stuff? yeah i know about stuff

hmsharmony:

imperfectrevolution:

The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which occurs on January 27, is the first universal commemoration in memory of the victims of The Holocaust. It was designated by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/7 on 1 November 2005 during the 42nd plenary session. On 24 January 2005, during a special session, the United Nations General Assembly had previously marked the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps and the end of the Holocaust which resulted in the annihilation of 6 million European Jews and millions of others by the Nazi German regime.

My grandfather died before I could talk to him about the Holocaust. I had 18 years, but I was too afraid to say anything. In his final years I kept telling myself that I would finally work up the nerve, but I never did.  I guess part of me liked living in a world where the Holocaust wasn’t present, where it was a horrible tragedy that happened to my people many years ago and had no bearing on my life. When I was little I often had nightmares about the Nazis coming after my mother and me, and way into my teens my mother — who I believe suffers from children of survivors syndrome — started breaking down over the Holocaust-related fears she had had since she was a child. Somewhere down the road I must have unconsciously (and mistakenly) decided that I wanted to separate myself from this suffering.

After my pop pop died I realized that there was no running away — that there shouldn’t be any running away — and since then I’ve struggled with coming to terms with the Holocaust and my Jewish identity. I also struggle with the knowledge that I never gave my pop pop a chance to tell me his story. All I have now is his memoir, and while I am forever grateful that I have this (and I know it’s more than many have), I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself for not learning about the Holocaust from my pop pop.

I’m terribly ineloquent, but basically what I’m saying is this: don’t live in ignorance, don’t hide from the past, and always remember.

(via brosephstalin)