Nazism, Malaysian Style

(patches used by Malaysian neo-Nazis)

Hitler’s belief in a dominant race can be transformed to fit any number of neo-fascist hate groups around the world today. You see it in how Modi twists the Nazi flare to turn the focus from race to religion while still maintaining nationality as the core of his Hindu nationalist platform. India's take on a Nazi like state still needs the issue of nationality, often associating Islam with other ethnicities outside of India, to drive the fanaticism behind making a state based on radical Hinduism. But take a little trip over to Malaysia and you find Nazism alive and well in a nearly perfect transplant of the German version. That is because Malaysia’s nationalists have a very diehard focus on race that, like Germany, uses religion as a prop. When Malaysian Nazis speak about their brand of nationalism, they are solely speaking about the white supremacist style “blood and soil" brand of it.

Malaysia as we know it today was formed on the racist belief that the dominant Malay ethnicity had a right to all of Malaysia. This was in spite of the fact that Malays are not the Indigenous Peoples of Malaysia but rather, given a more accurate and much longer timeline, relatively new to the migration of peoples who have swept over the lands that currently comprise Malaysia and Indonesia. Yet with the focus of nationality being the present, and only on the states formed out of colonial maps, the justice for Indigenous Peoples who have been made second class citizens by Malaysia is not of concern for the nationalists of today. The Malaysia they know is one where the Malay is king and all others are either to be subjects or driven out. That not so pleasant aspect of post-colonial Malaysia, one intentionally overlooked by racists like Malaysia's PM Mahathir, gives the roots of radical nationalism like that seen among Malaysia’s neo-Nazis. It is the racist foundation of society that feeds the “fringe" by allowing them to tap into what the rest of society has conveniently ignored but so frequently benefited from.

Mahathir’s own written works could be dissected to show how political power in Malaysia has only ever been harnessed through the deliberate and skillful manipulation of Malay privilege as well as both overt and outright racism towards other ethnic groups. Mahathir gained much of his influence via grievance politics and promises of securing the privileged status of Malays while offering justification for the discrimination faced by minorities in Malaysia. While Malaysian politicians have often pretended to be working on behalf of all ethnic groups in Malaysia, they more often than not have served the interests of the dominant ethnic group at the detriment of minorities. This persistent pandering to the racist views of the majority has engendered a climate in which the most depraved of extremists can find fertile soil and feel comfortable growing without fear of being cut down. From jihadists to Nazis, Malaysia’s problem with radicals is one of its own making and a direct consequence of society’s willingness to look the other way.

Malay Power

(Hitler salutes at a Malaysian Nazi concert)

In the early 2010’s the political movement Perkasa was compared to the American Tea Party by Malaysian commentators as the Malaysians watched their own far-right take to the streets. One striking indication of how little Malaysians wanted to deal with their own racism was in how commenters repeatedly whitewashed the blatant racism of America’s Tea Party movement in hopes of diminishing the equally Nazi-like racism of Perkasa. While political commentary did often admit that Perkasa had racist motivations behind its fascist politics, the comments were always immediately followed up with explanations for why Malays could magically not be racists. Around the same time the Nazi music scene in Malaysia was kicking off as far-right groups found a soundtrack for their Nazi inspired movements. The band Boot Axe, taking direct inspiration in its name from white supremacist terminology and references to Nazi “jackboots", rose to the forefront of the skinhead style scene. Swastikas, deaths head emblems and the Nazi SS were all on clear display as the skinheads ignored the fact that they were all far too brown to have ever been accepted as Nazis by the originals. Hate filled lyrics showed that they irony of their Nazi fetish didn’t matter much to the Malay supremacists. Hate was all they had and all they needed.

A hatred of minorities among the Nazi scene in Malaysia uses events like the pogroms of Chinese communities in Malaysia during the 13th of May, 1969 ethnic violence. The racism of Malaysian society as a whole was on full display on that day in 1969. The Malaysian majority used ethnic Chinese communities as scapegoats for a political loss suffered by the politicians who had spent their time race baiting the ethnic majority. Nazis in Malaysia today view themselves as the next batch of storm troopers prepared to dish out the same violence upon any and all minorities in Malaysia, regardless of the fact many ethnic minorities they hate are the actual Indigenous Peoples of Malaysia. Their belief that they are defending the socioeconomic interests of their race (which technically is a hodgepodge of ethnic groups that passed through the region over time) shows the racially inspired hatred of the movement. But there is another aspect to Malaysian Nazism… religion.

(Malaysian Nazis, note the SS death's head shirt)

When Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir calls Jews “hook-nosed” and “the source of all the world’s problems" he is not just appealing to the anti-semitism that is so prevalent in Malaysia but is directly appealing to Malaysia’s neo-Nazi movement. His hate filled literature and speeches are lapped up by Malaysia’s Nazis because their brand of Nazism uses a view of Jewish people that is filtered through German Nazism as well as less than moderate interpretations of Islam. Just as how Mahathir views Malay identity as being intertwined with Islamic identity in the Middle East, Malaysia’s Nazi movement views Hitler’s Final Solution as a key part in dealing with the people Mahathir claims are “the source of all the world’s problems.” Largely due to the fact that this view of Malay identity does not limit Malaysia to its borders but extends it to Jerusalem and all of the Islamic world. The irony of including Muslims on the basis of their faith, ignoring their racial diversity, as allies while excluding minorities in Malaysia solely on the basis of ethnicity is not lost on the Nazis though. Many of Malaysia’s neo-Nazis bridge the gap here by tweaking Malay identity to include the jihadist mantra of defending the ummah as something of their sacred duty. 

Religion is frequently used as a intoxicant among extremists regardless of political leanings, ethnocentric views or outright hatred of their targeted victims. The love and peace of the faith itself is discarded in favor of cherry picked verses that would otherwise justify the violent ends of the radicals when interpreted as they wish. Malay Nazism is no exception. By relying on Islamic verses that profess less than tolerant views of homosexuality and non-Abrahamic faiths, Malay Nazism draws a hard line that mirrors that of Islamic extremists of any other background. Taking a page from their Christian Nazi comrades, the Malay Nazis use scripture to justify their hatred of LGBT communities by claiming homosexuality threatens their view of a “pure Malay race". Many of these deviate along the same lines that white supremacists do by once again circling their hate for LGBT people back to their hatred of Jewish people by claiming Judaism is the root of homosexuality (yet Judaism is equally intolerant of LGBT people). This illustrates rather well the method in which religion, all religion, is frequently used to insulate the group and encourage the otherizing of groups deemed unworthy or outcasts. Which is why Nazism, everywhere, so often relies on religion as a method of securing its prospective followers and hardening its existing extremists.

How Can Asian Nazis Even Exist?

(Nazi tattoos in Malaysia)

This question has been asked by many articles written by Malaysian authors wishing to push the notion that Nazism is a whites only problem. That somehow Malaysians are incapable of being rabidly racist to the point of adopting one of Europe’s worst sins as their own. Yet Nazism does not grow out of nowhere. This brand of extremism needs specific conditions to be met before it can spring up like a weed that can never fully be exterminated. Neo-Nazism thrives when society’s majority decides to secure their own interests at the expense of all others. It takes root in a climate of hostility towards those perceived to be outsiders, when nationalism dictates who is a member of the group and who must go away. Nazism is a byproduct of the indifference society shows towards the most vulnerable and the most easily scapegoated. When Malaysia permits the ethnic majority to dictate who is and is not Malaysian, it feeds the growth of extremists like the Malaysian Nazis. When Malaysia goes looking for minorities to blame for the ineptitude of its government, it raises a generation of potential skinheads. Mahathir’s time as Prime Minister has been a godsend to the growing Nazi movement in Malaysia. But no one politician is to blame. Instead it is Malaysian society as a whole, the same as American society shares collective blame for Nazis on its streets, for the rise of Nazism in Malaysia. Malaysians have tolerated and frequently coddled its extremists because these skinheads are no threat to the Malay majority. And yet Nazism in Malaysia is no less a threat to the global community than White Supremacy is. When Americans ignored neo-Nazis during the 1980s and 1990s the consequences were felt in Oklahoma City and later around the world. Malaysia’s neo-Nazis are not isolated. Their music, their symbols and their chants are shared with their white counterparts. The internet has made the world smaller in a million ways and one of those has been that hate can spread from fingertips on iphones and be around the world in a blink of an eye.

