Comments on: Revisiting The Horrors Of The Holocaust

Millions Of Nazi Documents Are Being Made Available To The Public

[pands93]

Come now, CBS. If ever a nation was collectively culpable, it's Germany. Yet in "revisiting" the horrors of the Holocaust, we heard only "the Nazis"--never "the Germans." Why the camouflaging historical label for Germany?

All Germans were not Nazi party members, notwithstanding the soldiers' sworn allegiance to Hitler. But you have only to revisit footage of the Hitler-adoring populace for the full scope of the locomotive and synchronized forces behind the German killing machine. Moreover, we don%u2019t say %u201Cthe Imperialists%u201D killed some 300,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians in Nanking, and raped over 20,000 women; we say, %u201CJapan%u201D or %u201Cthe Japanese%u201D committed this 1937 atrocity. Why not the same articulation when %u201Crevisiting%u201D the Germany of WWII?

On the other hand, in a retrospective on Joseph Stalin, we should not hold an entire populace accountable for mass-murder as part of the national outlook. So it would be inapt to say %u201CRussians murdered,%u201D when we should say, for example, %u201CDuring his dictatorship, Joseph Stalin had tens of millions of ordinary individuals executed or imprisoned in labor-death camps. Often driven by a political paranoia, his murderous purges consumed an estimated 40 million people!%u201D

You are planning to similarly %u201Crevisit%u201D the Stalin era, aren%u2019t you? Complete with paper documentation and survivors?

[libdude55]

Why not interview someone who was not a Jew? Who
speaks for the millions of non-Jewish victims who
suffered the same horrors as millions of Jews? I'm not minimizing or deflecting attention away
from the enormous suffering of Jews at the hands
of the Nazis. But they were not alone in their
suffering, and it's hard to tell that when virtually every book, tv show and movie dealing
with the Holocaust focuses almost exclusively on
Jewish victims. Maybe I'm just not aware of info
on non-Jewish victims, so I'd be happy to check
out any sources that can be pointed to me. I just
wonder how so many victims of this insanity could
just be invisible. Who speaks for the 5 million
without voices?

[cfin5]

My uncle was an American GI that helped liberate some of those concentration camps. Oh Yeah!...It did happen all right. My cousin showed me his personal picture collection of the medical and hygene assistance setup to keep the survivors alive. They would walk around like zombies, often with no cloths as they were completely demoralized at the time. The first one that they liberated, he said that one of the prisoners was showing them around the camp as to what had happened there. My uncles' captain called him and his men over to the jeep for something and as soon as they got there, about 40 or 50 of the survivors attacked the one prisoner and beat him to death. At that time the GI's were told that the one "survivor" was really one of the camps gaurds so they did'nt intervene. Several of the attackers died from their weakened condition. It took them almost a half hour for them to kill the man. My uncle said that mans head looked as big as a basketball when they finished.

[dyoungkeit]

About 25 years ago, I knew a holocaust death camp survivor working at Ferro Corporation in Culver City California. He was about 14 at the time and earned the right to live by doing favors for the guards. I did not request any specifics of what that meant, bur now realize that it meant *** favors. Other survivors will most probably tell similar stories.I don't remember whether his name was Swartz or something similar

[apse44929]

My father was a Holocaust survivor. It is a very long story of what happened to him and his family. The horrors that he did inform us are so unbelievable it is still hard to believe any human being can do that to another human being. Whole families destroyed because of one monster who wanted to create a perfect world. A perfect world of what people like him? Sometimes I wonder what it would be like today if that monster had lived. I am still looking for some of my family and I hope that one day I will find whatever is left of us. Thank you for airing this piece because I am so worried that the day the last survivor is gone people will forget about the greatest horror I have seen and been a part of.

[digital slr]

Thank you for airing the piece about "Revisiting the Horrors Of The Holocaust". With out the reminders of the terrible acts that have been committed in the past we, of course, will be doomed to have them be repeated. Shame on those who would doubt that the Holocaust ever happened. I thank all of those at 60 Minutes for your hard work and I thank God for having been born in a country like the United States that not only allows the freedom to report stories like this but expects it.

