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Auschwitz Quotes

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Auschwitz Quotes

“It was at Auschwitz that human beings underwent their first mutations. Without Auschwitz, there would have been no Hiroshima. Or genocide in Africa. Or attempts to dehumanize man by reducing him to a number, an object: it was at Auschwitz that the methods to be used were conceived, catalogued, and perfected. It was at Auschwitz that men mutilated and gambled with the future. The despair begotten at Auschwitz will linger for generations.”

DespairAuschwitzCultural Waste Land
Book:One Generation After
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“Sometimes I am asked if I know the response to Auschwitz; I answer that not only do I not know it, but that I don't even know if a tragedy of this magnitude HAS a response. What I do know is that there is response in responsibility. When we speak of this era of evil and darkness, so close and yet so distant, responsibility is the key word, The witness has forced himself to testify. For the youth of today, for the children who will be born tomorrow. He does not want his past to become their future.”

EvilTragedyAuschwitz
Book:The Night Trilogy: Night, Dawn, The Accident
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“Аушвіц нависає чорним сонцем над європейською культурою й думкою. Він став універсальним мірилом політичного мислення, розбурхав мистецтво, романістику й літературну критику. Світ затавровано Аушвіцом — "безпрецедентною" подією, яка залишила пролом в історії і змусила людину переосмислити межі реальності. Аушвіц поглинув понад мільйон життів, перетворивши їх на дим. Газові камери продукували смерть повсякденно, механічно, не залишаючи відходів. "Виробництво трупів" на фабриці смері (організоване як на конвеєрній стрічці) стає парадигмою сучасного варварства, втіленням зла XX століття. Кількість жертв, які важко навіть уявити, а також індустріальний прогрес, обернений у зворотний бік (котрий вигубляє, замість того щоб виробляти), утвердили в нашій свідомості Аушвіц як центр знищення євреїв Європи. Саме на технократичному вимірі геноциду євреїв — убивстві газом Циклон Б, призначеним для позбавлення від бліх — тривалий час були зосереджені роздуми на Заході. Синонім абсолютного зла... Відтепер є історія до і після Аушвіца. Чи є література до і після Бабиного Яру? Бабин Яр довго залишався в тіні Аушвіца. Знищення в Бабиному Яру — не індустріальний геноцид, не спотворене дзеркало технічного прогресу. Незважаючи на те, що нацисти провели операцію 1005 зі знищення слідів злочинів, а також на Куренівську трагедію і подальшу забудову району, Бабин Яр досі зберігає останки жертв. Він — могила. До нього можна прийти і йому можна вклонитися [...] Неможливо оплакувати Аушвіц, він — чудовисько, він — машина-монстр, проте можливо проводити жалобні заходи біля Бабиного Яру, навіть якщо він позбавляє розуму [170—71].”

DeathEvilMurderKillingGenocideHolocaustAuschwitzBabyn Yar
Book:Бабин Яр: історія і пам'ять
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“Someday I will understand Auschwitz. This was a brave statement but innocently absurd. No one will ever understand Auschwitz. What I might have set down with more accuracy would have been: Someday I will write about Sophie's life and death, and thereby help demonstrate how absolute evil is never extinguished from the world. Auschwitz itself remains inexplicable. The most profound statement yet made about Auschwitz was not a statement at all, but a response. The query: "At Auschwitz, tell me, where was God?" And the answer: "Where was man?”

GodHumanityEvilUnderstandingManAuschwitz
Book:Sophie’s Choice
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“Sigmund Freud once asserted, "Let one attempt to expose a number of the most diverse people uniformly to hunger. With the increase of the imperative urge of hunger all individual differences will blur, and in their stead will appear the uniform expression of the one unstilled urge." Thank heaven, Sigmund Freud was spared knowing the concentration camps from the inside. His subjects lay on a couch designed in the plush style of Victorian culture, not in the filth of Auschwitz. There, the "individual differences" did not "blur" but, on the contrary, people became more different; people unmasked themselves, both the swine and the saints.”

SufferingAnimalManAuschwitzTrue Colors
Book:Man's Search for Meaning
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“Očevidno je da ne postoji nikakav smisao povijesti koji bi se dao spasiti leđima okrenutim prema Auschwitzu niti postoji Bog kojemu se čovjek može klanjati leđa okrenutih prema Auschwitzu. Kao teološko-politička katastrofa Auschwitz ne ostavlja pošteđenima niti kršćanstvo i njegovu teologiju niti društvo i njegovu politiku.”

PoliticsChristianityHistorySocietyTheologyAuschwitzMeaning Of History
Book:Memoria passionis: Ein provozierendes Gedächtnis in pluralistischer Gesellschaft
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“He was a bricklayer; for fifty years, in Italy, America, France, then again in Italy, and finally in Germany, he had laid bricks, and every brick had been cemented with curses. He cursed continuously, but not mechanically; he cursed with method and care, acrimoniously, pausing to find the right word, frequently correcting himself and losing his temper when unable to find the word he wanted; then he cursed the curse that would not come.”

