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"On 29 January 1943 an order was given that all Roma and Sinti (Gypsies) living within the Reich were to be deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. This followed previous orders which had expelled Gypsies from Germany to occupied countries and to concentration camps, including Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Gypsies, like Jews, were targeted for total destruction by the Nazis. Their rights as citizens had been removed by the Nuremberg Laws and they were subject to registration. Many thousands were murdered in the death camps and concentration camps, in mass shootings or died of starvation or disease. Others were used for medical experimentation or as forced labour and some were released on condition of forced sterilisation. It is impossible to know how many Gypsies were murdered in the Porrajmos (The Devouring). However, it is estimated that up to 50% of Europe’s Gypsies – upwards of 200,000 – were murdered."
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'Words are a powerful tool, but ones so easily misused'.
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It was unfortunate that Hitler had such a gift with words, he had very little else going for him.
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https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005200
"The "euthanasia" program was Nazi Germany's first program of mass murder. It predated the genocide of European Jewry (the Holocaust) by approximately two years. The program was one of many radical eugenic measures which aimed to restore the racial "integrity" of the German nation. It aimed to eliminate what eugenicists and their supporters considered "life unworthy of life": those individuals who—they believed—because of severe psychiatric, neurological, or physical disabilities represented both a genetic and a financial burden on German society and the state."....
"Using a practice developed for the child "euthanasia" program, in the autumn of 1939 T4 planners began to distribute carefully formulated questionnaires to all public health officials, public and private hospitals, mental institutions, and nursing homes for the chronically ill and aged. The limited space and wording on the forms, as well as the instructions in the accompanying cover letter, combined to give the impression that the survey was intended simply to gather statistical data.
The form's sinister purpose was suggested only by the emphasis placed upon the patient's capacity to work and by the categories of patients which the inquiry required health authorities to identify. The categories of patients were:
—those suffering from schizophrenia, epilepsy, dementia, encephalitis, and other chronic psychiatric or neurological disorders
—those not of German or "related" blood
—the criminally insane or those committed on criminal grounds
—those who had been confined to the institution in question for more than five years. "
Not so small steps.... :-(
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Unfortunately, many of those stages are happening in the Western world.
Certain groups are easy pickings.
It comes to something when the UN slams a Government for their 'inhuman' treatment of the disabled. Yet that Government chooses ignores them.
Then when that Government's own High Court:
"ruled that government changes to the disability benefit system “blatantly discriminate” against people with mental health problems and are in breach of their human rights"
It gets pretty scary when someone who has written of his agreement with eugenics gets a Government job, I think people should start to worry. He may have had to stand down, but he nearly got there!
Hitler started with 'euthenising' the disabled in 1939. It estimated that close to 250,000 disabled people were murdered under the Nazi regime.
Unfortunately, these are the forgotten 250,000.
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Humanity has an extraordinary capacity for victimisation & self-righteousness, for turning the spotlight on those who are different.
Those of different faiths, the sick & the disabled are often turned into social pariahs.
Do not indulge in rancour or hatred.
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"The power of words is the theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2018.
Words can make a difference – both for good and evil.
'I want to go on living even after my death! And that’s why I am so grateful to God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop myself and to express all that’s in me. When I write I can shake off all my cares; my sorrow disappears; my spirits are revived.' - Anne Frank, written in her diary, 5 April 1944
Spoken and written words from individuals, corporations, community organisations or the state, can have a huge impact, whether good or bad."
Saturday, 27 January, 2018
On Holocaust Memorial Day 2018, Holocaust Memorial Day Trust releases the findings of a survey of the UK public on hate speech.
Over a quarter (27%*) of all UK adults have personally witnessed one or more incidents of hate speech in the last year and one in 10 (12%) have witnessed more than five, according to research released today on Holocaust Memorial Day (Saturday 27 January 2018). The online survey, commissioned by Holocaust Memorial Day Trust shows that 41% of those who witnessed hate speech in the last year said they saw an incident based on a person’s race or ethnicity. Over half (59%) witnessed it on social media, 41% in the street, 23% on public transport and just under a quarter (24%) in a pub or shop. When asked to share what they witnessed, many reported seeing anti-immigrant or anti-refugee hate speech, racist abuse or anti-Muslim comments."
The atmosphere we create ( all of us) when we descend to using the terms which divide humanity into groups of 'them and us', is the breath of life to the racist and the tyrant. The steps are very small to start, but they rapidly turn into a tide of sorrow.
Don't be that person who allows the initial 'small steps' to go unnoticed or unchallenged.
For mum
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