[digital slr]

Thank you for airing the piece about "Revisiting the Horrors Of The Holocaust". With out the reminders of the terrible acts that have been committed in the past we, of course, will be doomed to have them be repeated. Shame on those who would doubt that the Holocaust ever happened. I thank all of those at 60 Minutes for your hard work and I thank God for having been born in a country like the United States that not only allows the freedom to report stories like this but expects it.

[furby0001]

Thank God for the Darby's of the world.

[spencerj9]

Disconcerting to read comments and realize persons see the world from a fictitious perspective. Nobody seems to understand what I wrote earlier: the Red Cross files are not directly related to the Holocaust or even concentration camps. Many statements said on the program were misleading, especially the program title. Although the files have always been open to those who are looking for missing persons, I read comments, such as "Now, I can trace my "lost ones."
(1)The archives are not directly related to the Holocaust. They are documents on 17 million persons missing after World War II.
(2)The documents are not Nazi archives, but documents located by the Red Cross from various sources, including German archives, and filed at a central location.
(3)The documents were always available to the public, to researchers and those who had need. Their contents were well known.
(4)There was no sinister motive in containing access to the documents. Their confidential nature was forced by treaties, and could not be changed without abrogating the treaties. The confidence protected people against careless use of confidential information.
(4) Instead of complimenting the Red Cross for courageous efforts in helping persons recover missing loved ones, the Red Cross was portrayed as a sinsister force.
(5) The horrors faced by a 17 millions were demeaned by a presentation that used three persons to misrepresent the nature of the documents. The documents are not directly related to the Holocaust.

[lynda402]

Finally, a place to find out what happened to my family. Going to the US Holocaust Museum finds me scratching my head with the lack of information regarding family members as there is no record unless you yourself input the information. Now I can find out what actually happened to my grandmothers cousin Gustel, pregnant with twins, one of Dr. Mengele's experiments. Now maybe I can find out what happened to my Grandfather and even track where and when my grandmother was in different camps. That is what this story was about - finally knowing what really happened. When I read what some people are posting it really disturbs me. Yes - my children and I have gone to rally's, written my congressmen and the president, donated money, tried to get the word out about the atrocities in Darfur. Why is the president ignoring our plea for help! Yes, I know there has been other genocides and atrocities to many other ethnic groups. But the fact remains, this 60 Minutes segment was about finally knowing what happened to each and every personal individual. My 95 year old grandmother may finally find out what happened to her beloved cousin Gustel - and maybe even my grandfather. The only question that remains is when will the public have access - and will it be before it's too late for survivors to have some more closure.

[waltzer3]

The three survivors on the 60 Minutes segment -- Scwarz, Feiden, and Rosenthal -- were all youths at Buchenwald. The Communist-led clandestine resistance in the camp sought actively to shelter and protect youth. Members of the resistance in the Arbeitstatisk (the Labor Records Office) withdrew youths from transports to the outlying work commandos, which were killing. That is what explains Szwarcz' removal from the transport to Dora. Members of the resistance later sheltered many hundreds of youths (600-900) in barrack 66 deep in the little camp. Block elder Antonin Kalina (Czech from Prague), and deputy block elder Gustav Schiller (Polish Jew from Lvov) presided over the block and looked after the welfare of the youths. Feiden for sure was in block 66 and probably Rosenthal too, arriving at Buchenwald in late January 1945. Eli Wiesel was another inhabitant of block 66.

Our ability to research and document stories inside the camps is aided by the opening of the archives at Bad Arolsen.

Kenneth Waltzer
Professor of History, Director-Jewish Studies
Michigan State University

[louklou51]

In today's so-called educated society, it is hard to fathom anything even similiar to the Holocaust occuring, and the Iraq war with its atrocities doesn't even come close. I was born almost 10 years after World War II ended but know of the Holocaust because I am a student of history. Almighty God will take care of the survivors, they have earned a trip to Heaven, the aggressors, we know where they went. We were all given a free will, and retribution does occur.

[kailumego1]

foxwgcr, what I find interesting in posters like yourself, you speak adamantly against fostering hatred, however, the contradiction in your message lies with your conclusion. Although, I'm no fan of Islamic extremist, why start a sentence condemning those who sponsor hate, while spewing it yourself. Almost every poster that vehemently blasted posters for being insensitive to the, Holocaust, have themselves, been guilty of the exact same degradation, when you constantly vilify Arabs. Posters like yourself posit many individuals commenting in contrast to the majority have very little knowledge of "Middle-Eastern" relations between Arabs and Jews; however, there are always two sides to every story.

