Berlin: That We May Never Forget

A sign of times past

Just at the entrance of Wittenbergplatz U-Bahn Station is a panel board of place names. Twelve in a list that spells the recording of one of man’s greatest inhumanities to man.

A list of Nazi Concentration Camps

These were the Nazi Concentration Camp names of which if you have read a bit of World War II history, Auschwitz is the most prominent.

The Nazis used these camps for various activities as hostage, labour, prisoner-of-war, re-education, transit and extermination camps. It was in some of these extermination camps that they systemically killed off people, most especially the Jews in what is known as the Holocaust.

Feeling the presence of pain

Now, I have never visited any of these places, but in 2007, I visited Pawiak Prison in Warsaw and that experience still lives with me, for I am of the opinion that where innocent blood is shed, there is always a memorial of feeling and uneasiness that beclouds that place.

Blog - PAWIAK!

However, what struck me more about the Nazi setup was their attention to detail that created a bureaucracy of such efficiency that the particularity of things they documented just took your breath away.

Badges of badgering

One good example of this was the identification in the Nazi Concentration Camps where tattooed numbers, badges and armbands immediately identified the type of prisoner you were.

Nazi Concentration Camp Badges – Courtesy Wikipedia

So, you had political prisoners (red), professional criminals (green), emigrants (blue), Jehovah’s Witnesses (purple), Homosexuals and sexual offenders (pink), asocial elements (black), Roma gypsies (brown) and so on. Pink triangle along with the rainbow flag now signify LGBTI causes and diversity.

The Original Rainbow Flag – Courtesy Wikipedia

The two superimposed triangles in the sign of the Star of David depicted Jews, typically yellow but could have other colours signifying Jew and another offender category.

That we may never forget.

The most important lesson to learn from this and in that understand why World War II was fought and won for our liberty, freedom and acceptance of difference and diversity is in the many memorials that say as shown on that sign, “Orte Des Schreckens, Die Wir Niemals Vergessen Dürfen.” This roughly translates to, “The Places of Horror, That We May Never Forget.”

They who have no history and keep no memorials are destined to repeat history, those reminded of the horrific past are quicker to embrace the greater good of humanity and human existence.

More correctly, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” George Santayana or “Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.” Edmund Burke.

We speak of history because there is a burden of truth we must carry for the present in order to secure a future of peace and happiness.

Decade Blogs - Pearl Ijeoma Ezeokeke - The Employer Atrocities of She

Decade Blogs

Amongst my many friends on Twitter, I was happy when Pearl Ijeoma Ezeokeke agreed to write for my #YourBlogOnMyBlog Series commemorating my Decade of Blogging.

Blog - To Celebrate My Decade of Blogging

I read this story, and I gasped, in shock and in recognition; if the authorities heard of every occurrence of this, Nigerian newspapers would have no spare space for news.

It is the issue of employer – employee relations, where the former literally has omnipotence over the latter on all matters of life, decision and existence to the extent of egregious and unconscionable abuse.

From the late or non-payment of salaries through mental torture and bullying to aggravated grievous bodily harm, all done with impunity and with no consequence or accountability.

Besides the obvious, it highlights the way people tackle spousal infidelity, taking it out on the vulnerable party and the way parents crudely apply themselves to sex education through the use of terror, fear and threats. This is a riveting read.

Pearl Ijeoma Ezeokeke blogs at http://olorungemstone.com and she writes in 140 characters via @PearlEze

She

She had woken up on the wrong side of the bed that Saturday morning. Truth be told, she always woke up on the wrong side, like she was fighting demons and in-laws in her dreams and brought the whole shindig out into the real world. They all knew it was going to be a bad day, they could tell from her demeanour, but did not know what was in store, did not expect it.

They had just had breakfast, and since it was a Saturday, her daughters did not have to go to school so they escaped to the swing and white sand outside. The eldest was seven years old, and they had all witnessed how violent she could get when she was in such a mood. As usual, their father was away. He was not home very much.

One wonders if it had to do with the fact that his wife was only able to give him girl-children, three now. His mother wanted him to leave his wife and find a woman who could give them sons to carry the family name. It did not matter that he had three other brothers it was their tradition.

She knew he was sleeping around. She knew he was unfaithful. She knew he was having sex with the house helps every single one of them. She had no proof whatsoever, but she knew. They say women have a sixth sense about these things.

The girls heard the shouting and screaming coming through the front doors. For a few minutes, they kept on swinging, acting as if nothing was happening. Like they didn’t know that someone was on the verge of being beaten to a pulp inside the house. It had happened before, more than once. They were scared and helpless – from whence doth their help come from?

She started screaming their names from the kitchen. There was no escaping now.

When they got there, they found her on the ground, the pretty house help beneath her. She had her by the hair and was banging her head on the floor. The eldest daughter rushed to her and tried to stop her hands from such wickedness, but she was like one possessed. The girls started crying. Weeping. Then she looked up at them and scolded them to shut up!

Her eyes, there was something about her eyes… Evil lived within.

