This Sunday, 13 April is Global Action for Darfur Day. At 12.30pm a demonstration will be taking place outside the Sudanese Embassy calling on all parties to work together to ensure a peaceful end to the conflict in Darfur.
We have witnessed the horror of Darfur unfold on our television screens, our radio and in the newspapers – it is even repeatedly discussed by decision-makers in the House of Commons and yet thousands of lives have been lost, over a million human beings, young and old have been uprooted, deported, scores of women are being raped every day and children are dying of disease, hunger and violence. It is exceptionally sad that it has been over 60 years since Holocaust, over 60 years since the word ‘genocide’ was termed as a crime against humanity, over 60 years after the world cried ‘never again’ and yet genocide occurs today as if it had never happened.
The Holocaust survivor, Bela Rosenthal, has written the article below. She and many other Holocaust survivors I know and work with are relentless in ensuring new generations not only understand what happened to them and others affected by the Nazi regime but also to understand that genocide will continue to happen if allowed to go unchallenged. If there is to be any meaning to the concept of ‘never again’, it is fundamental that people everywhere from all backgrounds and walks of life speak out and send a message that such atrocities are not acceptable in this or any other life time.
It is up to each one of us to make our voices heard. This Sunday presents an ideal opportunity for us do just that – to think about our own responsibility – what we can do as individuals and as a community to not only stop the silence and indifference over Darfur but also what we can do to prevent injustice in the future.
Karen Pollock is chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust.
A stolen childhood
Since early 2003 hundreds of thousands of civilians in Darfur have died from violence, disease and starvation. Millions have been driven from their homes, their villages torched and property stolen. Women and children are especially vulnerable. Their homes are burned to the ground, girls and women are abducted and raped, and boys are recruited as child soldiers. Refugees are living in a state of lockdown, unable to return to their homes, go to school, or tend to their fields. The conflict in Darfur has resettled an entire population, and has taken away childhood from a generation of children.
My name is Bela Rosenthal and I am a Holocaust Survivor. My childhood was also taken from me. I had the misfortune of being born in 1942 under the Nazi regime in Germany. In 1943 I was taken to the concentration camp, Theresienstadt with my Mother, Else. My father, Siegfried and my Grandmother, Augusta were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau where they were both murdered. When I was not yet two years old, my Mother died and I was left on my own. It was only thanks to the kindness and bravery of other camp inmates that I managed to survive. Theresienstadt was liberated in 1945, and along with five of the youngest surviving children I was flown to England. After being transferred through a series of children’s homes, I was adopted – my new parents decided it would be better for me to have a less German-sounding name so Bela became Joanna. It was years later that I learnt about my past –where I was from, my biological parents and what happened to them.
On behalf of the Holocaust Educational Trust – a charity dedicated to ensuring the lessons of the past are learnt, disseminated and acted upon I visit schools, colleges, universities and communities across the country and relay my experiences. It does not matter how many times I tell my story, my memories are just as raw and painful as the first time I spoke out. So why do I do it? I am often haunted by the question of why did the world do nothing. Why did so few people speak out? I share my memories, I speak out in the hope it might prevent future tragedies; in the hope that all those lives lost – mothers, fathers, children, brother, sisters – people with dreams and aspirations were not in vain.
Of course in those days the world was not privy to mass media on a global scale; the word ‘genocide’ did not even exist nor was it recognised as a crime against humanity. But above all there were no living witnesses to such crimes speaking out about their experiences. There are no such excuses when it comes to Darfur. Our television screens, newspapers, radio are awashed with reports of suffering. It is even spoken about on a regular basis in the House of Commons – and in parliaments across the world. The United Nations has codified the term ‘genocide’ by adopting the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, commonly known as the Genocide Convention, which has been accepted by 142 counties. It is therefore outrageous that a crime of this scale is allowed to persist in our time.
This year the Holocaust Educational Trust is celebrating its 20th Anniversary. However, they are also looking ahead to the next twenty years and the challenges they face. In particular, as survivors like me grow older and frailer and less able to speak out it will become even easier and tempting for people to try and bury their heads in the sand and dismiss the Holocaust as something that happened long ago and could never be repeated. Just as I hope time will not eradicate the memory of the Holocaust, I also hope distance will not eradicate the need for action in Darfur.
We must make the lessons of the past part of our contemporary lives. That is why the work of organisations like the Holocaust Educational Trust is so important. Learning about that dark time teaches us not only to respect those who perished in the past, but also to inspire those who live today; it teaches us about humanity’s capacity for evil but also for good; it teaches us that we must ensure our desire to ‘belong’ does not become an excuse to exclude; it teaches us to confront racism from the moment it appears and wherever it appears and to fight for a society where everyone is respected, regardless of race, religion, or skin colour – not only with our words, but also our actions.
This Sunday the 13th April 2008 it is the Global Action Day for Darfur. As a survivor of the Holocaust I know all too well the dire consequences of silence and inaction. I encourage everyone to take time out of their weekend to reflect on the suffering that continues to plague our world, to feel anger at the appalling inaction of world governments and what you as individuals might do to prevent another stolen childhood.