Statue for Holocaust Memorial Day
The statue commemorates the arrival of Jewish children by train at Liverpool St Station, In London. This was 1938/9 in the Kindertransport. They were sent by parents desperate to save their children from fascist genocide in Germany and Austria. The children were unaccompanied and, as depicted in the statue, stand proud as they arrive in a strange country. They are tagged. And the train track represents both the trains to the death camps, and the train to safety. There are some great photos and more information on the statue in: talkingbeautifulstuff.com
Holocaust Memorial Day and Montaillou
On the subject of prejudice, genocide and abuse of power. I was reminded of one of the formative reads of my life. The great Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie was at dinner at my father-in-law’s house in the 1980s. I was awestruck. Because Montaillou was one of the early histories ‘from below’. The focus was not on kings, queens nor on the flux of states and empires. No, the focus was on the lives (and deaths) of ordinary people. Something that has continued as a focus of my historical interest.
Nor, before Ladurie, had I imagined that medieval lives could be so minutely brought to life. The book was a sensation, selling over a quarter of a million copies. Professor Ladurie became a media star, and, it remains one of the great historical reads. (Of course, the book and the historiography now attracts some criticism, but do read it!)
The context of the story is appalling. In 1208, the Pope decided to launch a crusade against heretics in the South of France. This is about the genocide of the Cathars. The lives of the persecuted are revealed under interrogation by the Cathodic Inquisition. Cathars had many unorthodox and ‘heretical’ ideas. They believed in a Good God and an Evil God. We, humans, are all angels trapped in this terrible world by the Evil God. Women and men were equal and could be reincarnated into each other’s bodies. Our lives are spent awaiting the time we became ‘perfect’ and released to our spiritual form for eternity.
“Kill them all, the Lord will recognise His own”
From the 21st Century, these ideas seem no more nor less irrational than mainstream religions. But these opinions ‘justified’ a Crusade and Inquisition that followed which were truly savage, with many thousand slaughtered. For example, on 22 July 1209, the Catholic forces were led by Arnaud-Amaury. He was not only the Commander of the army but also a Cistercian Abbot. Many of the citizens of Béziers were seeking refuge in St Mary Magdalene. The abbot ordered the doors to be battered down to get at the refugees inside. When asked how the soldiers could separate the Catholics from the Cathars. He replied:
“Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius“—”Kill them all, the Lord will recognise His own”.
All 7,000 men, women, and children were killed. Thousands more in the town were mutilated, blinded, dragged behind horses, used for target practice and massacred. Arnaud-Amaury, remember an Abbot, wrote to Pope Innocent III:
“Today your Holiness, twenty thousand heretics were put to the sword, regardless of rank, age, or sex.”
But, despite this savagery in the name of religious purity, reading Montaillou is a pleasure. It brings those persecuted souls back to life in all their human glory.
We are all equally human
The Cathar Crusade is another reminder that it is by intolerance and ‘othering’ of normal homo sapiens which allows the conditions for evil to flourish. Massacres of the innocents becomes possible when sets of people are ‘othered’. Put in a category which, of itself, justifies their treatment. We have a very recent example with the Press Secretary at the White House. She has now referred to US citizens shot by ICE as ‘domestic terrorists’. These statements were made before due consideration of the facts. She may or may not be right, I’m not in a position to be definitive.
But we know that when the Press Secretary made them, no one could know whether she was right, or wrong. She is, in effect, saying: ‘Don’t worry about it. These are bad people who have been killed. No need to look into it too deeply. ‘ (for more on this story look here). We have to treat all human life as equal and sacred. And bring to bear our human empathy before passing judgement. Anything less allows the slaughter of the innocent.
Lessons from the Past
Holocaust Memorial Day offers a chance to remember and it is only by remembering that we can learn from the past. Sadly, more and more school are not marking the day any more. Perhaps as the survivors become fewer? However, other new sources claim that the massacres in Gaza are a cause. This is short-sighted.
Hitler’s rise to power is studied by historians who show how a functioning democracy can be taken down in a series of easy stages. Discrediting new sources, telling lies as if they were fact, subverting the legal system, making use of new media, creating a para-military force not bound by normal restraints. But the one that I think we most need to be aware of is the fact that honest, moral conservatives supported Hitler, despite their qualms about his more extreme policies. It is vital that people speak up before it is too late and too dangerous to oppose the tyranny.
On This Day
Today is also the Roman Festival of Castor and Pollux. (more on the divine twins on my post on the 15th July at the other festival of the Dioscuri).
98 – Trajan succeeds his adoptive Father Nerva
417 – Pope Innocent I declares Pelagius, a British Priest who held opposing views to Augustine of Hippo, excommunicated. For more see my post on Pelagius and Original Sin here.
1606 – The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, ending with their execution on January 31st. See my post on Guy Fawkes and his lantern here.
1880 – Edison received a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.
1945 – Auschwitz & Birkenau Liberated by Soviet Troops
1973 – Vietnam War cease fire came into effect.
First written in January 2023 and revised Jan 2024, 2025,2026