So That Others Might Live

Muslims Who Defied The Nazis

(Noor Inayat Khan 1914-1944)

In the face of evil it is easy to turn one's eyes away. For many people this is the response that comes natural. It is a tendency that permits evil to spread. It is through the silence of good men and women that evil propagates. Yet there are those who don't just bear witness to evil but decide to stand toe to toe with evil itself. These few, these heroes, grit their teeth and clinch their fists as they refuse to back down.

For the Jewish people there was a generation of men and women who decided to take this stand. Millions of men and women rolled up their sleeves and picked up their rifles. None of them had to stop the spread of Nazism. None of them had to bleed and perish so that we, the Jewish people, might have a chance to live. It would have been possible to contain the Germans with far less sacrifice. Yet they, the brave, came to our rescue... many to never live to see the defeat of our oppressors.

This is not the story of American GIs or the Russian red army. This isn't the story of how the so called "West" saved the day. No, today we will look at how those society has told us hate us joined the fight to save us. In a world that even then claimed Islam and Judaism were incompatible, these brave souls decided to fight, bleed, and sacrifice so that others might live.

This is the story of Muslims who stood in the gap as Judaism suffered it's darkest hour.

"Madeleine"

Noor Inayat Khan was born in Moscow on the first of January, 1914. The world was at war and any hope for the end of the flow of blood was still not yet in sight. Yet her parents were given a blessing that day that so many expecting parents wish and pray for, that hope that comes with every new life.

By the time Noor Khan was in her twenties the world was once again headed for war. She had studied music and medicine and had even written her own children stories. Yet when war did break out and hostilities with Germany seemed inevitable, Noor Khan didn't look the other way. Instead, Noor Khan trained as a nurse with the Red Cross in her home country of France. While others prepared for others to defend them if Germany attacked, Khan prepared herself to help those in need. 

In May of 1940 Germany's Waffen SS whipped around France's inadequate defenses and invaded France. Noor Khan's family escaped to England as the French government surrendered in a tram trolley. Hitler would tour Paris while Noor Khan joined England's Women's Auxiliary Air Force so that she could help fight for France. She would train as a wireless operator while the Germans pillaged Europe just across the English Channel. 

Noor Khan's ability to speak French fluently gained the attention of England's Special Operations Executive (SOE). The SOE needed people with Khan's knowledge to go across the channel and help spy on the Nazis in France. Noor Khan's willingness to fight against the evils of Nazism made her a perfect candidate for what many would look at as suicide. 

In June of 1943 Noor Khan was flown into France and made her way to Paris where she would join the Prosper Network. Yet shortly after Khan arrived the resistance network came under attack by the German Gestapo. With the capture of resistance members came the fear that the Prosper Network had been compromised. Khan was encouraged to make her way back to England so as to evade capture by the Germans. And yet Noor Khan refused. She argued that she was the last wireless radio operator left in the group. So she would stay and fight despite the inherit risks. 

Noor Khan made attempts to rebuild the resistance network as she continued to keep London informed with wireless transmissions. Her efforts went on for three and a half months as the threat of capture lingered overhead. It wasn't till October that the Gestapo finally got the information they needed to arrest Noor Khan. 

Upon arrest the Gestapo found documents that allowed them to crack the code the spy "Madeleine" had been using. Noor Khan's code was then used to capture three more agents landing in occupied France. Yet under constant torture, Noor Khan refused to give the Nazi's any information that could have further compromised the work of the SOE in London. Dedicated to the war against Nazism, Noor Khan endured humiliating conditions and bravely faced a life in chains. Despite their best efforts the Gestapo could not break Noor Khan. 

In the summer of 1944 the Gestapo transferred Noor Khan and three other agents to Dachau Concentration Camp. The agents were questioned, beaten, and harassed by the Nazi SS. On the twelfth of September, 1944 Noor Khan met with the fate that Nazism had allotted all of Judaism. Put before a Nazi SS death squad, Noor Khan and the other three agents were shot and killed. 

Noor Inayat Khan had been given the chance to run away. She had been given the chance to live as comfortable a life as anyone else could have in England during the war. If anything, she had the chance to live free and stay out of harm's way. Yet Noor Khan took to the battle field against an enemy that was well known for it's brutality. When death came marching in it's wretched black uniform, Noor Khan held her head high and prepared to stand her ground. 

Bloody April in Sarajevo

“...our home is your home; feel at home. Our women will not hide their faces in your presence, because you are like family members to us. Now that your life is in danger, we will not leave you.”
Mustafa and Izet Hardaga speaking to Joseph Kavillo

Yugoslavia had been a target of the Nazis for some time. It was a stepping stone toward Greece and a vital part to Hitler's plan to take control of the Balkans. In April of 1941 the Luftwaffe began bombing Sarajevo as the Nazis made arrangements to occupy the city. Once the bombs began to fall the Waffen SS would begin it's assault upon the city. And it was in this bombardment that the Kavillo family, a Jewish family, found their home completely demolished. This was the Kavillo family's introduction to the horrors of the holocaust.

Joseph Kavillo's family had waited out the bombing in the forest. It was only after the bombs stopped dropping that Joseph Kavillo returned to survey the damage the Nazi's warplanes had wrought upon Sarajevo. He was planning to bring his family to the factory close to their old house so as to seek shelter as the war ravaged on. A family friend, Mustafa Hardaga, spotted Joseph and offered him and his family to take shelter in his house. This was in spite of the fact that Mr Hardaga knew that the Nazis offered no mercy for anyone who would willingly house Jews.

It wasn't long before Joseph Kavillo decided to move his family out of the Hardaga house and try to relocate them to the Italian controlled areas of Yugoslavia. When his family was safe, Joseph decided to stay behind. It was in this process that Joseph Kavillo was arrested by the Nazis in Bosnia. He was taken into captivity and kept in chains outdoors in the cold. Kept like an animal, Joseph Kavillo was not fed or offered shelter from Bosnia's harsh weather.

Zejneba Hardaga, the wife of Mustafa, found Joseph chained in the snow. She risked her life to smuggle Joseph food and water. Over the course of Joseph's time in chains it was Zejneba who kept him alive till she could find a way to help Joseph escape his chains and flee to be with his family. If it had not been for her, Joseph Kavillo would have either froze to death or starved in his chains.

Not long after Joseph Kavillo had rejoined his family in the Italian controlled area of Yugoslavia the Italians handed over control to the Nazis. Once again the family was trapped by the Nazi army. It's grip upon Bosnia had become absolute. So once again the Kavillo family made their way to the home of the Hardagas where they would again be sheltered by their Muslim friends. 

The Hardaga family risked everything to save their fellow Bosnians. The Gestapo had a headquarters just a short distance from their home. And yet this Muslim family took in a Jewish family in their greatest hour of need. The danger of being caught was ever palpable. Both families would have faced concentration camps or even death in the streets as the Nazis fought to smash Bosnian resistance. This was friendship at its finest. It was a heroic act that would not soon be forgotten. 

In the 1990's the city of Sarajevo fell under siege once again. This time the Serbian militias were surrounding the city and laying siege to the Bosnians. The Hardaga family were the targets this time. The Serbs wanted to ethnically cleanse Bosnia of it's Muslim citizens. Genocide was spilling Muslim blood as Bosnia's Jews tried to flee. 