AuschwitzPrimo LeviReawakeningBricklayer
Book:If This Is a Man / The Truce
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“Why did Hochschild put such store in plainly erroneous data about a loss of life caused by the EIC? Here we come to the horror at the heart of King Hochschild’s Hoax: his attempt to equate the EIC to the Nazis and to the sacred memory of the Holocaust. Throughout the book there is a nauseating, indeed enraging, use of Holocaust and Auschwitz comparisons. In part these reveal an insecurity about his main thesis and the knowledge that one way to silence criticism is to play on the fact that no one wants to be called a Holocaust denier. While we know “how many Jews the Nazis put to death,” he menaces readers, insisting on such precision in the EIC is distasteful. You have been warned!”

HolocaustCongoLeopold IiAuschwitzCongo Free StateNazisAdam Hochschild
Book:King Hochschild’s Hoax: An absurdly deceptive book on Congolese rubber production is better described as historical fiction.
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“I am keenly aware that the security we enjoy is frail, and could easily be disrupted. Secretly, a nagging fear gnaws at me: what has really been learned from the lessons of Auschwitz and the Third Reich? Do we really understand what happened there and how we might prevent such events in future?”

AuschwitzThird Reich
Book:Entheogens, Society and Law: The Politics of Consciousness, Autonomy and Responsibility
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“They are the typical product of the structure of the German Lager: if one offers a position of privilege to a few individuals in a state of slavery, exacting in exchange the betrayal of a natural solidarity with their comrades, there will certainly be someone who will accept. He will be withdrawn from the common law and will become untouchable; the more power that he is given, the more he will be consequently hateful and hated. When he is given the command of a group of unfortunates, with the right of life or death over them, he will be cruel and tyrannical, because he will understand that if he is not sufficiently so, someone else, judged more suitable, will take over his post. Moreover, his capacity for hatred, unfulfilled in the direction of the oppressors, will double back, beyond all reason, on the oppressed; and he will only be satisfied when he has unloaded onto his underlings the injury received from above.”

PoliticsPowerCorruptionWwiiAuschwitzPrimo LeviThe HolocaustThe TruceIf This Is A Man
Book:If This Is a Man / The Truce
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“I remember that one Holy Week, the magazine I got every Thursday, Anteojito, came with a free poster depicting the Stations of the Cross. I burned the poster and flushed the ashes down the toilet to dispose of the evidence. The idea that I was supposed to pin this graphic depiction of torture and death on my wall seemed to me as obscene as if someone had suggested decorating my room with pictures of the inner workings of Auschwitz.”

TortureAuschwitzRoman Catholicism2000Christian ArtStations Of The Cross
Book:Kamchatka
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“Hey, non dispera! There is a way out. Come to beautiful Oasis. No crime, no madness, no bad stuff of any kind, a brand new home, home on the range, no or antelope but hey, accentuate the positive, there never is a discouraging word, nobody rapes you or tries to reminisce about Paris in the springtime, no sense sniffing that old vomit, right? Cut the strings, blank the slate, let go of Auschwitz and the Alamo and the ... the fucking Egyptians for God’s sake, who needs it, who cares, focus on tomorrow. Onward and upward. Come to beautiful Oasis.”

ParadiseAuschwitzOasisAlamo
Book:The Book of Strange New Things
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“В Германии практически каждый знал о Холокосте — ведь он начался с массовых убийств в Восточной Европе, в которых приняли непосредственное участие десятки тысяч немцев. Сотни тысяч, если не миллионы, знали об этом; вероятно, чуть ли не каждый немецкий солдат на Восточном фронте. И мы знаем, что они писали об этом домой. Я полагаю, что Холокост как факт был широко известен задолго до того, как был устроен Освенцим. А после войны пришли американцы и британцы и обнаружили лагеря смерти. И они спросили у немцев: "Вы знали об этом?" И получили вполне правдивый ответ: "Нет, мы не знали точно, что там происходило". Так лагеря заслонили собой Холокост. И по сегодняшний день Холокост у немцев ассоциируется прежде всего с лагерями смерти, хотя на самом деле он был сравнительно мало связан с ними [161].”

MemoryHolocaustAuschwitzComplicitySubstitutionDeath Camps
Book:Украинская история, российская политика, европейское будущее
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“Delle altre sorprese su quanto ognuno di noi poteva sopportare, ricordo solo che per tutto il tempo passato nel Lager non ci lavammo i denti e, nonostante la grave carenza di vitamine, le nostre gengive furono più sane di prima (anche di quando ci nutrivamo di cibi sanissimi). Oppure: per sei mesi portavamo la stessa camicia finché non la si riconosceva più, neppure con la migliore buona volontà. Non fu possibile lavarci, neppure sommariamente, per giorni interi, perché la tubatura dei bagni ea gelata, ma nonostante le ferite alle mani, sporche per i lavori di sterro, nessuno ebbe piaghe purulente (salvo quando si facevano sentire gli effetti dei geloni). E ancora: un uomo che prima si sveglia per il lieve rumore proveniente dalla stanza vicina e non poteva riaddormentarsi, qui dormiva accanto ad un compagno dal cui naso, a pochi centimetri di distanza dal suo orecchio, risuonava un potentissimo russare, e cadeva in un sonno profondo non appena si sdraiava. Comprendemmo presto quanto fosse vera la frase di Dostoevskij che definisce l'uomo come l'essere che si abitua a tutto. Qualcuno potrebbe chiederci se e fino a che punto è vero che l'uomo può abituarsi a tutto; la risposta è affermativa, ma non chiedete come...”