She got up and moved over to a corner in the kitchen where mortar and pestle sat. The girls had not seen it there what with all the ruckus. She bent down, scooped pounded fresh chilli pepper from it, and then went back to the house help. She held her down and forced her leg between the house help’s legs to push them apart, then looked at her daughters.

“If I catch anyone of you with any boy or any man, I will do the same thing to you.”

Then she proceeded to show them what she would do.

-o-o-

I celebrate you on this decade of blogging. Your consistency and dedication is absolutely admirable and worthy of emulation. My prayer for you is ka o n'aga aga.

England: They will not go unpunished

We will punish

Repeatedly, as my heart bled with anguish and horror at the news of little children that died at the hands of their parents, I was never fully satisfied with the justice that punished the horrors, but it was justice all the same.

Today, it was the turn of Amanda Hutton to go to jail, for the death of 4-year old Hamzah Khan, who she cruelly starved to death and then left mummified in his cot for nearly two years.

For her cruelty charged as manslaughter, child cruelty and preventing the lawful burial of a child, she will go to jail for 15 years and that can never be long enough for the harrowing, reprehensible and disgraceful circumstances that greeting the dying days of Hamzah that could have been for years.

Placing the responsibility right

There is no way to fully understand why a mother could be so evil beyond words having altogether had six children, the oldest of which is 24 years old who received a suspended sentence of 2 years for preventing the burial of his brother.

I am glad that the findings did not give her a bye on the possibility of diminished responsibility, but held her responsible fully for the heinous crimes against her son.

Rights even in death

As with Victoria Climbié, Peter Connelly (Baby P), Daniel Pelka and the 6 Philpott children who perished in a fire set by their own parents, we as a society will not stand for the abuse of children by their parents and guardians, and though we might have failed to prevent their abuse, we will not fail in punishing the perpetrators.

Each face and name is testament that these children, even if not precious and beautiful in the eyes of the people we expect to unconditionally love them, they have a right to have a voice for justice in the hope that less of this becomes the regular news of our times.

Lawful burials

We must have lessons to learn of these events for early intervention where abuse is suspected and for more intrusive official enquiry where a child appears to be in danger.

I never knew there was a crime of preventing the lawful burial of the dead – an unusual crime, in fact, I take that back; the heir to the Tetrapak fortune, Hans Kristian Rausing, was charged with that crime in 2012 for not burying his wife who had been dead for months.

May the souls of those dear children rest in peace; I do hope no other child is suffering today like these have suffered before.

Thinking of Daniel Pelka

A pro-choice point

If there were better interventionist policies that were predicated on unconditional love providing the best of parental care to children born into dire, indifferent, violent or extremely atrocious situations, I might have found myself waving flags and placards in the front of abortion clinics speaking against abortion.

Our reality indicates there is no such Utopian environment to fundamentally offload the circumstances that present abortion as an option some people might take for all sorts of reasons.

Unloved in this world

This introduction stems from a number of situations in the UK where children have been born into some of the most harrowingly wicked homes, where the children’s guardians take on the demonic mantle of depriving the child of every semblance of care, fun, happiness, joy and even life for reasons I cannot yet understand even if I were completely devoid of any humanity.

The case of Daniel Pelka represents a feeling that hell might well be an amusement park and the poor child saw more than hell.

Nothing is said of the circumstances in which Daniel was born and that is patently beside the point, he had a mother who starved him, almost drowned him, brutalised him and eventually killed him whilst his mother’s partner acquiesced, if not participated in the evil enterprise.

Unconscionable evil

The only place where I have seen such behaviour is amongst primates where a silverback will attempt to kill the offspring of a nursing gorilla in order to bring her into season to have his way. If I suggested Magdelena Luczak, 27, and her partner Mariusz Krezolek, 34 where worse than wild animals in human skin, I will not be far off the mark.

The unmitigated cruelty to Daniel Pelka mirrors what we saw of Peter Connelly, Baby P, a few years before, where the system failed the child who suffered more than 50 injuries over an 8-month period.

Before that, it was Victoria Climbié, creating a catalogue of guardianship criminality that can find no words of expression close to describing the hell those children went through.

Some justice

It is not just the fact that the children were unloved or probably unwanted but that their guardians especially in the documented text messages of Daniel Pelka’s guardians had no restraint in planning and executing their tortuous sadistic cruelty against defenceless kids for their pleasure or satisfaction.

No justice can be sufficient to punish for the world Daniel came to find himself and if there is a heaven, I will hope that he finds the greatest care and love imaginable to wipe away the sorrow and pain that was his unfortunate lot when he lived 4 short years on earth.

It would have probably been better he was not born because no child on God’s good earth regardless of situation, circumstance, providence or misfortune should suffer the way Victoria, Peter or Daniel suffered and I am glad that our society is still moved enough to ensure that anyone party to such evil will be severely punished for crime that are fundamentally against humanity.

Just because the children are defenceless in life and have been failed by the system does not mean that society will not act to seek redress, retribution and punishment of the perpetrators of evil that contemns our humanity.

May Daniel rest in peace.