The UN rarely allowed Bosnian Muslims the chance to run away from the bloodbath their arms bans had helped to engineer. Yet the Hardaga family had friends that wanted to help... friends that owed their lives to the heroism of the Hardagas. In 1994 the Hardaga family was brought to Israel as their homeland was bleeding out. Some 50 plus years had passed since the Kavillo family had been saved by the Hardaga family. But it was an act of true friendship that time could not fade the memory of. 

(Kaddour Benghabrit)

Within The House Of G-d

In 1926 the Grand Mosque of Paris was built as a token to the thousands of Muslims who had given their lives in "the war to end all wars". It was, and remains, a grand building dedicated to the Islamic faith and the belief in one G-d. Kaddour Benghabrit was one of key figures in helping to establish the massive structure in Paris. And it was Kaddour Benghabrit who was responsible for the mosque when the French Vichy government took power and aligned itself with the Nazis' final solution.

When the Nazis began collecting Jews for deportations there was a flaw in their original plan. It was one that had roots in France's colonial past. While there were plenty of French Jews in Paris that could easily be picked out and sent off for deportations, the diversity of France's Jewish citizens emerged. Jewish citizens from France's North African colonies had much more in common with Muslims than they did with European Jews. Their names, their culture, and their community were all linked with how Judaism had adapted itself to North African Islam. Many were closer friends with France's Muslim population than they were with the Jewish communities the Germans were familiar with. And it is in this aspect of France's unique diversity that the Nazis' plan ran into a wonderfully unique problem.

France's Muslims were not readily willing to hand over their Jewish neighbors. They had no desire to adopt the sorts of racial ideas and religious extremism that Hitler was preaching. There are many stories of influential Muslims in Paris who risked everything to do what was right. They risked their lives to save a people that Hitler believed they should hate. These Muslims found ways to help their Jewish brothers and sisters evade capture by the genocidal Nazis.

One way was to bring their Jewish neighbors to the Grand Mosque of Paris.

There was no organized effort involved. This was not an underground railroad of any sorts. It was simply a response in the heart of a community to stand beside their brothers in desperate need of help.

The head imam of the Grand Mosque of Paris was mainly responsible for housing Jewish refugees who turned up at the mosque. Kaddour Benghabrit was said to be responsible for giving these refugees Muslim identification papers so that they might make their way to safety. Kaddour also brazenly showed Nazi generals around the mosque even while Jews hid inside so that the Nazis might be fooled into believing he was cooperating.

In 1940 the Vichy government began petitioning the Grand Mosque to stop any actions it might be taking to save Jews from the Nazis. The head imam and Benghabrit remained defiant as they continued to give shelter to Jewish refugees who showed up at the Mosque. Their faith demanded it. Their actions demonstrated that which they believed. 

The Nazis showed their belief that Islam was a natural ally in the Nazi hatred of Judaism. They had expected the Bosnians in Yugoslavia to side with them in killing off Yugoslavia's Jews. In France they had expected the Grand Mosque to be the home of Islamic hatred for European Judaism. Yet the Muslims who operated the mosque showed that Islam was and is not opposed to Judaism. Their actions may have saved only a few dozen or potentially hundreds of Jews from the Nazi death camps. But as time goes on, as long as their story is told, their actions will show that Muslims and Jews are brothers in our unique faiths. Their actions should forever show that Judaism and Islam can and should live side by side in peace. 

Lest We Forget...

Muslims have a faith that teaches tolerance and an understanding of others. While some may abuse the faith, there have always been Muslims who have stepped out of the mold society has shaped for them... there have always been Muslims who have risked their own lives to save those of others. Beyond the news articles and daily broadcasts of stories like those of ISIS and other extremists... beyond the stereotypes... there will forever be Muslims who show the love of their Prophet's teachings.

These are the sorts of Muslims the world should never forget. These are the sorts of brave men and women that the world needs to talk about with a sense of pride and respect. We will all forever remember the names of villains like Osama bin-Laden. Yet we should also remember the names of heroes like Mustafa and Zejneba Hardaga. These brave and honorable souls should be inscribed not just on monuments but also imprinted upon our collective memory.

May G-d bless those who sacrificed so that others might live.

The Forgotten Righteous

Muslim Heroism During The Holocaust

I have often said that the Holocaust stole from me a heritage, a story, and an identity that I have had to fight to restore. From an early age I felt a pull to recover what was lost. It was a hunger for the stories that my ancestors had left in the past that reached out into the present. From those early years to this very day that hunger has only grown. It has shaped me, it has molded me, and it has brought a sense of reconciliation to a broken family tree. 

When I was in high school the subject of the holocaust was something I didn't want to talk about. Countless classes focused upon the subject with such intensity that it made it almost unbearable. At that time I was learning in my own research what had become of those who came before me. I was reading names of people my family had forgotten. I was reading how they had been abused, neglected, and sent to die at the hands of heartless governments and societies that hated them. For me, the class room was an uncomfortable battle field with the images and stories I was starting to believe were best forgotten. 

But you don't get to look away when this sort of awakening is taking place. You don't get to block out the emotions that claw at your heart and rip at your soul. The faces of the betrayed are constantly there to remind you that their story cannot be forgotten. The realization they bring is that if we forget, if we choose to forget, it will always come back in one way or another to remind us. 

When I was barely old enough to understand what war was I watched the news footage of Rwanda. I remember seeing people being hacked to death in the streets as they screamed for mercy that would never be given to them. The sounds of their tormented cries echo constantly in my mind. And then came Bosnia...

Genocide has a way of showing us the worst aspects of what we are as human beings. It takes from us the hope for humanity as it blinds us the few good aspects of mankind we have left. In that tortuous state it drags us to a point where we must deal with the sins of our collective past. It demands that we pay for our indifference to the suffering of others, our inaction in its presence, and the complicity with its very existence. 

So when Bosnia plunged into the hellish depths of "ethnic cleansing", genocide by another name, I attempted to check out. I didn't want to see it anymore. For a short time I didn't want to believe it could happen. And at that age I couldn't understand all of what was happening to the Bosnian people. 

That was until years later when I read about Jews who helped save Bosnian Muslims during the Bosnian Genocide. For the first time I had found an aspect of this wretched crime that I could study without losing a part of my sanity. For the first time I could see a small glimmer of hope.

Over the years of reading stories like the one in the picture above the ability to look past the seemingly endless darkness of this horrific crime grew. I began reading stories about Rwanda. Then I found stories about Cambodia. And next came stories about the Holocaust. I was slowly learning that even in the nightmare of genocide there are still people who manage to maintain their humanity. That even while the world was burning around them, and even though they had nothing to gain, these people showed all of us what it was to be human. 

For the Jewish people these stories offered a sense of hope. They showed us that even in times of utter despair there were still people that cared enough to help us survive the pogroms and Holocaust. However for all these "righteous among the nations" that I came across there was one group that was missing. 

The Muslims

There aren't many stories that show up when one starts to research the Holocaust in the Arab world. At least not ones that speak of heroism that is. Yet when you start to dig a little it isn't hard to find such stories these days. The accounts of Muslims saving Jewish lives are prolific. And they aren't simply confined to North Africa and the Middle East either.

Here are just a few...

Saide Arifova 

Saide Arifova was a Crimean Tartar who managed to save the lives of 88 Crimean Jews in the Ukraine from 1942-43. She was a mere kindergarten director when the Nazi's rolled into the Ukraine. Yet she knew from the start of Nazi occupation that the children in her care were in danger. And from that realization came a hero that even the Nazi's could not manage to break. 

