The Holocaust and the Politics of Memory

 

It’s been nearly 80 years since the end of World War II. Johanna Hoes examines the fragility of historical memory and a rise in Holocaust revisionism in Europe.

Politicians have long had a tendency to frame the past in a way that suits their political agenda in the present and the Holocaust is no different.

In this special episode of The Listening Post, Johanna Hoes reports on historical revisionism in Poland; the governing right-wing Law and Justice party’s attempts to portray all Polish people as heroes or victims while concealing an uncomfortable truth: that some Poles collaborated with the Nazis and were complicit in crimes against Jews.

The Holocaust twin who forgave the Nazis (video)

Eva Kor tells the powerful story of her time in Auschwitz, and why – many years later – she decided to forgive those responsible

What did the Pope know about the Holocaust?

 The Vatican opened once-secret records on Pope Pius XII on March 2020. This gave researchers a brand new insight into the Catholic Church during the Nazi era.

China Has Taken Its Propaganda Campaign Against Japan To Far

Usually when leaders make state visits they deal with economic and political ties and how they might be strengthened.   They usually don't schedule a state visit as part of a propaganda  campaign against a nation they are having a diplomatic row with.   

China's Premier Xi Jinping is proposing just that.  He would like his upcoming trip in March to Germany focused on World War II and how the Germans dealt with defeat of the Third Reich and the Holocaust.   One small problem the Germans would rather that he did not.

"China wants a strong focus on World War Two when Xi visits Germany and Germany is not happy," said one diplomatic source who has been briefed on China's plans for the Xi trip.
The German government declined to comment. But the diplomatic sources said Germany did not want to get dragged into the dispute between China and Japan, and dislikes China constantly bringing up Germany's painful past.
A second diplomatic source with knowledge of the trip said China had proposed Xi visit the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. When that was immediately rejected by Germany, Beijing suggested Xi go to Berlin's Neue Wache Memorial, which honors war dead but not recognized war criminals.
"The Holocaust is a no go area," the source said, adding it was unclear if the Neue Wache Memorial visit would go ahead.
Germany does not want the negative legacy of the war to dominate or take centre stage during a state visit, the source added, explaining the objection to the Holocaust Memorial visit.