If there was anyone who I would gain information from pertaining to The Holocaust it would be a Survivor from the midst of this Jewish Catastrophe. For me, Elie Wiesel epitomises the humanity this World is in greatest need of as Intolerances and hatreds spread wider and further. Elie Wiesel wrote back to me on those occasions and his words were filled with support, advice and an understanding as to why a Christian might want to comment on a Jewish tragedy. My search for comprehension of such a terrible episode in all of our History led me to Elie and he corresponded with such considered a response, I am eternally grateful to one of Humanity’s greatest tutors. I have learned so much on this journey in search of missing Jews from Europe, and not least from those like Elie Wiesel who wished to impart an essential understanding of why this must never happen again.
The tragedy for us all is that it has happened that intolerable hatreds have led to an inordinate killing of more and more human beings buoyed by the wrong lessons which those like Elie Wiesel sought so hard to deliver us from. The greatest tragedy too is that the lessons have not been learned, and those so intrinsically equipped to teach us the way forward are ebbing away. I will come back to Elie in a few days but I wanted to place before all that matters to me in the narrative of The Holocaust, my last request to Elie Wiesel. It need not be answered as I am all too well aware of what it is Elie Wiesel would have said, as it is Elie who said:
“..Holocaust defies literature. ..describing an event ..we transmit ..its reflection. ..No one has ..right to speak for ..dead. ..story had to be told. In spite of all risks ..misunderstandings ..for ..sake of our children.” Elie Wiesel.
Dear Elie,
It has been a long while since I communicated with you Elie, and I am sorry I have taken so long. I have resisted the temptation thus far, to write a next Book, so as to avoid an element of a novel content doing a disservice to memory. Perhaps that is why I have taken so long since writing my last Book to consider any other Book which might feel appropriate to the Jewish Catastrophe. That said, I have a request. I know you must be inundated with these, but I know the responses required will give the Belzec Museum a reference point that might just assist them? I have now visited four of Hitler’s six Death Camps that he assembled in Poland, and I am troubled that perhaps my previous work lacks the dimension any attempt at the form of comprehension direct knowledge must bring.
It seems to me too that it is so very difficult for history to state that The Holocaust was such a closely guarded secret. Having seen for myself that when it is only Sobibor which tests the theory of a secluded destruction having been hidden, and its truth is still not contained, we cannot ignore the fact that Millions must have been aware. This is why I am writing to You. Having read all of your works I would appreciate it if you could spare me a comment on what place Belzec has in The Holocaust. It is my intention to write to all of those Writers and Educators who have afforded me time and encouragement and hopefully present their responses to the Belzec Museum. As the somewhat poorer relative of Auschwitz/Birkenau in particular, but also Sobibor and Treblinka in relation to the Aktion Reinhard Camps, Belzec can be all too easily forgotten.
This cannot be allowed to happen, when a Camp with such a destructive dimension is somehow sidelined in our understanding of The Holocaust term. We know from our study of the history on the subject that at least 10% of all Jews of The Holocaust period were eradicated at Belzec. This was achieved within a time span of less than 9 months. It is essential therefore for me, that Belzec can administer toward the learning process needed if we are to learn anything in History. Imperative in that also is for any eloquence which I might bring forth and present to those whose wish it is to learn the lessons of The Holocaust, that it is a borrowed articulation from those who know The Holocaust.
So as not to get our future all distorted and wrong, the Survivors of the worst catastrophe to ever meet with humanity, have such a resonance we simply cannot ignore. Those who Survived what was intended for them, and we know from Wannsee that 11,293,300 Jews of Europe were intended for annihilation, these Survivors know what it is that I can only learn to know of. So while I have borrowed heavily from what those Survivors, just like You have sought to teach us all, the narrative must be enhanced further by those of us who wish to know what the Survivor alone can inform us of. Please note too, that while many of those I correspond with are adamant that the denier must not be entertained, I will not allow for the deniers’ hatred to become the last word.
I enter into a dialogue with the denier distortion but do not debate the veracity of the place for these 6,000,000 Jewish Victims in our history, memory and understanding. The denier will object to our knowledge of the factual truth of what actually happened, and some might be swayed if their denial is not countered? For me, people like Mel Mermelstein and Deborah Lipstadt have proved effective in opposing the deniers’ deceit. I am well aware of your position within this regard, but as a Christian I feel I am making a point that fully recognises that when we were sought out to stand tall and object, we made no comment during the Jewish hour of direst need!
The argument therefore, that we need to avoid giving the denial lobby any credence is a just one, but I have managed over the past few years to interrupt their vile corrosive revising of our history. I simply maintain that with the fact that The Holocaust is the truth and that 6,000,000 Murdered Jews will not be allowed to be forgotten, some who wish to study the subject will not be swayed by the deniers’ falsehood. We have in the past tried to forget the Jewish plight, the agony of the Jewish People and the destructive imposition that they were under and they paid for that with their lives, all 6,000,000 of them. I wish to stand taller than so many of Europe’s people when we should have been following what our Faith proposed we do in accepting our neighbour. I remain,
Yours Sincerely
Patrick Dempsey