After forging documents and switching the ethnicity of the Jewish children in her care through tampering with state documents, Saide Arifova's luck ran out. The Nazi's took Saide Arifova in for questioning where they beat her severely. Yet this Muslim woman did not turn her back on the Jewish children she had risked her life to save. She kept to her word and managed to withstand all the abuse the Nazi's had for her. 

This woman survived Nazi torture for children of a religion that was under threat of annihilation in her homeland. She had shown a courage that others had forsaken. And in the face of all this torment, Saide Arifova managed to even keep her life. 

When the Nazi's were pushed out the Crimean Tartars faced their own persecution. Stalin ordered the Sürgünlik, the forced deportation of Crimean Tartars to Uzbekistan, in fear that the Tartars had aided the Nazis during occupation. Saide Arifova, despite all her bravery in resisting the Nazis, was deported to Uzbekistan. 45 percent of the Tartars deported would die in Uzbekistan and yet Saide Arifova survived. 

Only after the Perestroika (reform of the Soviet Party during the 1980s) did Saide Arifova get to return to Crimea where she had so bravely saved those 88 Jewish children. On August 9th, 2007 Saide Arifova passed away. 

Necdet Kent

Necdet Kent was a Turkish Muslim who had been born in Istanbul, Turkey. During years of study and building a career as a Turkish Foreign Diplomat Mr Kent had managed to end up in Marseilles, France. There Mr Kent watched as the Germans entered France and installed the Vichy French regime. He bore witness to the horrific implementation of the Nazi race laws. 

In 1943 Mr Kent was given his first real challenge when faced with Germany's genocide of the Jewish people. Having been informed that the Gestapo had loaded 80 Turkish Jews onto a cattle car for deportation, Mr Kent went down to the station. He would later recall that the cattle car bore an inscription that stated "this wagon may be loaded with 20 heads of cattle and 500kgs of grass". Yet here he stood in front of a Gestapo commandant with a cattle car loaded with Jewish prisoners. 

Mr Kent ordered that the cattle car be emptied on the basis that the Jews inside were Turkish citizens and Turkey had declared neutrality in this conflict. On all legal grounds the Turkish diplomat was correct in his assumption that neutrality should be extended to the the Jews on-board. However the Germans laughed in his face and told Mr Kent that the Jews were nothing but worthless Jews. Their fate was sealed not because their nationality but rather their religion and ethnicity. 

Furious, Mr Kent and his assistant boarded the train and refused to get off. The Gestapo ordered the train to continue to it's next destination. Mr Kent and his assistant stayed on-board as the train of deportees barreled onward. All the while the Germans prepared a car at the next stop and a plan to get Mr Kent off the train. 

Once at the next stop the Gestapo boarded the train and demanded that Mr Kent get off and go back to Marseilles where he belonged. Yet Mr Kent replied that he was a representative of a government that did not believe in such abuses let alone on the basis of religious beliefs. For that reason Mr Kent could not leave the Jewish prisoners on that train in that condition. 

Unable to get Mr Kent off the train and realizing that the Turkish diplomat was bound to remain uncompromising in his stance, the Gestapo allowed the 80 Jewish prisoners to get off as well. Mr Kent would later state:

"I would never forget those embraces around our necks and hands ... the expressions of gratitude in the eyes of the people we rescued ... the inner peace I felt when I reached my bed towards morning."

Yet Mr Kent's bravery and heroism was not limited to this one day or this one action. Necdet Kent would continue to reach out to the Turkish Jews and other Jews who had fled to southern France prior to Nazi invasion. Mr Kent continuously offered the Jews he helped forged documents and passports that could help them get to Turkey or unoccupied lands. He also was recorded to have gone to the Gestapo and petitioned for better treatment of Jews on sever occasions... including after Marseilles Gestapo had begun stripping men in the streets to identify circumcised Jews publicly. 

However when honored for his acts of heroism Mr Kent did not take the opportunity to gloat. Instead Necdet Kent plainly stated that he had a duty to defend and save the lives of all Turkish citizens in France, especially Jews. Necdet Kent died at the age of 91 on September 20th, 2002.

Abdol Hossein Sardari

Abdol Hossein Sardari has become known as the "Schindler of Iran" amongst those who study the Holocaust. Yet for Mr Sardari this title was never one he boasted about. And despite this it is one that he rightfully earned in countless acts of selflessness and heroism. 

Mr Sardari was a very intelligent man who had been given leadership of the Iranian Consular office in Paris, France. He was there as the Germans began their march across Europe and thus overrunning Paris. It was from the very moment that Germans arrived that Mr Sardari began exploiting the agreements that Iran had made with Germany for protection of their citizens across Europe. These were agreements that Germany would violate regularly across Europe and yet Mr Sardari managed to hold Paris's Gestapo to the letter of the law. 

An ever vigilant defender of Iranian Jews, of which there were a sizable amount in Paris, Mr Sardari insured that every Persian Jew he could contact had a viable Iranian passport. For the Persian Jews that did not, Mr Sardari readily forged documents and passports for them. Violating laws and international agreements, Mr Sardari managed to save Persian Jews while holding Germany to it's word. 

As the occupation dragged on Abdol Hossein Sardari began to realize the complete picture of what Germany had in store for Europe's Jews. Slowly he began issuing Iranian passports and documents to non-Persian Jews across Paris. To make sure that his actions were not exposed Mr Sardari did not ask for permission to issue such documents. Instead, with a sense of bravery, Mr Sardari went about his work right under the eyes of the Gestapo. Iran would later applaud Abdol Sardari for his courage and efforts. 

Much like Necdet Kent, Abdol Hossein Sardari did not attempt to make light of his own actions in saving countless Jewish lives in Nazi occupied France. When honored for his actions, Mr Sardari clearly stated that he had a duty to save Persians from German aggression, regardless of religion. Almost forgotten, Abdol Hossein Sardari died in 1981 in Nottingham, England. 

Never Forget

The history of genocide is not filled with very many glimmering lights of hope. For this reason it is vital that history not forget those who bravely stood up to the persecution of others. When all the world would tell them to stand down and ignore the savagery placed at their feet, these brave souls showed us... reminded us... of what we should all strive for. 

These are just three stories of many. They are lives that were lived in defense of others. Their actions according to them were not heroic... they simply did what they saw as being morally correct. And it is for this reason that they are in fact heroes. In the darkness of the Holocaust they chose to shine like candles in our darkest hour. 

We should never forget these stories. We should let them live in our hearts, our minds, and in our words when dealing with such adversity. The legacy they have handed to us must never be allowed to be lost. For there is no guarantee that once lost, once forgotten, that we will ever get it back.

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Behind The Pink Triangle

Lessons For Russia

Deviants?

In a society based on the rigid moral standards of a maniacal leader almost everything is considered deviant. The simple act of thinking for yourself, deciding for yourself between right and wrong, is considered an act of deviancy. There is no room for free thinkers once a society decides to conform to the obdurate views of the unstable leadership it allows to take control. Every sense of freedom becomes hidebound to the dim reality fascism brings onto it's citizenry. Once in place, there are no cracks through which it's victims can escape. 

For the homosexual population of Nazi occupied Europe this rigid conformity of the masses began the slow walk into darkness. Neighbors, relatives, old coworkers... anyone and everyone could trade their gay acquaintances in for even the smallest token of favor from the new masters of Europe. The jackboots were now marching in the streets and the gestapo was out for the "sexual deviants" of Europe. 

Over the course of the Third Reich an estimated 100,000+ gay men and women were imprisoned and persecuted for their sexuality. They were put into work camps designed to bring about a slow and painful death. Around 15,000 were sent to death camps were they were adorned with a pink triangle and the number that replaced their identity, their name, and their previous life. Around 60 percent of those who were imprisoned and/or sent away to concentration camps would not survive the Holocaust. For these unfortunate souls their only crime for which they would die would be that of who they loved.

