Saturday, July 28, 2007

Forgiving Dr Mengele

I watched this movie last night. It "...tells the story of a shocking act of forgiveness by Auschwitz survivor Eva Mozes Kor and the firestorm of criticism it has provoked.....
Eva and her twin sister, Miriam, were victims of Nazi doctor Josef Mengele's cruel genetic experiments--an experience that would haunt them their entire lives."
Eva is an amazing woman and the movie provides an unexpected insight into the ongoing challenges Jewish people face around how to acknowledge the truth of what happened while still needing and wanting to move their lives forward.
Nazi Germany and the Concentration camps have always held a particular interest (that word seems a bit lame given the magnitude of what happened) for me. When I was eight or nine I watched the WWII documentary that was among the first to show exactly what happened. It had some very graphic footage and it stayed with me - probably a good reason why it was on at 11pm at night! Then in the third form as part of Social Studies we studied the Nazi's. None of the other classes did and given I was, at the time, in the less than stellar academic class, it surprised me that we did. Perhaps that is what has driven my ongoing fascination with war, things military and people's experience of both!

No comments: