1.
This month we read, "The Sisters of Auschwitz," by Roxane van Iperen, translated from the Dutch by Joni Zwart. This was the June selection for our fairly newly formed Diversity Book Club; so far we've read White Fragility, Woke Racism, Baldwin's Fire Next Time and Colson Whitehead's novel, Harlem Shuffle, all good books, with the possible exception of the first selection.
Orignally published as Hooge Nest, The High Nest, in 2018, the book tells the story of two Jewish sisters, Jappy Brilleslipper (1916-2003) and Lien Brilleslipper (1912-1988), two brave members of the Dutch Resistance during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, which began in 1940 and ended in 1945.
In the middle of the war, the sisters went into hiding at The High Nest, a villa in the woods, which they filled with family members and refugees. Their resistance activities involved, among other things, obtaining false identity papers for those in imminent danger of being crushed by the Nazi machine. Betrayed in 1944, they were both deported by cattle car to Auschwitz, along with Anne and Margot Frank. As the Red Army approached Auschwitz, they were transported, along with the Franks, to Bergen-Belsen. Thanks largely to Jappy's ingenuity, both sisters survived--the Frank sisters, however, weren't as lucky.
The book, albeit lacking in a novelist's creation of vivid characters, is well written; the impressive descriptions of events, however, bring that horrible period faithfully and impressively to life.
Although so many of us already have, we must never forget the Holocaust. Not only should we keep those murdered by the Nazis in sacred remembrance, we must also keep vigilant to assure that history doesn't repeat itself.
We could and should be doing a hellluva lot better. Alas.
2.
What is the matter with us? As the great German dramatist, Georg Büchner, wrote in the nineteenth century--What is it in us that whores, lies, and begs? Updated version: What is it in us that murders?
The horror of the extermination camps. Why haven't we changed?
Science informs us that humans haven't changed much in the last 100,000 years. Civilization began about 10,000 years ago--and was by no means world-wide at first. Humanity therefore spent at least 90% of the past 10 millennia exclusively as hunter gatherers.
We evolved in groups which entailed a good deal of cooperation--how else would those groups have survived? (This cooperation is perhaps the origin of the biblical commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself.) At a time when food was frequently scarce and life always precarious, cooperation seems to have been limited. This theory is borne out by the skeletal evidence of that period: many remains show injuries consistent with near-constant warfare.
Humanity's cousins, the Neanderthals, became extinct about 40,000 years ago. There is increasing evidence that our ancestors were involved in their elimination. Was this the first evidence of genocide?
If it was, it certainly wasn't the last. I read once that before the Spanish conquest of South America, there were about 70 million indigenous peoples living on the continent. When the conquest was over, only about 4 million remained! The dark side of American history is better known today.--as it should be. The dark side, however, is not limited to America, it is, unfortunately, universal.
Once a group is isolated from society or thought to be different or separate, horrible things can happen.
Hitler, for instance, was a very evil genius. He knew he had to separate and isolate the Jews first. There was certainly anti-Semitism in Germany before Hitler came to power, but arguably less than in other European countries. Intermarriage was common. Hitler, obsessed with the crazy notions of anti-Semitism, began to isolate the Jews the day he assumed power in 1933. It is said that opposition could have been effective at this time, but the little there was was ineffective. Soon Hitler established a reign of terror; from then on opposition was brutally squashed. It is also said that many Germans went along with Hitler until the end. Sad.
By the time Hitler invaded the Netherlands, the reign of terror was well established. It is a sad fact, revealed in the book, that while 30% of Belgian Jews and 25% of French Jews were deported--most of them were murdered. A full 76% of Dutch Jews, however, were deported. This indicates to me that there were many fascists in the Netherlands, and much cooperation with the Nazis. Dutch resistance was unfortunately not the whole story. (The Danish people, in contrast, saved most of the Jewish population of Denmark.)
By the time the Brillesliper sisters--and the Frank sisters--were betrayed and sent to Auschwitz, the war, from a Nazi perspective, was already lost. And yet the war against the Jews continued--to the very bitter end! For Hitler, destruction of Jews trumped national survival.
