Remembering the hidden Holocaust
On Sunday’s edition of “60 Minutes,” (Aug. 7, 2016, repeated from Oct. 4, 2015) there was the story of a French Catholic priest, Father Patrick Desbois, who has made it his life’s work to uncover and document the hidden Holocaust.
It is a moving story and it was broadcast the same day as the fast of Tisha b’Av. We should always remember that we fast because of the ancient past and its horrors, but also because of the recent past.
My mother, who lived through the nightmare of the Holocaust, insisted on fasting this Tisha b’Av because she left Auschwitz on a forced march on Tisha b’Av. It is because of this that she felt compelled to fast and indeed she, at nearly 90 years of age, fasted until noon.
Perhaps next year and the years to come, we will join her in remembering the Holocaust, the hidden Holocaust and her forced march from Auschwitz, as well as our other ancient disasters on Tisha b’Av. The truth is … she will never forget … nor should we!
(Learn more about Father Desbois at yahadinunum.org.)