Düsseldorf’s Mahn- und Gedenkstätte

The Main Square

Back in December I took a bit of a break and went for a long weekend to Düsseldorf to do the Christmas Markets, but what’s a trip without a bit of history? We were a bit limited for choice, but chose to spend the afternoon at the Mahn- und Gedenkstätte in Aldstadt, which was established in the 1980s as a memorial for the victims of National Socialism.

Having looked it up retrospectively, it appears only to have reopened in May this year after a four year closure, with a new permanent exhibition - “Düsseldorf children and young people under the Nazis” and actually, even though I hadn’t know that at the time, the quality of the exhibit was fantastic and you can see that current museum display theory has been fundamental to its new design.

I’d always been a bit curious about how WW2 is remembered in museums in Germany never having visited before, so I’m really glad we chose this museum to visit. It’s steeped in history, both the area in which it’s situated and the building itself, which was once the state police headquarters.

As English speakers we were given audio guides, which we were completely dependent on and were our only real way to access information. They were fantastic bits of kit and well produced. The tier system of information has been used to structure the audio guide clips, each successive clip offering more in depth information, based upon what you’d previously heard. It also offered a ‘?’ option for some points or items if you wanted more information on them specifically.

At first I responded really well to the exhibition and accessing it through the audio guide. However, because I was completely dependent on it, it made it somewhat difficult to maintain that level of concentration. It wasn’t possible to listen to every single clip and I had to try and dip in and dip out of clips that I was particularly interested in.

That said, the exhibit was packed with information, images and photographs, oral history testimony and objects, many of which were shown or displayed in interesting and interactive ways. You could open drawers, slide or spin text panels and listen to testimony through a receiver. And at each step, there was a corresponding number for your audio guide. A huge amount of work has clearly gone into the redevelopment of the exhibit and as a visitor I really appreciated that and could see the huge effort that has gone in to make it modern and accessible.

There were two additional points that I was also particularly taken by. First, was the effort gone to put Düsseldorf in the context of wider history. Local history was told alongside national history and examples of how events we know of at a theoretical level materialised in the communities in Düsseldorf were also included. They wrote themselves and their community into the historical narrative and I thought that was both quite brave and very nicely done. The second point was how the exhibit was told from the perspective of young people, which doesn’t often happen, but also how it covered multiple perspectives - those of Socialists, Jews, Protestants, Catholics, Democrats, Homosexuals and Edelweiss Pirates vs. Hitler Youth. It was really interesting to see all those points of view side by side and talked about quite openly.

The aim for the memorial is that it remains a place of learning, of research and of remembrance (1). They also have a temporary exhibition gallery, which at the moment is ‘Helpers + Healers: Jewish Women in Medicine 1933-1945, and an open access reference library with books, documents, photographs and other archival material which invites visitors to look in more depth at the topics the memorial covers.

I was hugely impressed by this museum and am really glad we took some time to explore the culture of Düsseldorf beyond the Christmas Markets!

(1)    This is the webpage, although it’s in German! -http://www.ns-gedenkstaetten.de/nrw/duesseldorf/besucherinformationen.html

The Subterranean Secret Lair of Britain’s Second World War Leaders.

The Cabinet War Rooms

It’s been a long, long time since I last went to the Churchill War Rooms but after numerous visits to London in recent months where I’ve walked past it and said “I really must go back there”, I finally got around to it. It’s the second recent visit I’ve made to a place affiliated with Winston Churchill in the past month; the first having of course been Blenheim Palace which was the feature of another recent blog, and it is perhaps rather apt given that this year marks the 50^th anniversary of his death.

Having first become operational at the end of August 1939, it’s always struck me as a bit odd that the War Rooms remained largely intact immediately after the war, never having been fully dismantled or turned back into the stores and offices they had once been.  An odd view for a proponent of heritage to have perhaps, but also somewhat redundant as we know this didn’t happened.  It was as if someone knew how much of interest they would be in the future, for most of the important rooms have remained preserved and untouched for some 70 years since the end of the Second World War.

Visitor Feedback built into the exhibition

The War Room’s caretaker, Rance, stayed on post- war and after a 1948 press conference revealed the secrets of the Rooms, he began giving tours, enlightening visitors to what had once gone on there. This marked the beginning of a surge in interest in the War Rooms over the next thirty years, resulting in the Imperial War Museum being asked to restore the site and open it as a museum to the public, which it did in 1984. Ever since it’s commanded worldwide interest and remains a highly popular attraction with tourists visiting London – you only have to look at the admissions queue for evidence of this!

They may date from 1939, but it is under the leadership of Prime Minister Churchill, whose term in office began in 1940, that the War Rooms really began being used and with whom they will undoubtedly, forever be associated and remembered.  It was from these rooms that Churchill commanded the war effort of Britain and it’s Empire; held important meetings, as the Blitz raged on overhead; in which he contemplated and planned for the anticipated Nazi invasion; and into the adjacent map room that he brought some of his most important visitors to demonstrate the thorough and high-tech charting of the war. This subterranean network has some fascinating stories to tell, many of which are unveiled on a visit.

The War Rooms consist of a series of rooms connected by a network of narrow passages – what you’d expect really from an underground HQ. But as a visitor what this means is on a busy day it’s a bit claustrophobic and the day I visited, it was very, very busy. A lot of people were tripping over each other to get around and have a good look and I felt a bit harassed at the beginning, it has to be said. However, what I was immediately struck by was the sense of authenticity embodied here. The War Rooms really evoke the ‘sense of place’, that can really entice a visitor to connect with their experience.

Many of the rooms are still ‘dressed’ as they were left and it is like peering into a window in time. It’s not a museum in an abstract setting, the information being told here relates directly to events that went on within those exact rooms; that table is where the Cabinet met and made decisions, Churchill spoke on that telephone, and Mrs Churchill slept in that bed. These things are fact – ok they could be replicas - I’m pretty sure they weren’t but they could be - but you get my point. On the whole, this is a genuine piece of history, a snapshot in time, and in overhearing other visitors’ comments on this aspect; I would conclude that the War Rooms are successful in capturing interest on this very basis.

One of the Rooms occupied during the war

I was actually surprised at how much there was too see and how much has remained untouched; the map room being particularly impressive. The walls are still covered with wartime maps, each of which is punctuated by thousands of tiny pin holes, charting the movements of naval and military conveys across the world. There is even a key pinned to one wooden post providing an indication of which country is represented by each colour. It’s kind of eerie in a way, knowing that most of what occurred in the war would have been fed back into this very room. It sort of bought home the enormity of it all again, just in a different way.

One of the many maps still in situ.

In terms of transmitting information the War Rooms depend on visitors using an audio guide, each room having been designated a number which you then type in to hear the information. I was always a bit anti-audio guide, I much prefer making my own way around and not being dependent on a device to gain information, but in this context audio guides seem to be the best option. Realistically there is little space for information panels or guides and if there were, given how many people you’re battling your way around, I suspect they would be difficult to access and read. Having the audio guide means you can tuck yourself in a corner and have a listen at your convenience, either before, after, or while viewing the rooms it’s talking about. It’s also very helpful in finding your way around, signalling which way to go!

An artefact that particularly stood out for me was the map of Europe which proposed how Germany would be divided up in zones of occupation after the end of the war and which had been used by Churchill at the Potsdam Conference in July 1945. World War Two was the focus of most of my pre university history education in one way or another, so I knew at a conceptual level that this happened, but to see the actual map which had been drawn on, shaded in and annotated really bought it home.

What I hadn’t realised was that the War Rooms also contain the Churchill Museum, a dedicated sub-museum to the man some claim is ‘Britain’s greatest politician and historical figure’ (1) and I was very interested to read in the guidebook after my visit, the intention of this museum. Here’s the passage I found particularly insightful:

Winston Churchill, has become a two dimensional and slightly unreal character. His reputation rests largely on superficial knowledge, constantly replayed images and on one brief –albeit momentous – period of his life. The Churchill Museum has taken on the difficult task: a ‘personality museum’ could so easily slip into the pitfalls of dullness or hagiography. There was a clear need for a museum which could explore the complex nature of Churchill’s life and his long political career…

One they further outline would challenge the existing narrative and reveal aspects of his life and personality that were otherwise unknown or forgotten (2). And what a way to do it. The exhibition puts into perspective his whole life, focusing on five key areas; his childhood, early political career, ‘Wilderness years’, War Leader and Cold War Statesmen. And I have to say, I came away having learnt a great deal, because I too was guilty of having this ‘two dimensional’ view of Churchill that did only really concentrate on his role as a war time leader.

As you enter the Churchill Museum, the introductory panels explain at the outset how ‘This exhibition explores the real man behind the icon’, so early on you are being challenged to reconsider any existing knowledge you may already have. This was something my friend had mentioned to me when we were at Blenheim, and something she argued the War Rooms explored more directly than at the former. I just hadn’t realised how head on they really do deal with it. I dare say they could have taken it even further, but as it stands they have pushed those preconceived ideas we have as a society about Churchill, and even more impressively, have done so without alienating themselves from more traditional 'thinkers' in the process. I didn’t feel like the museum had ruined by perception of Churchill, just encouraged me to reconsider it and I did leave feeling as though I’d been given a more rounded perspective of him; one that included his odd habits and more controversial politics.

Interactive Screens challenge what you know or
understand about Churchill, in this case his views on the Empire

The use of touch screens was also particularly helpful in encouraging visitors to engage with this idea. Through this medium visitors are asked quite thought provoking questions about some of Churchill’s more controversial politics. For example, one screen poses the view ‘Churchill’s views on India were based on race’ and you’re invited to cast your vote (Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Not Sure, Agree or Strongly Agree). You’d then be offered access to further information - primary sources and research that you could read and continue to take further until you’re asked again if you'd like to reconsider your original response. Once you’ve made that decision you are then shown the rest of the results and can see what other visitors have thought when doing the same activity. I think it’s a really well done element, tackling something quite challenging. It wasn’t lecturing or pushing a view point on you. Each screen offered you further information upon which to draw your own conclusion – museum visitors doing their very own history - what can be better?!

A large interactive map provides the museum's 'centre-piece'
and allows visitors to interact with far more archive material than could
otherwise be displayed.

A display of personal family photos
and letters between Winston
and Clementine

The techniques used by the Churchill Museum are broad and varied across the space and offer visitors an experience which is something of an assault on the senses which I liked, but also found to be a bit over whelming. A high level of modern technology has been used to make it interactive. There were sound effects, video excerpts, photographs and objects; all exhibited in designated areas that focused on a particular period of his life, with each segment being centred on a large interactive table offering visitors a platform through which to engage with a more extensive range of the museums archive material about Churchill’s life and career. There is really a sense that the museum wants to project a rounded image of Churchill to the public, but also to arm them with as much material as possible to draw their own conclusions and move beyond this overriding image and understanding we have of him as the War Time leader.    

One of many interactive screens - this one picking out
Churchill's famous and lesser known quotes.

I have a vague memory of visiting the war rooms when I was younger but this recent visit has been really thought provoking and has really challenged my pre-existing understanding and knowledge of Winston Churchill. I think the Churchill War Rooms offer visitors a chance to engage dynamically with this area of history, offering a good balance of good ‘academic’ history, as provided by the Churchill Museum, and good ‘popular’ history, as provided by the War rooms. It was a great day out and one I would certainly recommend - I’m very glad I finally got around to spending my afternoon there!

P.S....

....There always seems to be a wild/exotic animal trade/gifting link in the unlikely of places! 

(1)    Churchill War Rooms Guidebook.
(2)   Churchill War Rooms Guidebook.

“...In hearts at peace, under an English heaven”: Cowleaze Woods and its secret tragedy

Elle:

 

I based the name of my blog on the childhood game ‘I-spy’ because I really believe if you are tuned in to the world around you, all you have to do is look and you will find something that has historical significance or a tale of the past to tell. This belief has certainly held true and last weekend provided a great example, for we stumbled (in my case literally) upon a memorial in a place I never would have imagined to find one. 

I spent the weekend with friends in Oxford and we decided to head for a country walk in an area of woodland known as Cowleaze Wood, famous for its annual blanketing of bluebells. As we strolled along, Katy - Oxfordshire resident and our ‘guide’ to the local area - recalled how in the very woodland we were walking there was a memorial to the crew of a Halifax bomber LW579 that crashed in the wood when returning from a bombing attack on Nuremburg during the Second World War. I was extremely surprised by this revelation not least because shortly after this recollection she proceeded to point out the very place and the memorial that has been erected in memory of the 7 crew members who died.

The tragic event is marked by an understated memorial stone and small information panel, with additional information having been attached to a nearby tree - I’m guessing by a local history enthusiast or perhaps relative of one of the casualties. The information panel reads as follows:

‘On 31^st March 1944 the Halifax bomber LW 579 crashed here, killing all seven members of the crew. Their names are inscribed on the stone. They had been on a bombing raid on Nuremburg in East Germany, one of the 1000 planes that took part in the raid.

Contrary to the weather forecast there was brilliant moonlight that night and the planes were attacked by German fighter planes and anti-aircraft guns. Tragically, having survived thousands of miles flown across Europe, they crashed here when they were so nearly home.’

As I sat at work on Friday, watching the commemorative ceremony at the cenotaph and honoured the two minutes silence in remembrance of V.E. Day, I couldn’t help but think about these men. Seven men whose individual contributions and deaths are included in the total figure of military and civilian victims of the Second World War (c.450,000 in Britain). It is all too easy to forget the individual sacrifice in favour of the national one but this memorial made me stop and think about each person as an individual, something I, and I’m sure many of us don’t do often enough beyond perhaps, our own families.

It was quite an odd experience being stood in that woodland. In a way it felt quite haunting, walking upon the very ground which had witnessed this catastrophe. It was the middle of nowhere and I was left wondering, how far was the nearest hospital? Would help have come in time to have given the crew at least some hope? Was it immediate or did some time pass before the site was discovered? They were all rather morbid questions that began running through my mind and questions that I’ve never really found myself considering before. With the legacy of the Blitz for example, you don’t tend to see sites where the destruction is still evident and so aren’t really provoked to ask these sorts of questions. The 70+ years since have paved the way for redevelopment and rebuilding and there are very few ‘battlefields’ on UK shores. The only places I can think of that really evoke similar feelings for me here in the UK, are military cemeteries such as Brookwood; sites which bring the enormity of the sacrifice and cost of war home in a really powerful way.

The memorial in Cowleaze wood was in a place that you would least expect to find one, unless you are unfamiliar with the event of course. I suppose, rather naively, I’d never really considered before that sites like this exist in Britain and I think perhaps that’s what I found so poignant about the site. That, and also the fact that it hasn’t been forgotten and that the crew are still remembered – the wreaths and crosses by the memorial providing striking evidence of that.

Finding this memorial prompted me to again look beyond what I know of World War Two and to consider another angle of the conflict; the military casualties lost on home soil. It was rather overwhelming to think that in this small area of Oxfordshire woodland, these men are still remembered for the sacrifice they made in defending our country, in such an intimate and understated way.

Katy: http://publichistorymusings.blogspot.co.uk/

As I have said in other blog posts, history tends to jump out at you when you least expect it. Despite walking in Cowleaze Woods from a young age, it was only a year and a half ago that my family told me about the memorial to the men who tragically died while returning home from their mission. I had drafted a blog post immediately after this discovery but deadlines and Christmas festivities meant I postponed its release. I am grateful I did as it has led to this collaboration of views and insights (plus double the exposure!)

I am unsure as to how many people local or otherwise know of the memorial; it certainly is off the beaten track for dog walkers and nature lovers. As a ‘local’, the memorial reminds me that the Second World War did not just happen abroad or in the cities; my place of picnics and den building is a public site of commemoration dedicated to those who tragically died on their way home. 
At the memorial itself, there is an information sheet pinned to a tree detailing the events of the night. I have summarised what it says here:

The MH-V crew had already survived nineteen missions in which 529 heavy-duty bombers had been lost. For this mission, Sergeant Kelly replaced Flying Officer K King, who usually flew with the crew, as King had come down with a case of shingles. This would prove a blessing in disguise as it spared him from the fate of his comrades. The crew were returning from their mission and were aiming to reach RAF Benson for an emergency landing, suggesting it may have been damaged. Either the aircraft succumbed to the damage sustained or the pilot was unaware of the height of the hill, resulting in a collision with the trees and the craft’s explosion on impact at 5:20 am on 31^st March 1944.

Information about the crew added to a tree

Without this additional information present at the site, the details of the crash would remain unknown. Despite being graphic, this information helps us to imagine the destruction, which occurred in the peaceful woods. More importantly, it allows us to feel connected to the men who died rather than simply seeing a stone monument for those long gone. 

As Elle has said, it is easy to focus on the national struggle rather than considering an individual’s experience. While watching the BBC’s Remembering Victory, I was struck by Bruce Forsyth’s story of the distinct lack of closure experienced by his family due to the label ‘missing’ assigned to his brother in the RAF. It has made me think of those families who survived; having to adjust to the spare chair at the dinner table, knowing that no more treasured letters would arrive. While we look back and celebrate VE Day, let’s take a moment to reflect how close to home tragedy struck and how fortunate we are to live in a time of relative peace in this country.

Blanket of Bluebells

"Entirely Unforgettable". Auschwitz 2007: The Lasting Impact

To finish off this series of blogs which have focused on Holocaust Memorial Day and the Liberation of Auschwitz, I want to return to some of the questions I raised in the first blog, when comparing two articles which attempted to address the question of who should visit the camps and if it should be made a compulsory trip in schools. I very clearly asserted my belief that it was a hugely valuable experience for me, both in terms of understanding the history of that period but also in terms of personal growth and development. However it got me thinking and there was one question I kept coming back too- was this a view shared by others who made that same trip to Poland?

Not knowing, I set out to investigate.

Unfortunately the passage of time has severed many of the links I had with those who also visited Poland in 2007. However, through social media I managed to contact some 25 of those 40 class mates who originally attended, explaining why I’d got in touch and asking them if they could spare a few minutes to consider the following four questions:

1.       Should “everyone” go?

2.       Did it aid your understanding of the Holocaust?

3.       Has it shaped your world perspective today?

4.       Do you think the camps that still exist should be destroyed? Or are they important as memorials?

I wasn’t sure what reception this message would get but I am pleased to say that 5 of those contacted did reply, with insightful and well considered responses. I appreciate it is not an easy thing to be asked to remember and  I’m sure there are some haven’t given it a second thought, while for others it will have replayed numerous times. Then of course, being asked to share those thoughts is perhaps a bit exposing, while others might not have wanted too. However, in a sense the ‘why’s’ do not really matter, what does, is the commonalities that appeared in those 5 responses I did receive.

1.       Should “everyone” go?

This first question divided the responders. Generally there was a feeling that if circumstances allowed, people should visit and be exposed to those educational messages. For example:

CL - ‘I definitely agree that everyone should go. When you read about such historical horrors, it can be easy to be overwhelmed by the facts and figures that seem entirely unfathomable and thus forget…. But the feelings you experience when you visit…. Entirely unforgettable’.

However an air of caution was also expressed:

 ZC - ‘I think the trip is very stressful so perhaps not everyone - I still get upset thinking about it now, especially the block they used to torture… ‘.

This response draws parallels with the view of fellow public historian Emma, who was inspired by my first blog to recall her experiences to Auschwitz in 2003 (1). I was struck by her comment about the lack preparation she was exposed too in advance of her school trip, for the arrangements around ours were very different.

Firstly, to be eligible for the trip you had to be studying either history or religious education which would provide you with the necessary background and context for the trip you were about to make. Furthermore, lunchtime sessions were also held in the weeks before where all were gathered to watch Schindler’s List. I think there was also discussion beforehand of what you might expect and how you might react. The staff had really considered what was necessary to prepare a 14/15 year olds for this trip so that it was a beneficial experience and one not purely wrought with emotion. It was a trip they’d run for years before taking us, so they had it pretty honed down by the time our turn came around – but perhaps that was a lesson learnt by experience? Either way the trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau and to the site of Plaszow was grounded in prior knowledge.

A mixed response then to this first question, but one that largely resonates with my own.

2.       Did it aid your understanding of the Holocaust?

This question sparked a more general consensus and that was yes, all responders walked away possessing greater understanding of what they’d been taught – the realisation of the magnitude of it being a particular point all recalled vividly:

SD – ‘it gave me a more realistic understanding, history lessons are on paper and this was startlingly real’.

MC – ‘[It] not only gave me a greater understanding of what happened, it made me aware how many people suffered and lost their lives. From walking around the camp and seeing the suitcases labelled with their return addresses and hair still tied in hairbands, it makes you realise how evil mankind can really be’.

ZC – ‘It definitely aided my understanding and added context to what I had already learnt. It made what I had read and watched “real”, rather than just another lesson in the classroom. It also brings to life the scale of what happened, which despite being told the number, I had never fully realised before visiting’.

Pictures cannot compare to seeing the real thing with your own eyes. It’s this whole argument about the response a ‘sense of place’ evokes – you’re not removed from it, you’re immersed in it and that feeling is not one easily forgotten. It leaves a lasting impression, as MC clearly shows in her recollection of the suitcases and human hair. You could all too easily skim over that when reading a text book, but when you’re confronted with a glass case full of false legs and spectacles and stats that say 1 in 4 men wore glasses – the magnitude of it hits you.

In her blog Emma is sceptical of the potential to learn from such a place and criticises the idea of ‘understanding’ - believing it can only be definitive – complete, job done. I disagree, there are something’s beyond full comprehension, this being one of them, but you can achieve a level of understanding and that is what all responders and myself walked away possessing a greater level of after our visit.

3.       Has it shaped your world perspective today?

This is perhaps the question I was most interested in hearing the responses too, for I was interested to see how the lessons learned by studying the Holocaust and visiting some of the places in which it happened had shaped the world view of the others, if of course at all, and how they may have carried that forward into their current lives.

The first responder’s recollections tie in with one of the lasting impressions I have of the trip in terms of the impact it had on us as a group. Like many school year groups, as a cohort we were divided by ‘factions’ and clashes of personalities did lead to bullying and people reaching judgements about others based on very little more than assumption. But as NM recalls:

‘when at Auschwitz, I don’t know about you, but I felt it bought everyone together. We all had the same feelings that what had happened was just awful…. For me it has taught me not to judge people, everyone is different… we all have our own beliefs and that doesn’t make one person more superior than another…’

And I couldn’t agree more for that is something I also took away, but was somewhat surprised it wasn’t remembered by more people than just us two. I remember us leaving for Poland divided into those factions yet coming back a more united unit which carried on for the rest of the year. I spoke to people on that trip that I’d never spoken too before and even cried with them; our vulnerability forced us to depend on each other in that moment and when we came back we continued to have conservations and exchange civilities. There is a lot to be learnt at Auschwitz alongside the history – lessons in citizenship and humanity are also taught, important steps in preventing such an atrocity occurring again.

A further point was raised by the responders in relation to this questions and that was the impact it has had on their world perspective and heightened engagement with politics and world issues:

ZC – ‘Yes, since the first day there it changed my perspective. I am far less naïve, I certainly think more carefully before I open my mouth, judge a race/religion, it drove me to become more politically aware so I can make informed decisions when voting, considering the Nazis were VOTED into power’.

SD – ‘I think my world perspective growing up was shaped by many things and is continuing to be shaped, but I do often think about this trip and how easy it is to be a bystander on world issues and how important it is to stand against inhumanity’.

4.       Do you think the camps that still exist should be destroyed? Or are they important as memorials?

The final question sparked consensus again:

NM – ‘There is so much history at places like Auschwitz and these need to be kept for generations in the future to see and to gain understanding of what happened’

SD – ‘how they have been left abandoned is important to see the realism of something so unimaginable’

MC – ‘So many innocent people lost their lives; it is there graveyard and should never be forgotten.’

ZC – ‘I think by running trips like the one that I went on, it might change the perspective of those children and who knows what a difference that handful of enlightened minds could do?’

The importance of places like Auschwitz came through in all those responses, both in terms of the educational value but also in the role they play as places of remembrance, memorialisation and of warning.  

Five responses out of forty is a small percentage and on some level I wish I’d had more data on which to base some of these conclusions. I am sure there is more that could have been said and different points that could have been raised, but what I am reassured by is that at least those 5 people took something away from that trip, just as I did and that it did have a lasting impact on those few.

Would I therefore stick by my original conclusion that school children should be encouraged to make a similar trip to ours? Yes I would, even though I wavered when watching Night will Fall. I think there is great need for exposure to such things, the lasting impact far outweighing the initial shock that comes with realising the magnitude of the Holocaust.

(1)    https://yorehistory.wordpress.com/2015/01/19/return-or-single-ticket-the-future-of-auswitz/

(2)    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-30996555

HMD 2015 & The 70th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz

“For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.”

- Elie Wiesel

Holocaust: Night Will Fall

I’ve been trying for the past three days to write something about this documentary which aired on Channel 4 on Saturday night and have really struggled – in many ways I think the documentary speaks for itself and you should just go and watch it. No words can really do it, or the footage it shows justice.  Just watch it.

It’s tough and not pleasant viewing, but it is a wonderful piece of craftsmanship. I’m glad the Imperial War Museum decided to finish the piece Bernstein and his team began all those years ago and that Singer and his team documented that process. Simply put - just watch it.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/holocaust-night-will-fall

.............................................................................................

Since watching the documentary I watched the brief clip on the Channel 4 website which sees director, Andre Singer and producer Sally Angel talk about the process of making the documentary and it was an enlightening five minutes. Both spoke openly about the process and made some very thought provoking statements which have added to the impact Night Will Fall has had on me as a viewer.

To begin with, Singer recalls how they’d begun with the intention of making a historian/expert led piece, but quickly realised the need to tell it from the perspective of those who were there and so ditched all the material they had already recorded and began again. He goes on to say that this documentary:

“has a particular resonance, number one, because it is the 70^th anniversary of the liberation of the camps at the end of the war and the generation that participated either as victims, or saw it or were there, sadly of course are dying and this is probably the last chance to look back from living memory”.

 I mean how true – yet it’s probably not something many of us think about, or don’t wish to think about. It is in living memory – most of what we know is told by those who lived through it and who survived, yet at the same time, it’s seems like so long ago because we struggle to comprehend a society in which that could be allowed happen (I know there are recent and on going events that spark comparison but I’m concentrating on this one event for the moment).

 The importance of the documentary is further compounded by a comment by Angel:

“I think it’s a kind of undocumented side of things that people who do bear witness to atrocity, cameramen, journalists and film makers often have to carry quite a lot of stuff with them that they can’t then share with other people, so for me there is an important element that actually we have to look at ways in which we honour people who bear witness to atrocity…”

In the documentary, those cameramen who recorded the footage are overcome with emotion as much as those survivors who recalled their experiences. They’ve been traumatised too, and again that’s not something I’ve often thought about.

Therefore, in finishing the film, the IWM have completed an act of remembrance; a way in which to honour the people who made it and have had to live with those experiences, because they were ordered to go into the camps and film what they saw; just as much as it honours the memory of those who lost their lives there as victims, by recording what happened. It provides context for the material, you’re not just watching archive footage, but are told the story of who was involved and why. As Angel comments, ‘it’s a really important piece of documentary evidence about what happened when the Allies went in and liberated the camps” and having finished that, as the original film makers intended, has meant that that record is now preserved for many years to come.

I’m sure there will be critics of this documentary, those who say it is too macabre and graphic in its imagery, but it appears all these decisions were ones Singer didn’t make lightly:

“We had to make quite severe choices about how much archive to put in and for me the biggest dilemma in the whole making of the film was how far do you got to show really horrific atrocity footage, to a public?…”

The intention originally was to make a film that would show the Germans what the Nazi’s had done in their name, to spread guilt. But the delay in finishing meant it lost its relevance and became politically sensitive so was shelved by the British Government. Times have moved on and it holds different meaning now, but that footage is still as horrific for anyone to view and I am sure, as Singer describes, “you don’t become anaesthetized to seeing the material”. We may be a modern audience with different sensibilities but that degree of human suffering is undoubtedly just as difficult to see today as it once was.

I’m forced to think about the first blog in this series where I discussed the idea that every child should go to Auschwitz, or another camp and I question my decision. The footage I saw when I watched this was very unsettling for me as a 23 year old – I can’t imagine how I’d have responded as a 15 year old. It’s tricky, because I stand by my original argument – I wouldn’t be the person I was today if I hadn’t been, yet to reveal the unedited truth, as the documentary and film footage depict, to a ‘child’… I don’t know. That takes the education to a whole different level and I think, one that is age sensitive.

Singer’s closing remark goes as follows:

“I’ve been quite shocked at how little generations under my generation and certainly under the generation who were there during the war, know really, about what happened, it’s kind of already distant history and it shouldn’t be because it’s our living memory, it’s our living history.”

I really don’t like to think of this as being true. I mean can it be distant history after only 70 years? It still feels very recent to me, I suppose because it is an event in living memory and I have been fortunate to hear people recall their extra ordinary experiences first hand. It’s dominated the school curriculum for so long and there is so much ‘history’ written about that period, can people really know so little about what happened?

Singer goes on to talk about the modern relevance of the documentary and the issues its raises – again issues I’ve thought about and engaged with over recent weeks -:

 “The subject matter I think has become more relevant now because of what we’re seeing across Europe, across the world perhaps, sort of an increase from the right… fundamentalism if you want to call it that, or anti-Semitism and so on, are on the increase rather than decrease and I think it’s a timely reminder of what happened last time, in the 1930s, when that swept across Europe.”

We live in scary times and I hope to god it doesn’t take another dramatic turn of events like this for society to reconfigure our sense of tolerance and accept that we now live in multi-cultural and multi-faith societies. An idealistic view perhaps but I’m sure I’m not alone.

The final words of the short video are given by Angel who recites the last lines of the script - ‘unless the world learns the lesson these pictures teach, night will fall. But by God’s grace we who live will learn.’ She then concludes ‘well the question is, have we really learnt?” and I ask you now the same question.

Link to press release -

http://www.iwm.org.uk/sites/default/files/press-release/German%20Concentration%20Camps%20Factual%20Survey%20-%20IWM%20press%20release%20(Final).pdf

Review: Perspectives: Warwick Davies - The Seven Dwarfs of Auschwitz

Ever since last week’s blog and having recalled my own visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau back in 2007, I’ve thought a lot more about the Holocaust and my previous interest has resurfaced with a vengeance. As I wrote last time, the 70th anniversary of liberation and Holocaust Memorial Day occur this week and as such there have been a flurry of programmes which I’ve found myself watching or recording. I thought perhaps I could blog about them as one unit but I think actually, I will take them one at a time and if all goes to plan produce series of blogs this week, culminating I hope, with a rather special article that will return to questions I raised in my first blog and address why my trip still resonates so strongly with me, both as a historian and a global citizen.

http://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep2week13/perspectives

So the first programme I viewed this week was Perspectives: Warwick Davies – The Seven Dwarfs of Auschwitz. Through hour long programmes, ITV’s ‘Perspectives’ series, sees well known celebrities set off around the world to explore more about a person that has inspired them. In this particular episode Warwick Davies examines the lives of the Ovitz family, born in Romania and of the Jewish faith, who made a living as entertainers. However rather uniquely, the family was composed of 10 siblings, 7 of whom like their father suffered from Dwarfism, while the other three were like their mothers, ‘tall’. In giving his reasons for why he finds this particular family inspiration, Davies explains how he’d always wanted to investigate them, through the eyes of a fellow little person and entertainer and how they ‘didn’t let size get them down’. They were an educated and musically talented family, who, performing under the stage name the Lilliput Troupe, played to large audiences of 800-1000 people a night and were hugely popular at the time.

However when Northern Romania was invaded by the Nazi regime, the Ovitz family’s fate, like many others,  took an unimaginable turn and consequently today, the family are better remembered as the Seven Dwarfs of Auschwitz. Throughout the programme Davies retraces the experience of the Ovitz family, visiting the village where they had lived, the ghetto they were moved too and finally Auschwitz, where they were transported in 1944 and lived until liberation.

The Ovitz family
http://themicrogiant.com/warwick-davis-the-seven-dwarfs-of-auschwitz-2013

I first heard of the Ovitz family back in 2007 when I was doing research ahead of our trip to Poland and so when I saw this programme was being re-run this week, having originally aired in March 2013, I was interested to revisit the topic and see how it was approached. I wasn’t disappointed. In fact I was really impressed. Something that has come across though writing many of the blogs I’ve written is that straying from the mainstream narrative and big events in history, is a hugely positive step and this programme firmly places little people into the historical narrative of this period.