The Nazis were irrational. The Nazis were crazy. The Nazis were evil. What's worse: with the exception of those that ran the camps and possibly with the exception of the occupation forces as well, the Germans were and are no different from the rest of humanity.
What is the matter with us?
3.
Two poems come to mind, both by me. The first appeared years ago in a magazine, now defunct, called The Other Side. The other, appeared years later in Visions.
In Memory of an Unknown Cousin
1.
still under its clouds.
You who were certainly my cousin
however many times removed,
still in unbombed houses, by night; you
are going to live and work and play
somewhere in Poland, they said.
2.
balding neurotic or my son's teacher (he
hates him)--Seventy years later
up from a nightmare, I wonder,
Morning's ritual begins--Again water
comes out of my shower, not gas;
I have no right to write your eulogy.
The Rosenthals of Passau
in halls across Europe
first, this was a compliment;
spent the postwar years?
stop what you're doing and turn.
4.
While taking a bath, I notice a tattoo, a cross about an inch long and an inch wide, located halfway between my navel and pubic bone. I also have two smaller tattoos, one on each side of my pelvis. These are there to guide the beam during radiotherapy, my current treatment for cancer.
I couldn't help thinking of the tattooed numbers each inmate received upon arrival in Auschwitz. People, human beings, branded like cattle! My difficulties, compared to their difficulties, is like comparing a few pebbles to boulders!
Why me? A question I never ask. Why them? There is no adequate answer. I don't ever think I will understand the brutality of the Nazis. Their crimes, and especially, their victims, must not be forgotten!
Marx wrote that years after a great tragedy, e.g. the Holocaust, history repeats itself as farce. Trump is not Hitler. Putin is not Hitler. Kim Jong-un is no Hitler, Xi is no Hitler, etc. The cruelties of all these men, however, point in the direction of a realm which Hitler inhabited. Democracy is presently in danger, there can be no doubt about that.
The January Insurrection, the war in Ukraine, concentration camps in North Korea and China, etc. etc. Not to mention Climate Change, gun control, and the Sixth Extinction!
How many farces does it take to precipitate another tragedy? I hope we will never find out.
5.
Lien and Jappy's transport, via cattle car, to Auschwitz and their trials until liberation, vividly described in the book, make for harrowing reading. Jappy's character shone like a light in near-absolute darkness; without her remarkable abilities, it is doubtful whether she and her sister would have survived. As we all know, Anne and Margot Frank weren't as lucky.
I remember seeing a painting on a wall during a visit to an acquaintance in New York. It was painted by my friend's father, who survived Auschwitz. It depicted one of the daily selection roll calls that occurred there: with a flick of the wrist it was determined by the Angel of Death (Mengele) who was to go the right, to the gas chambers, and who was to go to the left and survive for another day. The painter depicted this daily occurrence at the camp. Above one of the inmates on the selection line was a guardian angel. My friend informed me that her father believed that without the help of this invisible being he wouldn't have survived. Suddenly, to me at least, an amateur painting became a masterwork.
I tell myself that one of the reasons the Shoah is so horrible is because we all know how life should be. "We must love one another or die," wrote W. H. Auden, Jappy and Lien, along with the vast majority of Jews, chose life, chai.
A poignant part of the book occurs when Lien is united with Eberhard, a classical musician and father of their child. He and a group of friends were performing Bach's Wedding Cantata just at that moment. Spring returned to the Netherlands and what better expression of renewal can be found than in this beautiful music?
As I read this section of the book, the music began to play in my mind. The peaceful, gently ascending broken chords; the indescribable beauty of the oboe; and then the transcendent vocal line:
Frost und Winde gehn zur Ruh
(Be gone, dismal shadows; frost and wind fade away)
We must never forget the winter, so that we can live more fully in the spring.
Nor will I ever forget the story of Jappy and Lien and the background of dismal shadows they lived through. Special thanks goes to Roxane van Iperen for bringing their story to life.
May their bravery continue to inspire us. For the Resistance is far from over.
Nevertheless: Mensch, durf te leven. Remember, life is for living.
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