I've been wanting to say something about the obscenity playing out in Ukraine for days, but somehow words don't seem able to adequately convey the horror that Putin has unleashed upon a proud and honourable nation. However, this from the BBC website in the last hour seems to crystalize the whole unbelievable nightmare for me and put it into a chilling historical context:-
Ukraine war: Holocaust survivor killed by Russian shelling in KharkivA Ukrainian man who survived the Nazi Holocaust during World War Two has been killed during a Russian attack on the eastern city of Kharkiv. Boris Romantschenko, 96, died during Russian shelling of his apartment block on Friday, relatives said.
Russian forces have been relentlessly shelling Kharkiv, which lies just 30 miles (50km) from the border, for over three weeks. At least 500 civilians have now been killed there, Ukrainian officials say. Police said one of the victims has been identified as a nine-year old boy.
The Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation said it was "deeply disturbed" by Mr Romantschenko's death. The organisation, of which Mr Romantschenko was vice-president, announced the news after being informed by his family and said he had "worked intensely on the memory of of Nazi crimes". "We mourn the loss of a close friend. We wish his son and granddaughter, who brought us the sad news, a lot of strength in these difficult times," the foundation's statement added.
Mr Romantschenko was born in the north-eastern city of Bondari on 20 January 1926. He was rounded up by Nazi troops after the invasion of the Soviet Union and deported to Germany in 1942, where he was forced to do hard labour, the foundation said. After a failed escape attempt in 1943, he was sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp, where some 56,545 people were murdered before its liberation in 1945 by the allies.
He also spent time in the subcamp of Mittelbau-Dora, as well as the infamous Bergen Belsen and Peenemünde camps. He returned to Buchenwald in 2012 to celebrate the 67th anniversary of the liberation of the camp by US troops, where he recited the pledge made by survivors to create "a new world where peace and freedom reign".
The Nazi regime murdered over six million Jewish people across occupied Europe between 1941 and 1945.
The Nazi regime murdered over six million Jewish people across occupied Europe between 1941 and 1945.
Thanks for taking the time to write this. I agree , it is unspeakably horrific and inhuman. Let's hope that Putin is somehow persuaded to end this aggression and genocide soon. He is a psychopath with no mercy who happily uses the young men of his country to commit some trumped up ' holy war' against his close neighbours for no other reason than his own greed and power mongering. He must be held to account or somehow removed from power.
ReplyDelete