The Presence of Absence

Last night I watched a program on National Geographic Channel called ‘Nazi Scrapbooks from Hell.’

This program explores the discovery and contents of two photo scrapbooks made in 1944 and 1945. Both were made public just a few years ago. One was the personal photo album of a Nazi officer implicated in the Auschwitz horrors. It shows Nazis laughing, eating and drinking with their friends and families. They are seen relaxing after a hard day of murdering Jews. One of the people interviewed noted that these people were not monsters, as much as we would like for them to be. They were average, everyday Germans who committed monstrous acts. The question is, how could average, everyday people do such horrendous things?

The other photo album shows the arrival of a trainload of Hungarian Jews at Auschwitz. Photos of scenes in the camps are extremely rare. I mean, why would the Nazis leave photographic evidence of their atrocities? One of the people interviewed, who is Jewish but not a Holocaust survivor, noted that the overwhelming sensation of visiting Auschwitz is “the presence of absence.“

That phrase -- the presence of absence -- really struck a chord with me. I have been to Auschwitz once, and I’m going back next year on a service project. I understand what that man meant. The feeling that is so predominant at Auschwitz and its satellite camps, and indeed at all Nazi death camps, is the absence of the millions of people who passed through the gates of the death camps, and who were murdered there.

The other thing that was absent was compassion, morality, humanity in the Nazis who were part of the efforts to exterminate all Jews from Europe.  From the cooks to the guards to the officers and the commandant, every single person who worked at these camps was guilty of crimes against humanity. So, too, were those high up in the Nazi hierarchy. Only a tiny fraction of the Nazis involved in the Holocaust was ever brought to justice. So there also is an absence of justice.

Let us not forgot the millions of Germans, Poles and Ukrainians who were, by their silence, complicit in the atrocities carried out against the Jews. German citizens wildly cheered the rise of the Nazi party. Austrian citizens welcomed Hitler to Vienna. Ukrainians were among the most feared, and most cruel, of the camp guards. Polish Catholics turned against their Jewish neighbors. Where was their humanity?

I cannot begin to imagine what life under the Nazis was like. Family members turned against each other. Neighbors turned in neighbors. Friends turned against friends. No one could be trusted. The risk of being suspected of harboring a Jew or of being a 'Jew lover' was instant death for the entire family. It must have been so incredibly terrifying for everybody.

But there were brave people who did step forward in defiance. Some were killed outright. Some were sent to the death camps. Many worked in secret, providing food and a hiding place for their Jewish neighbors. The finer qualities of humanity were not absent in those brave souls.

I see a growing absence of caring, of compassion, among too many Americans. People cheer and laugh at the woman who reported a sexual attack by the most recent nominee to the Supreme Court. People enthusiastically embrace the lies told by the president. A far-right radical drives his car into a crowd of people protesting against the KKK, neo-Nazi crowd marching in Virginia, killing a young woman. The president, rather than condemning the violence and the very principles espoused by the KKK and the neo-Nazis, claims that there are "fine people on both sides."

Our country needs to be very careful. The current administration is showing a decided absence of compassion, morality and humanity. The president continues his attacks on the news media. He has questioned whether protests should be permitted. He demands loyalty to himself personally, as did Hitler, rather than to the country and to the US Constitution. We have torn little children from their parents and locked them in cages. Congress is doing everything in its power to limit access to affordable health care. Verbal attacks on Muslims, on Hispanics and on women are growing. The president insulted the widow of a US military man killed in combat in Africa.

Americans need to be very careful about the threat to our freedoms. It is far too easy to remain complacent while the government chips away at our rights. Be vigilant. Make your voices heard. And most importantly, get out and vote next month!