I am currently at Auschwitz, 80 years to the date after the Soviets liberated this death camp from the Nazis.
I don’t really have words.
Imagine a factory for murdering people.
I remember the 3,000 Americans whom Al-Qaeda slaughtered on 9-11. We still have not truly recovered as a nation.
Imagine being here at this horrid place, where Germans murdered 6,000 (!!) human beings (mostly Jews) a day. Every day. That’s TWO 9-11’s a day (!!), every day, for years — until the number reached 1.1M murdered here.
Mass, industrial murder. It’s inconceivable.
I think every human being who can should make a pilgrimage to this place.
This is what I have learned here: Ideas matter. Words have consequences. Hate is nothing to play with. Scapegoating groups is nothing to play with. Nazi salutes are nothing to play with.
Hate and blame can get out of control— just like the fires in LA — and burn down the whole world.
Let’s stay together.
-Van
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