AuschwitzEsistenzialismo
Book:Man’s Search for Meaning: Postscript - The Case For Tragic Optimism
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“At Dachau. We had a wonderful pool for the garrison children. It was even heated. But that was before we were transferred. Dachau was ever so much nicer than Auschwitz. But then, it was in the Reich. See my trophies there. The one in the middle, the big one. That was presented to me by the Reich Youth Leader himself, Baldur von Schirach. Let me show you my scrapbook.”

HateEvilSwimmingHolocaustAuschwitzBanalityThird ReichDachau
Book:Sophie’s Choice
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“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.”

MenWayInspirationalHumansLastsGivenLeadershipFreedomPowerfulAttitudeTakenOne ThingSocietyCircumstancesJudgmentMental HealthGrievingPositive AttitudeConcentrationMost PowerfulBeing HappyMy AttitudeFreedom Of ChoiceSearch For MeaningGrief And HealingPositive Thinking And AttitudeAuschwitzHuman FreedomConcentration CampHutsWinning AttitudeBest AttitudeFreedom To ChooseKeep A Positive AttitudePositive Thinking AttitudeGriefingMans Search For MeaningAttitude Is EverythingPositive Mental AttitudeGreat Positive AttitudeGrief LossAttitudes And SuccessPositive Attitude And SuccessThose GrievingHuman CompassionDeath And GrievingGrief ComfortCan Do AttitudeGrief HealingCool AttitudeInspirational FreedomGrief And HopeDeath GrievingGrieving And HealingComfort The GrievingGrieving LossGrieving A LossGrieving And LossStimulus And ResponseVictims Of CircumstanceChoosing One
Book:Man's Search For Meaning, Gift Edition
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“The trade of chemist (fortified, in my case, by the experience of Auschwitz), teaches you to overcome, indeed to ignore, certain revulsions that are neither necessary or congenital: matter is matter, neither noble nor vile, infinitely transformable, and its proximate origin is of no importance whatsoever. Nitrogen is nitrogen, it passes miraculously from the air into plants, from these into animals, and from animals into us; when its function in our body is exhausted, we eliminate it, but it still remains nitrogen, aseptic, innocent.”

StillsMatterBodyCertainAnimalTeachCasesAirOvercomingFunctionImportanceRemainsTradePlantNobleInnocentExhaustedChemistAuschwitzRevulsionNitrogen
Book:The periodic table
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“You don’t seduce in the same way at my age. You seduce with brains, with talent. Yesterday for lunch I met the most incredible 90-year-old woman. She survived Auschwitz, she was beautiful, she didn’t have white hair, she didn’t wear glasses. She was totally seductive. I just thought, Oh, my God, I still have time ahead of me.”

WayYearsStillsAgeBeautifulWhiteBrainTalentHairMetsIncrediblesGlassesYesterdayLunchSurvivedSeductiveOld WomanSeducingAuschwitzWhite Hair
Author:Diane von Furstenberg
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“The great writers like Chekhov know that tragedy and laughter are just a few steps from each other ... but it took me a long time as an actress to learn that. Actually Arthur Miller taught me in the Seventies. We were making a CBS TV drama of his play Playing for Time about Auschwitz but the characters were laughing. It was a big insight for me to realise that that was what's called gallows humour, in this case worse than the gallows, that humans need to laugh and make jokes in order to survive.”

KnowsNeedsHumansLongPlayCharacterBigsOrderStepsCasesLaughingTaughtHumourTvsDramaLong TimeLaughterJokesTragedyInsightActressesRealisingSeventiesGreat WritersArthurAuschwitzChekhovGallows
Author:Vanessa Redgrave
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“No sane person wants hell to exist. No sane person wants evil to exist. But hell is just evil eternalized. If there is evil and if there is eternity, there can be hell. If it is intellectually dishonest to disbelieve in evil just because it is shocking and uncomfortable, it is the same with hell. Reality has hard corners, surprises, and terrible dangers in it. We desperately need a true road map, not nice feelings, if we are to get home. It is true, as people often say, that "hell just feels unreal, impossible." Yes. So does Auschwitz. So does Calvary.”

PeopleIfsWantNeedsFeelsPersonsDoeHardFeelingsHomeRealityEvilHellNiceImpossibleDangerTerribleEternitySurpriseCornersUncomfortableMapsSaneShockingUnrealAuschwitzCalvaryRoad MapsNice Feeling
Book:Fundamentals of the Faith: Essays in Christian Appologetics
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