Holocaust Remembrance Day was this past Monday. As you might guess by my Daily Kos moniker, this day has significant meaning for me. I invited my parents to join me at a Community wide memorial service to commemorate the lives and heroism of people who suffered, fought, and died in the Holocaust between 1933 and 1945. We watched the Academy Award winning documentary The Woman in #6. Please watch this inspirational woman in the video below.
Alice Herz-Sommer is the world's oldest Holocaust Survivor.
When, in the early summer of 1942, my seventy-two-year-old mother was issued with a deportation order and I had to go with her to the assembly point and say goodbye to her for the last time, I was out of my mind. How was it possible to tear an old lady away from her world with nothing more than a rucksack on her back and send her to a concentration camp? Even to this day I can clearly hear the inner voice that spoke to me: ‘Practise the Chopin Études, they will save you.’
Music gave heart to many of the prisoners, if only temporarily. In retrospect I am certain that it was music that strengthened my innate optimism and saved my life and that of my son. It was our food; and it protected us from hate and literally nourished our souls. There in the darkest corners of the world it removed our fears and reminded us of the beauty around us. Music supported me as I turned my back on my home town of Prague for the last time and had to think of learning new languages, and I am thankful for it too, at my great age, when I spend many hours alone. It hardly matters where I am: I am not prone to loneliness. Although I no longer travel any more, through music I can see the world.
You can read an
excerpt from her book here.
November 26, 1903, Prague, Czech Republic - February 23, 2014, London, United Kingdom
May her memory continue to be a blessing and inspiration for all who seek comfort.
Below are links to all the exceptional diaries in yesterday's Harvard Divestment Blogathon. You know what to do.
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Harvard Divest Blogathon - April 30, 2014
Diary Schedule - All Times Pacific
Harvard Divests: Harvard students leading the fossil fuel divestment movement at Harvard, @DivestHarvard.
7:00 am: Harvard Divests, which consists of students leading the fossil fuel divestment movement at Harvard University. @DivestHarvard. Why We Are Blocking the Office of Harvard's President
11:00 am: Brant Olson. He is a father and husband as well as the Campaign Director at Forecast the Facts. Harvard Divest: Unwinding the Influence of Fossil Fuels
3:00 pm: Bill McKibben. He is the President and Co-Founder of 350.org. Standing up to Climate Change (by Sitting Down in Harvard Yard)
5:00 pm: Daniel Kessler. He is the Communications Director at the Climate Lab, a project of the Citizen Engagement Labaratory. @danieljkessler.
TBD: Elizabeth Shope. She is an advocate in the International Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council and has been fighting tar sands oil and the Keystone XL pipeline for the last 5 years. Elizabeth got her AB in Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard University.
Extra: gmoke At the Harvard Divest Rally
Our Daily Kos community organizers are Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, boatsie, rb137, JekyllnHyde, citisven, peregrine kate, John Crapper, Aji, Kitsap River, remembrance, and Glen The Plumber, with Meteor Blades serving as the group's adviser.
Please tweet all diaries posted during the day, feel free to link to your Facebook pages, and remember to republish each diary to your DK Groups. You can also follow all postings by clicking this link for the Climate Change SOS Blogathon Group. Then, click 'Follow' and that will make all postings show up in 'My Stream' of your Daily Kos page.
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Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate. Readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.
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