But who was the deviant in all reality? Was it the man or woman who was born different from the others? Was it the homosexual who found love in a way different than the prescribed method of society? Or was it the society which turned upon their own and sacrificed those they deemed different to the flames?

In the end, for that 60 percent that fell to the sins of conformity, it didn't matter exactly who was the deviant and who wasn't. The price they paid was greater than any that society would pay during or after the war. For the sin of silence, for the sin of complacency, for the sin of hate... those who were sacrificed to the insanity of one man's delusions and the hate of a complacent country could not, nor can not today, be brought back. They paid with their lives for a crime they did not commit. 

Behind The Pink Triangle

The crimes that were committed during the Holocaust against the homosexual community in Europe didn't occur overnight. Long held political and religious beliefs had paved the way for Hitler's orders to execute the gay citizenry of Europe. A German public had lived with and supported laws that had long oppressed the sexuality of their neighbors. 

In 1871 The Penal code is established in Germany and it's occupied territories. This harsh set of laws dictated most any moral codes of conduct that society could imagine. However it is paragraph 175 that would establish a legal precedent in Germany for the legal persecution of homosexuals. In no uncertain terms the paragraph made all sexual acts between males illegal and punishable in Germany's courts. The legal framework for governmental persecution of homosexuality was established in the Second Reich. 

From this point forward the homosexuals of Germany would enjoy only brief moments of "lesser" persecution as the German society pushed it's heel on their backs. Though gay members of society could find some places in Germany to meet and enjoy the facade of liberty in the early 1900s the storm clouds were gathering. The "Great War" saw Germany entering a hellish depression and a renewed religious fervency. Like the Jews and Roma, gays were targeted for persecution with every downturn in German society. 

With the rise of Nazism the roadwork for Hitler's persecution began to be relayed. During this time the government of Germany dug back to down to the Kaiser's sins and breathed new life into perverse laws. In 1932 Berlin began to crackdown on gays in the city. A new fervor was seen in Berlin as police and city leaders sought out gay bars and meeting places. The old morality laws were back in affect as the year came to a close. 

As 1933 opens the German people are introduced to their new leader, their fuhrer, Adolf Hitler. The Nazi party is declared the only legal party and is thus in complete control of the country. German society has surrendered it's freedoms, its liberties, and it's minorities to the insanity of a madman and his henchmen. For those trapped inside the country there is no end to the downward spiral their country is now taking. Yet the devil in charge has promised them the world. And for a short period of time, it almost appears that Hitler can give it to them. 

For the homosexuals the reality of what awaits them in Germany is made clear on May 10th, 1933. A collection of books and documents stolen from the ransacked offices of the Institute for Sexual Science are burned by the SA and Nazi supporters in Berlin. The reason for this book burning isn't that the books are Jewish or Communist. The reason these books are being burnt is because they are deemed unclean due to the "sexually deviant" nature of the institute from which they came. Though the doctor who ran the Institute for Sexual Science was a gay Jew, the homosexual threat was the main reason for their burning. For the homosexuals of Berlin, this book burning was their first warning... Hitler was coming for them. 

Less than a month later, June 8th, two homosexual rights organizations are outlawed. Their members and leaders are recorded as the Gestapo takes the names off any and all collected documents. Gays in Berlin rapidly respond by simply disappearing into the masses. However the hope of hiding and waiting out the Nazi government are short lived. 

During the "Night of the Long Knives" Hitler takes the opportunity to not only destroy the SA and replace it with the SS but also orders all homosexuals to be thrown out of the military. Several SA officers and members are charged with being homosexuals when nothing else can be found to charge them with. Though these charges were most likely false, these members of the SA are not imprisoned but rather are shot. Hitler's message to the gay community in Germany is now perfectly clear to all... they are not going to be simply jailed, they are to be killed. 

As for Ernst Roehm, the SA chief, the charges of homosexuality are not false. From 1930 the position of SA Chief Roehm in the Nazi party had been a signal of false hope to the gay community in Germany. Though the homosexual community could still expect plenty of harassment and even jail terms they had not expected what would happen next. Roehm was charged with plots to overthrow Hitler along with homosexuality. On June 30th Roehm becomes a victim of the party he had fought to help establish. SS members execute Ernst Roehm for sedition and homosexuality. 

On July 13th Hitler declares himself the sole judge in Germany and that the SS would from that point forward act as his personal police force. With this the message is sent out across the country that a gay member of the SA had been executed. There would be no quarter given to the homosexuals that were now locked inside German borders. 

By the time October rolled around the SS were actively seeking out homosexuals across Germany. Himmler ordered large roundups of gays regardless of gender under the morality laws, paragraph 175. Those who were caught up in Himmler's dragnet were imprisoned, tortured, and interrogated in hopes of getting more homosexuals' names.

For the next two years mass roundups continued without relent. What had started out as a couple hundred arrests rapidly grew into the thousands. Hitler and Himmler were on a quest to rid Germany of the "sexual deviants" and preserve the "sexual purity" of the German race. For those caught in their scheme there was no hope in sight. 

In 1935 Himmler sent out an order that promised freedom to all homosexual males who would willingly subject themselves to castration as a "cure" for their  "degenerate sexual drive". Sadly for the homosexuals who had been in inhumane jail conditions (for some, years) this promise was too good to pass up. Having been brutally operated on by Nazi doctors the victims subjected themselves to experimental surgeries. Those who did not die from the neglectful treatment of the Nazi doctors and castration itself were given a mock release. Once given the hope of freedom, the castrated victims were rearrested and thrown back into the prisons from which they had been released. 

This sadistic treatment of homosexuals in Germany's new legal system would continue as the homosexuals in SS custody continued to be held without any sign of true release. For years their lives would hang in the balance as the German people ignored the plight of gay men and women across their country. Those who did speak out often faced false charges of homosexuality and were therefore thrown into the same jails where gays died from sustained abuses and neglect to their well-being.

On October 10th, 1936 just two years after Himmler took control of the Nazi roundups of gay men and women, the leader of the SS forms the Reich Central Office for Combating Homosexuality and Abortion. This central office will allow the SS and Gestapo to compile complete lists of gays in cities and villages across Germany. From Berlin the Gestapo can monitor the arrests of gays throughout Nazi controlled Europe. They can send out demands for increased pressure on gays in any area at any time as the Nazi leaders envision threats under every rock. 

During July of 1940 Himmler cleans out the German jails of homosexual prisoners by declaring that all gays in Germany and occupied lands can be sent directly to concentration camps. In true bureaucratic fashion, the SS develop the pink triangle to fit into their numerical death machine. The homosexual community across Europe are now set to join the ranks of the Holocaust victims. 

"Work Will Set You Free"

Throughout the Holocaust homosexual prisoners were often targeted for extremely brutal punishment by camp leaders and SS camp guards. Abuses were numerous and often left up to the camp leaders themselves. The one thing every camp had in common was the use of force labor designed to bring about death through exhaustion. 

Gay camp prisoners were made to work some of the most brutal and barbaric camp task. They were made to haul stones, carry boulders, and do meaningless task designed to weaken the victims. To the SS this was meant to break the "homosexual spirit" by applying the "extermination through work program". 

Failing to do a task, no matter how menial the task might be, often led to sadistic punishments. SS leaders often enjoyed taking gay prisoners to the "singing forests" in large camps. There, on tall poles, the homosexual victim bound with their hands and feet chained behind their body. Suspended in the air from the tall pole the victim's arms would be pulled upward and behind their torso. This would cause serious injuries to the joints and shoulders of the prisoner as they screamed out in torment... thus giving the name to this form of torture. 

Other gay victims would be subjected to barbaric castrations as a "cure" for their "sexual disease". Nazi doctors and SS soldiers used knives, scissors, and veterinary tools to remove the testicles of their victim. Without medicine for the pain or impending infections, the victim was at risk or bleeding to death and/or succumbing to deadly infections from the sadistic genital mutilation.

