Notes from the Pink City
Echoes of Deir ez-Zor at Auschwitz
I’ve actually been to Hell – well, this Hell wasn’t located in the fiery depths of the afterlife, but in the countryside on the outskirts of the baroque Polish city of Krakow.
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Outstanding article. Thanks for sharing Raffi.
Amazing article that reach and touches deep into ones soul.
Bravo Raffi I admire you
My parents toured the camps when they went to Poland. During their tour of Auschwitz, some tourist from the US ignorantly asked about when the US freed the camp. The guide tried to explain that the Soviet army freed Auschwitz, and the tourist looked confused.
My parents also said that Birkenau was the most shocking. The size of almost twenty US football fields devoted entirely to extermination (by contrast, a concentration camp means that they work you to death).
I read about how, right before invading Poland, Hitler said “Who today speaks of the annihilation of the Armenians?” Similarly, when his minions asked what Germany’s inspiration should be, Hitler said to look to the US’s genocide against its indigenous population. He also praised the institutionalized racism prevalent in the US. Indeed, when people asked the Nazis how they could’ve come up with such discriminatory laws, the Nazis identified the US as their role model, which is part of what forced the US to start reevaluating its history.
Great article Raffi, my sentiments exactly. I was there last summer and I saw the suffering and the humiliation of human race and I couldn’t help but to think about my grandparents and my compatriots.
Waw Raffi, so well written, you are amazing
My friend Antoine Terjanian sent me the article about Auschwitz which was written by his nephew Raffi. I subsequently responded to Antoine: “Please inform your nephew that his essay brought tears to my eyes. He said what needed, and what needs, to be said, over and over again.”
David B.Brooks
Thank you for your input Professor Brooks. It is people of good-will like yourself, who bring nations together instead of trying to divide them.
Given the Armenian-Nazi collaboration under the command of General “Dro” (Drastamat Kanayan) during WW-II, I wonder how the Jews that perished in Nazi Germany would have felt about this article. According to the 2018 Pew Research report, Armenia Is the most anti-Semitic (70%) non-Muslim Country in the World.
Written so tenderly… I read it with tears in my eyes. Raffi Eliotte please keep writing
Well written and narrated, thank you.
Raffi has done justice to all of us when went to Auschwitz and felt exactly the same way. A beautifully written article.
We need a similar center in Der Zor so that Armenians and non-Armenians can visit and see where and how the Genocide was carried out.
Syria may not like this though.
Ideas?
Hi Vahe,
There was a sort of museum/pilgrimage centre in Der Zor. It was blown up by ISIS when they occupied the city in 2014. The Syrian government has promised to rebuild it, but I doubt it would be any time soon before any substantial numbers of visitors would actually make it out there given the circumstances.