Thread by @christinamobley

My great grandfather’s name was Zygmunt Modelski. He was deported to Auschwitz on August 8, 1941 where he died March 30, 1942. #Auschwitz75

My three great uncles Teofil, Zygmunt, and Jerzy were also deported to Auschwitz and survived. My grandfather was the only one to escape. Here you can see Teofil speaking about Auschwitz’s “Black Wall” sfi.usc.edu/video/teofil-m…

Teofil was later transferred to Buchenwald, where he was liberated by American soldiers including my Jewish great uncle Norman Krasna, whose film of the camp is an invaluable historical source of the atrocity: collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog…

Norman later added narration to the film, the best color footage of Buchenwald, detailing the horrors they found. collections.ushmm.org/film_findingai…

“If anyone tells you atrocity stories are exaggerated, think of these people. Lawyers, doctors, editors, musicians, judges—it’s hard to believe these people were rich and dignified, when their ribs are sticking out....

And who can tell who’s a Jew and who’s a Christian in this pile? Perhaps the man across your dinner table, who tells you these things are exaggerated, knows the difference.”

Norman Krasna’s last words are haunting. In them, he is witnessing as well as foreshadowing, warning us of the dangers of normalizing #antisemitism & denying the #Holocaust. Will we listen? #LestWeForget #Auschwitz75 #NeverAgain #HolocaustRemembranceDay

I thank the @AuschwitzMuseum for sending photos and documents about Zygmunt, the @HolocaustMuseum for helping us donate Norman’s film, and the International Tracing Service @ArolsenArchives who are helping uncover my grandmother’s story. #Auschwitz75 #HolocaustMemorialDay

I’ll close with @deborahlipstadt: “you don’t have to be an anti-Semite to enable #Antisemitism.”

“My question is not what’s in a person’s heart,” Lipstadt said. “My question is, what do they enable? What do they do?”

#WeRemember #NeverAgain #NeverForget #HolocaustMemorialDay