On Tuesday last (27th January)...
...as I sat (lumped) around the house feeling sorry for myself...
...because this damned little bug was rendering me useless...
...I went against my usual habits (of not putting on the tv during the day)...
...and opted to mong-out in front of the BBC News Channel for a while.
No "normal" kind of news that day though....
...rather hours of coverage of the events taking place at Auschwitz for
"Holocaust Memorial Day" 2015.
So, I thought "OK I'll watch for a while"...
...but have to admit that I wasn't particularly bothered to spend too much time doing so.
Then.....
...as I listened...
...I mean REALLY listened...
...especially to Meryl Streep's commentary on Steven Spielberg's film ...
...I became very, very still.
I watched the coverage to the end...
...and then looked in the Radio Times to see what else was happening that day...
...and found a number of programs relating to the same subject...
...which I also sat through.
Something happened...
...can't put it into words exactly....
...but I just KNEW that I HAD to "do something"...
...like ....NOW.
So, me being me....
...and doing what I do...
...I got on the internet and found loads and loads of information and photographs to sift through....
...while waiting for a tri-fold book base to dry.
A lot of info and images came from Wikipedia and Google Images...
...but I found YAD VASHEM most helpful.
(Their Facebook page is here.)
Yes, I know that I have used images from the internet...
...but I was doing this project for personal purpose.
It will never be for sale...
...and besides...
...I'm not really sure that I can agree with "copyright" on any of these photos.
They should belong to the world under the circumstances.
But I want to share the fruits of my labour here with you.....
...just because.....
...it was something I had to do...
...and it might inspire someone else to do a similar thing...
...although the subject matter may be very different.
I can't say "Enjoy".
...but I will say "take note"....
....and...
....watch Part 2 of "Shoah" on BBC 4 tonight if you can.
I had Part 1 on the IPlayer as I worked on finishing this book yesterday.
Four and a half hours of memories.
It made the whole thing "come alive" for me as I focussed on my task.
(Making this star made me feel quite uncomfortable. Thinking about those people that must have turned-out thousands and thousands of these "death sentences" for others to wear.)
It had to have a gate on the front cover....
"Arbeit macht frei" - "Work makes you free" was over the gates of all Nazi camps. The one at Auschwitz was the one I used here.
Apologies to any Hebrew readers out there...in case my lettering isn't perfect! It reads SHOAH - "catastrophe" - the name by which the Holocaust is known.
Striped camp clothing and number of prisoner. Coloured triangle marked out religious denomination. Yellow was for Jews.
(The number was plucked out of the air. I have no idea to whom it may have been assigned...nor do I intend to look. I want it to be "anyone" to me)
Map of the area....and camp plans
Pictures of prisoners. I used the ones that I found most poignant ...and ones with people looking straight at you through the lens of the camera. Connecting across the miles and years.
Not very good photos of the whole thing...
...finished off being tied together with shoe-laces...
You can probably guess why.....
I went to bed last night feeling that a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.
Strange how things take you (or make you) isn't it?....or not...
There it is.
C
