An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Denying Reality
Holocaust-denying bishop apologizes
A bishop recently rehabilitated by Pope Benedict XVI expressed regret Friday to the pontiff for the “distress and problems” he caused by denying the Holocaust.
In a letter to the Vatican, Bishop Richard Williamson, who recently denied in a TV interview that 6 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, called his remarks “imprudent.”
The letter was posted on Williamson’s personal blog and addressed to Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, who has been dealing with the rehabilitation of Williamson and other renegade bishops who had been excommunicated.
This kind of nonsense is real personal to me. Why? I’m not Jewish. I didn’t have any family members murdered by the Nazis. So, why is it personal? Well, I am going to tell you.
When I was a young sprout, we were visiting my uncle in Dallas, and me, being the snoopy kid (nothing has changed much) I was going through some of the uncle’s stuff, when I came across some pictures. I don’t think I was more than 6 or 7 years old at the time, so being a kid, no one usually got in a major snit when I was being a kid. Except this one time. (Thankfully, I outgrew my rude nosiness of other people’s property.)
It turned out that my uncle had been a photographer for the U.S. Army during WWII, and he was one of the ones who had taken pictures of liberated camps. What I found were those pictures and those images have never left me. My mother explained to me (other than how rude it was to go through my uncle’s things) that her brother had never spoken about what he saw, except through those photographs. Which camp, or camps? I don’t know. No one would ever tell me.
Shortly after this incident, the photographs were moved, and I was never able to find them again. The images of those immaciated bodies, stacked like cordwood, of children, with eyes almost larger than their faces, of the shaved heads, of the piles of shoes, and many other person items…..no, those images have NEVER left me, after all these years. So, when I hear of such a person, my bile rises, and the urge to slap the crap out him almost becomes overwhelming.
No, I will never truly understand the real horror children my age had to go through, and I pray that NO child shall ever have to endure such evil.
Incredible!
I had occasional nightmares for many years. At least I was able to wake up, they never did.
I was going to make a smartass remark about you outgrowing the nosiness, but I’ll refrain. What a horrible thing for you, and more particularly your uncle, to have to go through. I’m quite surprised that he was able to compartmentalize like he did.
He turned out to be the biggest asshole ever, but when I was a kid, he was a great guy.
I’ll always be nosy. How do ya learn stuff?