Most of the time when WWII atrocities are brought up (usually by American politicians) it’s to talk about the terrible acts the Nazi committed against the Jews and how we must position ourselves to fight the next Hitler. But more needs to be discussed about how Western governments failed to help ordinary people they were meant to protect, especially refugees.
One of my favorite children’s author/illustrors is Judith Kerr, best known for When the Tiger Came to Tea and series of picture books on Mog the Cat. She also wrote a trilogy (based on the style of Wilder’s Little House series) about her life growing up as a refugee fleeing Nazi Germany.
In When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, she talks about first fleeing to Switzerland, then to France and finally to England because her father, a secular Jew and famous writer had written against the Nazi party, prior to their coming to power. In the second book of the series Bombs on Aunt Dainty, she talks about living in England and how because of their German nationality, her brother (along with thousands of others) was picked up and then interned on the Isle of Wight for serval months. There were three classes that foreign nationals in any way related to Germany were categorized into: “Aliens”, “Enemy Aliens” and “Friendly Enemy Aliens.” Most Friendly Enemy Aliens were German Jews.
The thought that Jews would betray English or French to Hitler is ludicrous today (the French interned them as well and when the Nazis marched into Paris it made the job of rounding up Jews easier), but the “security of the general public” and that “Nazis can hide among the German Jews,” was what justified these actions.
Any security program that tries to round up/black list people that is not based on actual evidence against individuals themselves, but based on a broad set of categories like “nationality” or “religion” or “race”, is stupid. It is also counter- productive. Instead of actually looking for people who cause trouble, resources have to be wasted on people who are not a threat but just “look” like one.
Post script: After her brother was released from the internment camp, he went to fight the Nazis as an RAF (Royal Air Force) fighter pilot.
In When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, she talks about first fleeing to Switzerland, then to France and finally to England because her father, a secular Jew and famous writer had written against the Nazi party, prior to their coming to power. In the second book of the series Bombs on Aunt Dainty, she talks about living in England and how because of their German nationality, her brother (along with thousands of others) was picked up and then interned on the Isle of Wight for serval months. There were three classes that foreign nationals in any way related to Germany were categorized into: “Aliens”, “Enemy Aliens” and “Friendly Enemy Aliens.” Most Friendly Enemy Aliens were German Jews.
The thought that Jews would betray English or French to Hitler is ludicrous today (the French interned them as well and when the Nazis marched into Paris it made the job of rounding up Jews easier), but the “security of the general public” and that “Nazis can hide among the German Jews,” was what justified these actions.
Any security program that tries to round up/black list people that is not based on actual evidence against individuals themselves, but based on a broad set of categories like “nationality” or “religion” or “race”, is stupid. It is also counter- productive. Instead of actually looking for people who cause trouble, resources have to be wasted on people who are not a threat but just “look” like one.
Post script: After her brother was released from the internment camp, he went to fight the Nazis as an RAF (Royal Air Force) fighter pilot.
No comments:
Post a Comment