Remembrance
Nazi Fatigue: Responsibility or Unjust Burden?
Published August 11, 2009 @ 05:03PM PT
Over 60 years after the liberation of the death camps, Germany is preparing itself for its last prosecution of an accused Nazi war criminal. Prosecutors in Munich have thus far secured 22 witnesses to testify against John Demjanjuk, who was extradited to Germany by the US earlier this year to face charges of accessory to 27,900 counts of murder.
Earlier today, former German army officer Josef Scheungraber was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for a massacre of civilians in Italy. Many Germans, however, are experiencing a bit of Nazi-fatigue:
"We hear about the trial every day on TV, we read about it every day in the newspaper, politicians make sure it is as the top of the agenda," says Ursula Weber-Kelke, a retired schoolteacher from Darmstadt. "We are fatigued from the constant attention to it. It never stops.
Cambodians Observe "Day of Anger"
Published May 20, 2009 @ 06:06PM PT
Cambodians marked the annual "Day of Anger" today, in remembrance of the 1.7 million victims of the Khmer Rouge regime. An estimated 2,000 people gathered at the Choeung Ek "killing field" just south of the capital, Phnom Penh, to watch a group of students re-enact scenes of torture and execution.
Copies of a new textbook --- the first to detail the history of the genocide in Cambodia --- were also handed out at the ceremony, and distributed to schools throughout the country:
Youk Chhang, the head of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, said the government-approved book, "A History of Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979)," was reviewed by Cambodian and foreign scholars and includes lessons from genocides in Nazi Germany, Rwanda and elsewhere.
Survivors criticized the slow-as-molasses turning of the wheels of justice for the crimes of the Khmer Rouge, as the first of five defendants is only now finally on trial in a UN-backed tribunal in Phnom Penh:
"Why is the court taking so long to prosecute these leaders?" asked Tat Seang Lay, 47, whose two brothers were killed by the Khmer Rouge. "I want to see justice. I wish the court could end its trial process within the next few months."
Remembering Armenia
Published April 24, 2009 @ 06:43PM PT
On April 24, 1915, the Ottoman Empire rounded up some 250 Armenian intellectuals in Constantinople, marking the beginning of the genocide that would see the demise of 1.5 million Armenians.
On his blog "Life's a Journey...", Hovig (from whom I stole above the video) wrote today:
"Stories of extreme hardship are shared by every single genocide survivor, not just Armenians. They each have their own stories of hardship and survival that we, as the next generation, must honor by fighting to have these atrocities recognized and preventing their repetition. The debt is due.
And as we honor the Armenian Genocide today, let us also pray for God's people who continue to suffer persecution and war through out the world."
On WaPo's "44" blog, Michael Fletcher parses the politics behind President Obama's less-than-genocide commemoration remarks. (Which is particularly interesting, given that Obama spoke out against denial during his Holocaust remembrance speech on Thursday.)
After watching the survivor speak in the video, it's not difficult to understand why the lack of official recognition of the genocide remains a sore spot for the Armenian community.
(Also watch Archbishop Vicken Aykazian's remarks at last week's "Honor the Past, Act Now for Darfur" event by the White House, filmed and posted by Righteous Pictures.)
Remembering Rwanda: Fifteen Years Later
Published April 07, 2009 @ 06:43PM PT
"At a stadium in Kigali, thousands of candles spelt out the word 'hope' in three languages."
A 100-day commemoration of the 100-day genocide that took over 800,000 lives began today in Rwanda. While the country memorializes its victims, remarks on its progress, and looks hopefully towards the future, some wounds remain too deep to heal:
"When the killings started, we could not carry Enid [her sister]," recalls Ms. Mubamugeo. "She was too sick to walk," she says. "When Interhamwe militias came down to our house, we fled. So we left her behind. They must have killed her because we have never met again."