More serious forms of punishment for homosexual prisoners were often performed in front of the rest of the camp inhabitants. Roll call would often be called when a homosexual prisoner/s would face execution. These brutal acts of violence were used to deter any and all acts of defiance by the gay prisoners. These executions were also used to punish homosexuals after one of their fellow prisoners had run into the electrical wire to commit suicide. In this aspect executions of homosexuals could be seen at times as collective punishment for both their mere existence and their persistent will to live.

In addition to work, beatings, torture, harassment by fellow inmates, degradation of all forms, and outright slaughter; many homosexual prisoners also had to face twisted medical experiments. SS doctors were given full reign in their quest to find a cure for the homosexual in German society. These experiments included the usual castrations and genital mutilations. However they also included lobotomies, shock therapy, chemical injections, and hormone injections. Prisoners who were experimented on clearly had no hope of ever being cured. And therefore once they were found to be incurable they were executed. 

Free At Last?

The German people were slow at recognizing the sins they had committed against the Jews... the Roma... the Poles. A generation of Germans would pass away without ever really having to face the crimes they forced upon the world around them. Their hands had forged the worst atrocities that Europe had ever seen. Their hatred had destroyed the lives of millions upon millions. And yet the German people were allowed to remain silent for far too long. 

For the gay victims of the Holocaust this silence felt like it could not be broken. For all the screams that had been released in those dark hellish camps, for all the suffering that had been brought upon them... the silence threatened to mask their pain. For nearly 60 years the homosexual victims of the Holocaust watched as the world ignored their stories. 

Many of those who survived decided to go back into hiding. The same method that had failed them during Hitler's reign now showed to be their only hope. The laws that had sent them to the camps were still in place when the Third Reich collapsed. Paragraph 175 clung to the books as the victims of its existence stepped out from behind prison gates. 

In December of 2000 the German government finally admitted that it had continued to use Paragraph 175 even after 1949. It was the first time that Germany had admitted that homosexuals had been victims of the Third Reich. However it wasn't until May of 2002 that the German government decided to finally pardon all homosexuals who had been convicted, tortured, and/or killed by the Nazis and German government. 

But what were they pardoned for? Who in this long history of horrific human rights abuses and genocide was the deviant? The man/woman who simply loved differently than the rest or the state and society which bore the ability to hate those they didn't understand or care to love? 

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Nuremberg Revisited

It's 1935 All Over Again In Myanmar
(The Darkness Visible series)

(Burmese Government Encouraging Fascist Lean Amongst Arakan Buddhists)

Myanmar's radicalized Buddhists movement 969 appears to be out of step with Nazi Germany as it jumps around in its systematic plan to eradicate Burma of Rohingya Muslims. What had begun decades ago is now amplified as the 969 movement falls back in line with its rabid leader Wirathu. Where they had instigated liquidations of Rohingya villages they now seek to enact laws that are remarkably similar to Hitler's Nuremberg Laws. So even though the hate group in Burma is out of order in its genocidal efforts, they aren't letting a single step that Hitler took pass them by. 

People in the West will have read that first paragraph and have become offended by the comparison to Nazi Germany with that of a "newly democratic" Myanmar. Let alone the direct comparison of a "democratic" society's laws to that of Hitler's Nuremberg race laws. So if you're still with us, lets take a look at just why and how Burma is revisiting the 1935 Nuremberg Laws. 

 Prevention of Rassenschande

 

"The Laws For The Protection Of German Blood And German Honour

Section 2: Extramarital sexual intercourse between Jews and citizens of the German state or related blood are forbidden."

In Nazi controlled Europe the act of procreation was strictly legislated so as to prevent the "racial defilement", or "rassenschande" (defilement of blood), of the mythical Aryan race. This meant that Jewish individuals were restricted in who they could marry, who they could have sex with, and how many children they could have and with whom they would be created with. Any child that was created out of sexual relations between a non-Jew and a Jewish individual was considered to be "mischling" or a "half-breed". These "half-breed" offspring were thus considered Jewish by default in the eyes of the Nazi law.

For Rohingya in Burma there have long been laws restricting who they could marry, when they could marry, and if they are allowed to marry at all. These laws are then intertwined with other laws that have long regulated the number of children Rohingya families are allowed to have. These offspring are then supposed to be registered with the state so that the children can be tracked and monitored. Any Rohingya child created out of such incidents as rape (a common crime committed by Rakhine and Burmese soldiers) is then considered Rohingya by default in the eyes of Burmese law.

Population Control

On June 10th, 2013 in a discussion with Reuters the Minister of Immigration and Population in Myanmar told the world that he backs a two child law targeting the Rohingya. This was the first of Myanmar's new Nuremberg Laws to be introduced to the West. For the outside world it was shocking that a minister like Khin Yi would back such a racially provocative law as this one. Yet across the board the leaders of Myanmar's government have unanimously supported the two child limit for Rohingya families in Burma. 

This law, fully supported by the more vocal elements of 969, is targeted not only at reducing the number of Rohingya through attrition but is aimed at impoverishing Rohingya even further. With a lack of children to help in daily activities in areas where agriculture still remains the backbone of society, Rohingya are left at a severe disadvantage. Though not practiced as much in the West, children in Burma are put to work to support the family and help grow and harvest the families food supplies. Without the extra hands the food supply diminishes and any extra jobs that can't be completed go undone. Thus showing the intent of this law to both prevent the birth of another generation of Rohingya but to also deprive the currently living of food and security. 

Mixed Faith Marriages Banned

"The Law For The Preservation Of German Blood And German Honour

Section 1: Marriages between Jews and citizens of German or kindred blood are forbidden. Marriages concluded in defiance of this law are void, even if, for the purpose of evading this law, they were concluded abroad."

Nazi Germany had already taken away the citizenship of German Jews prior to the Nuremberg Laws. This meant that marriage between Jews and non-Jews was already hard to achieve in a country where state sponsored discrimination was law. Yet in September of 1935 Hitler's party of devout fascist still saw the need to make the act of marriage between Jews and "Germans" officially illegal. Thus came the ban and annulment of any existing interfaith marriages in Nazi occupied Europe. 

For the Rohingya the threat of a law forbidding the marriage of Buddhists to Muslims now lingers as radicalized Buddhists monks draft a new law stating exactly that. Such a law would leave Rohingya women and girls even more vulnerable as the government still practices a strategy of removing men from Rohingya villages randomly. If mass executions of Rohingya men takes place, for any reason, the women and girls left in the targeted village would be abandoned and vulnerable. Without the ability to seek out support from Buddhists neighbors or other Rohingya villages, these women and girls would be ready targets for rape and exploitation. 

The possibility for rape, and organized mass rape, are very real threats for Rohingya women left vulnerable due to the deliberate actions of Burmese military and police. It has been a long standing practice for boy and men to be called upon for slave labor operations by the Burmese military. Then when rape occurs the victimized woman or women are blamed for the crime and the perpetrators are either let go or even at times rewarded. 

It can only be speculated as to why these 200 monks want this law to be passed. One can argue that they are simply trying to stem an imaginary tide of Buddhists leaving Buddha for All-h. Or perhaps they don't want their Buddhists girls being forced into marriage to Muslim men (once again, imagined threat). Yet the most likely reason is that these 200 monks have been listening to the preaching of 969 organizer and leader, Wirathu. 

Expulsion From Politics 

April 7th, 1933 

The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service

 All Jews Banned From Government Office

Nuremberg made it official yet two years prior the Jewish population of Germany had been banned from holding public office in any German governmental agency. Almost immediately the "Jewishness" of dissenting German politicians came into question. Anyone who dared speak out against the actions of the Nazi party ran the risk of being framed as a "Jude". Thus removing them from the political landscape of Hitler's Europe. 

