It’s Vacation Time

Beginning Saturday, we are on vacation. Not to say the last eight months hasn’t been a vacation but this a “real” vacation. We are going camping with my parents. And when I say camping, I really mean RVing.

When my parents turned in their tent for a RV, I must admit I teased them about not being real campers any longer.

I told them when you have a bed, a TV and a kitchen, it stopped being camping and start being hoteling on wheels.

And then I went with them.

I never want to go in a tent again.

So I won’t be posting next week.

Happy Canada Day and we’ll talk soon

As a side note, thank you to Kathy Kacer for commenting on my blog. I am honoured. Second Story Press (www.secondstorypress.ca) also Twittered me.

Getting My Head Around Hate

I write my blog in my head when my son is nursing during the wee hours of the morning. In my head, my blog flows freely and everything is beautifully written. Not so much in reality.

Take, for example, yesterday’s post. What I was trying to say was Kathy Kacer’s books about the Holocaust put a human face on the mass murder.

In The Underground Reporters, there was a group of friends who played with each other but by the end of Hilter’s terror, only a couple of them were reunited. When you think about your own group of friends in the same situation, you can start to imagine how terrifying (what an inadequate word) it must have been.

And how utterly pointless.

On one hand, I can’t understand how the Holocaust happened. On the other hand, I understand fear can make people, in this case, not do the right thing.

On one hand I can’t understand how you could watch your neighbour being dragged away, but on the other, the fear it would happen to you and your family makes it easy to understand why you could turn a blind eye.

I think it was in The Diary of Laura’s Twin that one of the families decided to stay in the city despite the crumbling situation because the father thought it would only get better. And when his family was being taken to one of the concentration camps, the prisoners were led to believe it was a better place to go.

I had often wondered why Jewish people didn’t flee in droves but I understand now. I also learned that some people did flee but were turned back (we should be ashamed) and some actually fought back, facing Hitler’s army with whatever they could find.

So what have we learned from the Holocaust? Apparently absolutely nothing. Why does history keep repeating itself? How can it still be happening (watch the Hotel Rwanda to see how we failed more people)? Why is there so much hate?

People need to look past the different clothing, language and customs and see the person who is working hard to provide for his children, who is worried about the future and is happy summer is finally here.

A Must Read

Every person - child and adult included - needs to read Kathy Kacer’s books about the Holocaust.

I studied the Holocaust in school but the pure horror of it didn’t strike home until I read The Underground Reporters and The Diary of Laura’s Twin.

The Underground Reporters is about a group of Jewish friends who create a newspaper that connects the Jewish community, particularly the children, when the kids stop being allowed to go to school or play in public, while The Diary Of Laura’s Twin tells the story of Laura, who, as part of her Bat Mitzvah, studies the diary of a girl who lived in the Warsaw Ghetto.

Both books made the Holocaust real for me. Often when you think about things that happened in the past, you forget you are talking about real people who have parents, siblings and grandparents. Both books allowed you to get to know real people, who have the same fears and hopes you do.

Of the two books, I liked The Diary of Laura’s Twin better. It gave me a real understanding of what it must have been like to live in the Warsaw Ghetto. I really had no idea. There were passages in the book that have stayed with me, including:

“Jan. 10, 1943: Can you image what it is like to live behind barbed wire and high walls? No one can leave and no one wants to come in.”

“July 16, 1941: It’s Funny. When Hitler was deciding who would be part of his perfect race, he decided that it would only include people who were Aryna - those with blue eyes and blond hair, which is how many Germans look. If you had dark features like me and Tateh and so many Jews, you couldn’t be part of Hitler’s perfect race and you were targeted for discrimination. But here’s the thing. Mama and David are blond and delicate, while Hitler has dark eyes and a large nose. ... So in that perfect world that Hitler has imaged, Mama and David should be included while Hitler himself should be left out.”

Kathy Kacer’s books are published by Second Story Press (www.secondstorypress.ca).