The producers drew on experts from Imperial College, the Holocaust Research Centre RHUL, and Auschwitz Museum. You also had the authors of Giants: The Dwarfs of Auschwitz, Eilat Negev and Yehuda Koren who offered valuable historical context, as well as survivors and amazingly, footage of an interview conducted with the youngest sibling, Perla Ovitz from 1999, which was interwoven throughout the whole programme. I don’t want to say too much more in case you watch, it I’d like to mention the few things really stuck out for me.

Certainly worth a read I think!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Giants

The first was the contextualisation provided by Koren and Negev. As a viewer we are told that the 1930s “were really they heyday of the interest in dwarfism….” (Negev) and how around the world there were some 75 agents recruiting little people for the entertainment business and who would “mak[e] a living out of exhibiting their deformity” (Koren). What I hadn’t considered as well, was that in 1937, Disney released Snow White which infamously has 7 dwarfs as main characters and it transpires this movie really propelled the craze to its height. I had never even considered the connection between the two, or relatedly, that the Nazi’s would have used the story of Snow White as a piece of propaganda to spread the message of the master race. I think Disney movies are in a sense timeless, and I for one certainly over look how they fit into the time period in which they are made and the impact they might have had.





However to return to point, Koren strongly emphasises that the Ovitz’s tried to avoid this craze; they wanted to be recognised for their abilities and not an act based on gimmicks. The Ovitz’s were performers and entertainers, that’s how they wanted to be known and I think it was really important that this was re-established that at the centre of this programme. The central message being to remind us that they were an ordinary family with aspirations just the same as everyone else and that they shouldn’t be defined by what happened to them during the war. They were individuals and much more than ‘the seven dwarfs of Auschwitz’.  

As the narrative progresses, we reach the part where the train arrived in Auschwitz and are told how the Ovitz family were ‘saved’ because of Dr Mengele’s fascination with physical deformity and desire to conduct experiments on those not seen as belonging to the ‘master race’. He had particular interest in identical twins, people with different coloured eyes and little people – the Ovitz family providing a unique case study - here were 9 siblings and their families (one had escaped round up and was executed once captured), a number of whom who all suffered with the same condition. Dr Mengele arranged for them to be moved into special living quarters, where they were then exposed to horrific human experimentation.

Armand Leroi, Professor of Evolutionary Developmental Biology at Imperial College, is interviewed for the programme and describes how Mengele was of the generation of scientists who were influenced by comparative biology. Yet Leroi concludes that nothing valuable could be learnt from the experiments Mengele carried out, saying how they were:

“Bizarre, irrelevant, appalling experiments…. it’s a sort of moral vacuum in which scientists had opportunity to do whatever they wanted, no matter what the cost or the consequences. It’s a rite over life and death…”

The experiments the Ovitz’s were inflicted with are beyond comprehension – it was invasive, rigorous and relentless and only liberation brought it to an end. The Ovitz’s all survived the war and lived to grand old ages, having emigrated to Israel in May 1949 and within months, were back on the stage performing as the Lilliput Troupe – an ending at the beginning of the programme you may not have anticipated.

I thought the programme was really well put together, a great balance of archive footage and interviews and poignant remarks by all (then again, how could they not be when talking about the Holocaust). The programme was very much a personal voyage of discovery for Davies and one which focused on the experiences of this one particular family; but what an amazing story, told by amazing people.

As Davies draws the programme to a close he concludes:

“we look at pictures and we read stories and accounts of things… somehow you feel remote from it. It’s when you go to the places that you really start too… and realise, hang on a minute these aren’t tales, this is something that happened and this is where is happened…”

He carried out his investigation and offered a candid and honest description of his experiences.

Perla Ovitz
http://www.australianhumanitiesreview.org/archive/Issue-December-2007

I read somewhere after watching the programme that Perla had a condition that had to be met if
she were to give consent for the interview in 1999. She would not allow the interview to take place within her house where people would be distracted by the interior modifications. It was important for her, that her experiences were what came across and that her words were what are remembered. A wise and insightful lady - for her closing lines are ones I will not forget in a hurry. Firstly she explained how she didn’t feel able to hate Dr Mengele, because if it had not been for his experiments and his fascination with the family, they would unlikely have survived - 'I was saved by the grace of the devil" she said in an interview with Koren and Negev (1).

But then she goes on to say:

‘I put on make-up because I don’t want people to pity me… as the saying goes ’the lips smile, but the heart weeps’…

Pity was not a feeling I felt when I watched this programme and heard her recall her memories – I was purely struck by the unfathomable strength this family displayed throughout their wartime experience and its aftermath.  

(1)    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/23/the-dwarves-of-auschwitz