March 2013

The Union Election Committee orders that Democracy and Human Rights Party expel six of it's members that had listed themselves as Rohingya. The example is established for all other parties in Myanmar. The government makes it clear that if a party is going to allow Rohingya they must list their ethnicity as anything other than Rohingya. This move by the Union Election Committee however only restated the long held legal precedent that allows parties to bar Rohingya from holding office within Burma's government. 

Every since Myanmar became a nation it has banned Rohingya from participating in governmental affairs. Rohingya are not permitted the right to self-determination and are subject to laws created for them (and often about them). Since their collective voice is barred from the "democratic" system they are therefore kept outside the realm of what it means to be a modern day Burmese citizen. 

Stateless 

Nazi Germany's July 14th, 1933
 Denaturalization Law

All of Germany's Jews were officially stripped of their citizenship during the infamous Nuremberg rally. However all Jews in Germany had been denied their citizenship two years prior when Germany passed the Denaturalization Law. This revoked citizenship of any Jewish individual who had recently immigrated to Germany and denounced the citizenship of Jews who had been born and lived in Germany for generations. It was one of Hitler's earliest victories in attacking the entire Jewish population of Germany all at once.

Officially Rohingya are not citizens of Burma. The government of Myanmar has never recognized the Rohingya as a given ethnic group and therefore often denies that Rohingya even exist. This policy of denial has led to and upheld the policy of forcing Rohingya to denounce their own ethnicity and register as "Bengali immigrants". This permits Myanmar's government the opportunity to ethnically cleanse their country of Rohingya by simply renaming the Rohingya as "Bengali". It also allows for Burma to deny citizenship rights and a clear nationality to the Rohingya by adding the term "immigrant" to the Rohingya.

The process of "denaturalization" may be convoluted in Burma, yet it is happening at an alarming rate. With increasing ferocity, and savagery, the Myanmar government is pushing Rohingya to sign away their heritage. Those who refuse to sign away their names are subjected to beatings, torture, and imprisonment.

In affect, the very act of forcing signatures is ethnic cleansing.

Bringing Burma To It's Own Nuremberg

On November 20th of 1945 the Nazis were dragged back to Nuremberg. Many of the worst of the Nazi leaders would commit suicide before being dragged out before the world at Nuremberg this time around. They knew rather well what they had done. They knew all to well what had come from the laws they had passed on that same spot ten years before. But for those who did face their trial there, this was not the Nuremberg they had left in 1935.

If the United Nations and world as a whole is to seek justice both during and after acts of genocide are committed then we must learn from Nuremberg. We must learn from both 1935 and 1945 Nuremberg. We cannot pick and choose the lessons that history is trying to teach us. The laws that came out of 1935 led us to the trials of 1945. Therefore we must learn from the mistakes of that rally and apply them ever increasingly harshly to the trials we face today.

Burma must be brought to its own Nuremberg. It must be forced to face the sins that have been committed in it's name. The world community must challenge the actions that still come out of Myanmar's hate. We cannot overlook the laws that Myanmar is passing. We cannot overlook the actions that arise from these state sponsored dictations of discrimination. If even a single word hints at the intent to violate the human rights of any minority group in Burma, we must apply the same wrath we showed Germany's criminals.

We must always keep in mind that history does not relent in it's attempts to teach us from our own mistakes. If we fail to learn from Germany, if we fail to learn from Myanmar... we will face these same crimes, these same sins, over and over again.

"So grotesque and preposterous are the principle characters in this galaxy of clowns and crooks that none but a thrice double ass could have taken them for rulers."
~ Officer in the Allied Control Commission, Nuremberg Trials 1945

Source Documents 

(note: not all sources listed)

Irrawaddy

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/37391

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/37063

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007901

Restless Beings 

http://www.restlessbeings.org/projects/rohingya/concentration-camps-and-systematic-rape-rohingya-under-persecution

Democratic Voice of Burma 

http://www.dvb.no/news/burma-expels-rohingya-members-from-political-party/28296

What Does It Mean To Be Liquidated

Rohingya Face Burmese Version Of The "Final Solution"
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

In 1940 the German occupiers in Poland began to move the three million plus Polish Jews into overcrowded and unsanitary ghettos. One of which was the now infamous Warsaw ghetto. It was here that the Jews of Warsaw were first met with the face of the Nazi "final solution". Their very existence in Poland had spawned a perverse question amongst the racially motivated extremist both in Poland and Germany alike. For the Nazis this question was often refereed to as the "Jewish question". It quite simply could be summed up as "how to kill or expel all Jewish peoples within Europe". However Warsaw showed us that had Hitler been more successful in his attempts to slaughter the Jewish people in Europe that his ambitions may very well had spread much further than Polish or European borders.

By 1942 the Germans had arrived at the conclusion Hitler had been leading them toward all along. The "final solution" as Hitler saw it was the total extermination of the Jewish race both in Europe and the rest of the world. It was then, and only then, that Hitler believed his mythical Aryan race could flourish. So between July 23rd and September 21st the Nazi SS began carried out deportations from Warsaw sending hundreds of thousands of Jews to their deaths in the Treblinka death camps. This was the first round of deportations. And it was the first hint the Jews of Warsaw had been given that they were not safe in their attempts to survive by cooperating with their oppressors.

During the time that passed after September of 1942 and April of 1943 the Jews of Warsaw experienced what it means to be "liquidated". What was left of their lives was being taken away as they watched the SS approach the camp and count the remaining living. They were like lambs in the eyes of their tormentors. And yet in that short period of time they found the strength to become like lions.

Today the Rohingya of Myanmar are in a very similar situation as the Jews of Warsaw were in the winter of 1942. They are trapped in ghetto like camps that are monitored and surrounded by Burmese military. Angy mobs of Rakhine Buddhists are the Rohingyas' version of the Nazi SS. And for the Rohingya still alive today, they are facing the very meaning of what it is to be liquidated.

In January of 1943 the Jews of the Warsaw ghetto arose like lions in the face of wolves. Outgunned, outnumbered, and barely able to organize themselves; the Jewish resistance fighters came out of the woodwork and attacked the SS as they attempted to restart deportations. Of the intended 8,000 Jews to be deported that day the Germans could only gather roughly 5,000. Yet the Jewish resistance didn't give up. They continued to fight back.

This is where the story for the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto and the Rohingya of Burma splits in parallels. The Rohingya of Burma have no way to fight back. There is no resistance movement in the Rakhine like their is in the Shan state. Unlike the Kachin people, the Rohingya have no paramilitary units to call upon. Life for the Rohingya is a life of facing death while the world watches. It is a story unlike that of past genocides in the fact that we are watching truly helpless people being butchered while we as a world community do nothing to stop it.

During the Armenian genocide the Armenian people were largely unable to stop the deportations and massacres they suffered under the Turks. Yet for the bravery of a small number of Armenian men and boys, the Armenians did offer up some form of resistance. They may have been badly beaten by Turkish military. Their families were all murdered or sent to die in the deserts of Arabia. But they were able to fight back.

In Rwanda the Tutsi who were mercilessly slaughtered in the streets and in their homes were unable to push back against Hutu militias who had prepared for the genocide. And yet again the Tutsi people found hope in the resistance of armed Tutsi militias that helped force the murderous regime to cease its campaign of ethnic cleansing. The wounds that were left may still be raw today. But for the fact that resistance was made there are still Tutsi people alive in Rwanda today.

The parallels that genocides of the past have with one another are unmistakable. This is a crime that follows patterns. It is a sin that repeats itself when the patterns it follows are not broken. And in cases like this of the Rohingya people, it is a crime that will reach completion if the chain of events is not altered.

