80 years ago

80 years ago today the concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated. Millions of people were killed there. Jews, Roma and Sinti, people with disabilities, homosexuals, political prisoners… All accounted for.

Killed by people “just following orders”. An industrial destruction complex void of any emotion. A dehumanisation machine. Surrounded by villages of people who claim not to have known or were too scared to interfere. This did not start with posters stating “we will kill a lot of people here”.

It started by painting foreigners as a danger to the values and identity of Germany. It started with posters stating “Germany first” and “Don’t buy from Jewish people”. It started by promising people to protect their country from foreign criminals and allowing you to be proud.

Look around you right now. Read the posters. See the machismo and anger in the speeches of public figures. Realise how many simple messages are on offer for complex problems – all pointing to foreigners as the cause. Then remember what this will end in. #NeverAgain is now.

Tags: NeverAgain