My mother-in-law and her twin sister wound up in Auschwitz after the liquidation of the Lodz ghetto in Poland. Neither underwent medical experimentation because, at the time, the Nazis were more concerned with providing slave labor to keep up the war effort. Both my mil and her sister were soon transferred to the Krupp munitions factory outside Berlin and were later rescued by the Swedish Red Cross at Ravensbruck.
A number of year ago I refused to attend a physics conference in Greifswald, Germany that was being held at the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg. It didn't seem to bother the organizers that the conference hall was named after a notorious Nazi who had been found guilty at Nuremberg of crimes against humanity.
Joe, that's interesting and good for you. I hope you made your feelings known to the organizers of the conference (at the least). I thought the Germans had laws against anything related to Nazism, but clearly not.
Thanks for the comment. I did in fact inform both the local organizers and the program committee the reasons why I wouldn't attend the conference. My institution is hosting this same conference this coming September.
The holdings of Alfried Krupp were returned to him after the war through the intervention of the American commissioner John McCloy. After Krupp's death, his estate was transferred to a Foundation. At that point it had nothing to do with Nazism, which is why it exists to this day. I, however, would not set foot in a building that honors this man.
Here's something else that might be interesting to you. My mother-in-law, and her twin sister, owed their lives to Count Bernadotte, the head of the Swedish Red Cross who organized a series of white buses to save prisoners at Ravensbruck. Count Bernadotte was subsequently murdered by the Stern gang in Israel for trying to broker a peace agreement on behalf of the UN.
Joe: What scares me is that I don't think that kind of evil is gone, only suppressed, like an Ebola virus that hides and waits in the jungle and strikes when it finally gets the best opportunity. Even today in America you can sometimes glimpse the kind of men and women who would, if the situation were different, be ready to take up those extreme roles for the good of a warped cause they believed in and would swear was right.
5 comments:
An extraordinary person.
Thanks for posting this David.
My mother-in-law and her twin sister wound up in Auschwitz after the liquidation of the Lodz ghetto in Poland. Neither underwent medical experimentation because, at the time, the Nazis were more concerned with providing slave labor to keep up the war effort. Both my mil and her sister were soon transferred to the Krupp munitions factory outside Berlin and were later rescued by the Swedish Red Cross at Ravensbruck.
A number of year ago I refused to attend a physics conference in Greifswald, Germany that was being held at the Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg. It didn't seem to bother the organizers that the conference hall was named after a notorious Nazi who had been found guilty at Nuremberg of crimes against humanity.
Joe, that's interesting and good for you. I hope you made your feelings known to the organizers of the conference (at the least). I thought the Germans had laws against anything related to Nazism, but clearly not.
It seems that conference hall still exists:
https://www.wiko-greifswald.de/
David,
Thanks for the comment. I did in fact inform both the local organizers and the program committee the reasons why I wouldn't attend the conference. My institution is hosting this same conference this coming September.
The holdings of Alfried Krupp were returned to him after the war through the intervention of the American commissioner John McCloy. After Krupp's death, his estate was transferred to a Foundation. At that point it had nothing to do with Nazism, which is why it exists to this day. I, however, would not set foot in a building that honors this man.
Here's something else that might be interesting to you. My mother-in-law, and her twin sister, owed their lives to Count Bernadotte, the head of the Swedish Red Cross who organized a series of white buses to save prisoners at Ravensbruck. Count Bernadotte was subsequently murdered by the Stern gang in Israel for trying to broker a peace agreement on behalf of the UN.
Joe: What scares me is that I don't think that kind of evil is gone, only suppressed, like an Ebola virus that hides and waits in the jungle and strikes when it finally gets the best opportunity. Even today in America you can sometimes glimpse the kind of men and women who would, if the situation were different, be ready to take up those extreme roles for the good of a warped cause they believed in and would swear was right.
Or so it seems to me.
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