Burma may be proceeding more cautiously now that the world is watching. The leaders that have given the green light to this campaign of genocide against the Rohingya may be trying to romance the West and China alike. But even with these hindrances in their plans to kill off or expel the Rohingya, the process is still happening. The stages of genocide are still occurring like clock work in Myanmar.

From the moment the first Rohingya community was burnt out of their homes and villages the process of creating ghettos began. From the establishment of the first IDP camp within Burma the process of creating ghettos was complete. This is the same path the Nazis used in Germany and the rest of occupied Europe. This is the same pattern that Hitler followed when pursuing his genocide of the Jewish people. So why is the world assuming that this will not lead to the same results that occurred in Poland?

Liquidation is a terrifying reality for those who are victims of genocide. It means that the world as you know it has ended. The people you lived amongst your entire life now want you gone... exterminated... killed off... however you put it, it is a permanent word. There is no place that is safe for you anymore. Anywhere you could even hope to flee to could never be home. Liquidation means to you what death means to others... finality.

For the Jews of the Warsaw ghetto life meant starvation, disease, and suffering. Yet liquidation was somehow worse. It was the end to the torment they had been living in. And yet it was the death of hope.

Can we not offer the Rohingya something other than the death of hope? Can we not offer the Rohingya some form of resistance to their seemingly final solution? Or will we stand idly by as the Rohingya become the next name on a long list of genocide victims?














Want to find out ways to fight back against the genocide of the Rohingya people? Follow the links and information below.

Partners Relief & Development
http://www.partnersworld.org/arakan-relief

Twitter Activist for the Rohingya
+Jamila Hanan @JamilaHanan
Nay San Lwin @nslwin
Aung Aung @Aungaungsittwe

From Warsaw To Aung Mingalar

Welcome To The Ghetto
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

(Hitler Used The Ghetto As A Steppingstone To Auschwitz)

From day one the residents of Warsaw's ghetto were told that they were being housed here because they were no longer equals to their once neighbors and countrymen. The ghetto was never meant to be a permanent solution to the "Jewish Question" in Poland and Europe. It was only meant to segregate the "unclean" from the "pure Aryan" race. For many in Warsaw the ghetto was just the beginning of the end. 

In Aung Mingalar, a modern ghetto in its own right, the segregation they now face is obviously not meant to be a permanent solution to the situation that Myanmar has manufactured. This crises, or series there of, is not being wasted upon the government of Burma. The creation of ghettos and camps across the Arakan is just one step in the long game that the old Junta set in motion. For many in Aung Mingalar this ghetto will simply be the beginning of the end. 

It has long been a model of history to repeat itself. In doing so it has shown us that by ignoring the lessons it has attempted to teach us we are assuring ourselves the opportunity to repeat them. In the case of genocide the lessons have not been learned. With every repetition of this lesson we watch without fail as the world misses the opportunity to learn... the chance to set old wrongs right and to save more victims from history's darkest fate. 

(Burma's Open Air Prison. Aung Mingalar Ghetto)

"I have lost everything," Mohammed Rafi, a Rohingya man who's house was burnt on the same day that his father-in-law was hacked apart with machetes. 

During the June outbreak of ethnic cleansing the Rohingya of Sittwe were targeted for segregation and annihilation. Entire Rohingya neighborhoods were razed as the Rakhine mobs were pointed toward their intended targets. The military offered resistance only for villages and neighborhoods where they would turn around and barricade the Rohingya within. Almost over night the ghettos of Burma were erected and the crisis had begun. 

Violence and the perception of anarchy gave the Burmese military a smoke screen that can not be overlooked. It was with this crisis that Burma acted out its darkest desires and sickest fantasy. By exploiting the racial tensions that already existed the Burmese government was able to fan the flames into and inferno. And with the help of the Buddhists monks they were able to guide the fire across the map just as they desired. All the Burmese government had to do was set back and wait till they could step in and "restore order" to the burning Arakan. 

The tragedy that occurred in June of 2012 was orchestrated. The chaos was planned in as much a manner as how Hitler's SA had planned the pogrom of Kristallnacht. With the use of religious fervor and racial hatred, Burma was able to go forward with their plan to ethnically cleanse the Arakan once and for all. 

In previous post Alder's Ledge has laid out the eight stages of genocide and just how Burma has been checking off the stages. Much like the Nazis of Germany, Burma is using these stages a blueprint to their final goal of solving their Rohingya question. The ghetto is simply a tool used to achieve the construction of a "pure" society. 

“If they gave us the security and allowed us to go the market, then I think that could easily solve the problem,” says Rafi. “The Rakhine [Arakanese] can go to the market and they can go to the hospital, but we cannot.”

Through segregation and isolation the Burmese government has been able to increase the rate of death at a higher rate in the ghettos than in the refugee camps. With overcrowding and poor sanitation common diseases are able to spread easily. To further the spread of these diseases the Burmese have taken the ghetto a step further by denying medical aid and blockading any form of medical assistance or supplies. In doing so the government of Myanmar has created the perfect conditions for higher mortality rates and the rise of what would otherwise have been easily preventable diseases. 

To increase the rate of death even further than disease alone could afford, the Burmese also have taken the measure of preventing food and water from entering the ghettos. Without predictable and reliable access to food and water the people of these ghettos resort to scavenging what few resources they can come across. Food items that would have been overlooked in better days are now utilized regardless of their cleanliness. Water that would have been thrown out is now a source of drinking water regardless of the risk it presents. 

The Jews of Warsaw saw the same steps taken by the German SS. As the Warsaw ghetto became more and more crowded the German SS made fewer and fewer patrols through its streets. This was mainly due to the amount of human waste, the smell of death, and lice and other petulance that plagued the ghetto. For the most part the German SS only entered the ghetto when they believed that food or weapons had been smuggled into the ghetto by children who routinely risked their lives by slipping in and out of the ghetto to scavenge for their families.

“Segregation affects both communities economically, but its impact on the Muslim communities is absolutely disastrous,” says Chris Lewa, head of the Arakan Project. “It curtails their livelihoods, confines them to squalid camps or ghettos making them dependent on humanitarian aid whose delivery is hampered by security threats on aid workers.  [Seven] months on – this is outrageous, unsustainable and inhumane.”

History has shown us that once a government engages in this behavior it is highly unlikely to stop utilizing these criminal tactics on its own. Had it not been for the actions of Polish Resistance fighters the attempts to wipe out Poland's Jewish population would have been successful. It was only through the actions of outsiders that the German regime was halted in its attempts to fulfill their genocidal aims. Burma's case is no different. 

If the government of Burma is allowed to continue forward with its use of ghettos the world will undoubtedly see death camps in Myanmar's future. After all, this is a regime that is facing countless rebellions by ethnic groups it does not believe are "purely Burmese". In the Kachin the Burmese have been using weapons considered illegal by the conventions adhered to by the UN. In the Arakan they have been openly utilizing methods that recreate the crimes of the Nazis and other genocidal regimes. Yet as a world community we treat Burma as though it is special. 

When Cambodia fell into the hands of Pol Pott and the Khmer Rouge the crimes that followed were leaked out to the world almost routinely. We as a world community knew of the "killing fields" and did nothing to stop it. It was only with the invasion of the Vietnamese that the brutal genocide in Cambodia came to an end. 

Burma is no exception to the lessons history has taught us. Just because it has put on the charade of pretending to be in midst of "democratic reform" does not mean it is not committing genocide. Aung San Suu Kyi may very well be the world's sweetheart for her role in this "democratic movement", but that doesn't wash her hands when it comes to ethnic cleansing. 

In the end we will have to look back on Burma in the future and admit to ourselves that we were there when the ghettos went up. We will have to look back on this day and tell ourselves honestly that we did nothing to end the suffering of the Rohingya people. And when that day comes the world will undoubtedly tell itself in the most vain way it can manage... never again.