13 / Holocaust Museum
Oh boy, Mud (let's call him Mud, he does have a real name, but Mud would suit him) today you left your brain at home. We had one of our frequent brunch-time discussions, the subject this time was the news that the Holocaust Museum had an Open Day. Mud thought that was hilarious. I couldn't see the joke, so I took the bait and asked, "what's funny about that?" "Well, it's so silly, why forever carry on about the Holocaust, without making mention of other atrocities (Armenians etc)."
I must say, this pissed me off. Obviously other holocausts must be remembered, documented and discussed too - yes, Armenians and Tibetans, Cambodians, indeed Palestinians, to name just some - but I made the point that already people are forgetting about or denying or downplaying the Holocaust (I grew up among people who routinely said, 'it never was 6m that were killed, at most 3m;' and that was 40 years ago, on the soil where it happened). If the issue is that you can only debate an evil if at the same time you mention all the others too, well, we'd never get past the preliminaries, now would we?!
Anyway, I have visited the Sydney Jewish Museum twice in recent years. It is a humbling experience. The impact is tremendous. For anyone to see such vivid documentation about the mistreatment of Jews in Nazi Germany and then still trivialise the issue would be truly callous. But of course, people first have to go and see the place, or any other like it, or watch the Nazi documentaries on SBS, or rent Spielberg's Schindler's List; then let's talk again. But bring your brain.