever you say, say nothing 🤐

Interesting, on a BBC site they say the 1946 investigation said: "Despite this, in a later statement they said they had discovered no mass graves.

The existence of mass graves was known about from witness testimony, but the failure to provide persuasive physical evidence led some to question whether it could really be true that hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed here."

@[Deleted User]

Yeah I read an interesting book called Deaf in Hitlers Europe. The Deaf community were systematically targeted straightaway when the Nazis rose to power ( am Deaf myself hence the interest)

The Germans do talk about it. Children in primary school learn about the Holocaust. They have never attempted to minimise or forget what happened.

Disturbingly other countries like France and Austria who had thousands of citizens enthusiastically helping the Germans have never faced up to it or had he reckoning Germany has had.

Yes, but the whole article is about the discovery of huge pits around the site. I know you said in another thread that the far right is a myth, or not a problem or something along those lines - are we adding holocaust denial to your profile?

I'm just quoting the BBC, dont come at me with your holier than thou nonsense.

The far right is a big problem here, because they are in government 🙄

From the records it is known that more Jewish people were murdered at Treblinka than at any other Nazi extermination camp apart from Auschwit-Birkenau.

I believe the author is making reference to holocaust deniers who deny that death camps such as those in Treblinka and Auschwitz-Birkenau ever existed

Considering the number of people known to have been murdered or worked to death in these camps- there is no doubt that mass graves exist.

Prior to the end of the War the camp was obliterated by the Nazis. The site effectively reminded largely undisturbed until 2010

And as detailed in the article, the archaeological study undertaken in Treblika in 2010 discovered three mass graves. Subsequent archaeological excavations to confirm uncovered shoes, ammunition, and bones. These finds along with ample evidence of human remains of bone fragments and ash found on site show that any doubts about the existence of mass graves at Treblinka have no basis.

https://www.livescience.com/44443-treblinka-archaeological-excavation.html

That's bull. I'm German and we did all this in school multiple times. Also there is a massive holocaust memorial right in the center of Berlin. And most it not all former KZs in Germany are now memorial sites.

Especially when there are enthusiastic neo-Nazis like our re-reg friend knocking around.