[kailumego1]

Certainly, I'm not negating the fact that the "Holocaust" existed or these casualties occurred, but there has been a bias in media coverage of the Jewish Holocaust, in comparison to the annihilation of 80+million Native Americans, which has been hardly mentioned in history books, let along the media, in the same magnitude. So, although, yourself and others want to jump on your "soapbox", and protest against some of the posters, in which maybe some of them have been a bit harsh, maybe you and others need to get out of the victim mode and consider there is a "huge historical past" that has been marred by gratuitous acts of violence besides Jews. And just because a person exposes these disparities doesn%u2019t mean he/she is anti-Semitic, this has become just as redundant as blacks jumping on the racism bandwagon every time they are brought to the %u201Ccarpet%u201D.

[kailumego1]

Disparities in media coverage does exist, a fact, I%u2019ve heard more about the Holocaust than the genocide in Rwanda and Dafur combined, as well as the European extermination of 80+million Native Americans. There are classes in my University on the Holocaust, but nothing about genocide, in general, which would cover Rwandan, Armenian, Ukrainian, Russian, Dafur, and Native Americans. There were over 90 million Russian people murdered under Stalin%u2019s fascist regime, along with the starvation of over 8 million Ukrainians. And yes nothing much about the Christian Crusades, encroaching upon and murdering thousands of Muslims. Africans murder other Africans; all across Western Europe there has been territorial disputes, starting with England, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Spain and Portugal imperialism, which took it among themselves to carve out Africa for their own %u201Csphere of influence%u201D. Likewise, Jews in America were once %u201Cslave holders%u201D, in which many fought right along with Jefferson Davis to preserve to %u201Cantebellum south%u201D.

[lfox2gcr]

My appreciation to CBSnews/60 Minutes and anyone involved towards the opening of the Nazi Files. This tiny/huge segment will offer much more to the continuing education about the Holocaust and Nazi Germany. Thank you.

Education is an important value. Without it, people who hate others (and themselves), be jealous, ignorant or indifferent, will need to scapegoat.

The lessons of the Holocaust are not fully learned-- as evidenced by the "new" discoveries of the Nazi Files, and by the expressions of some of the comments posted on this site.

Guess who stated this: "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" answer=Adolf Hitler. With no ongoing education about the prior Armenian Genocide, Hitler knew he could get away with it. (http://www.armenian-genocide.org/hitler.html)

Contrary to 'putting it behind,' never ever stop educating about the Holocaust or any atrocity. Encourage and challenge yourselves to learn vs. to ignore and to hate.

I wouldn't be surprised if the President of Iran is officially invited to visit Bad Arolsen. Not that he would be open to learning or changing views, but whatever his actions, it would be an ongoing learning for everyone else watching. Like a "Borat 2". "LOL"

[mweiss166]

"Anti-Semitism and Jewish Chauvinism can only be faught simultaneously" - Israel Shahak

These words be heeded by some of the posters here.

[honest_news]

Why is this story titled "Revisiting the Horrors of the Holocaust"? From the very first paragraph, the story clearly explains that most of the documents that are finally being released reveal NEW accounts of Nazi horrors kept hidden for sixty years -- it is not a "revisiting" of previously revealed attrocities. A far more appropriate title would have been: "Red Cross Begrudgingly Opens Massive Files Documenting Additional Nazi Horrors".

[jerrycan28]

Mr Pelley
May I remind you that a reporters duty is to inform without coloring or obfuscating the facts. An ommision in your story looms large. Current PA leader Mahmoud Abass is no less of a Holocaust denier than Iran's provactive leader. [see David Bedien 12-19-06 Israelnationalnews.com/article.php3?id=6788]Your selective focus of Ahmindajad to the exclusion of his PA foot soldiers is pathetic.

[arkashad]

Sorry about the chopped up link... gotta get the whole URL, or use this one.
http://www.veotag.com/player/?u=cbaohfwzof