Miniature Death Camp

When I was in London last September, I visited the Imperial War Museum. They have holocaust memorial as part of their exhibition. The most striking thing about this memorial was the scale model that they had made of the Auschwitz concentration camp. The model itself was vast and it was just a small portion of the facility.

As you'll see from the photos, it is not like any model we ever see in college. Here is scaled depiction of mass murder on a mechanised scale. There is also the distinct, and unpleasant possibility that this wasn't the first model that was made of the Auschwitz scheme. It is very possible the the Nazi architects and engineers also built a scale model to show Himmler how the death camp would look and operate.

What's in a uniform?

(Thanks John.)

What not to say in Berlin.

Last week I was in Berlin and I couldn't get this tune of of my head. It's from The Producers by Mel Brooks.

The funny thing is that if the war went the other way, it's probably the type of musical theatre that would show in the West End. Albeit in that case, the comic element of Hitler being a big screaming Mary would probably not feature.

The dance routine is fantastic. They were much more daring with the 2005 re-make than with the original 1968 Gene Wilder film - although I suppose the passage of time and the healing of wounds had a lot to do with that.

The Tomb of the Unknown Queer.

Opposite the Holocaust Memorial, there is a signpost directing to the memorial to the "Homosexual Suffering under the National Socialists" or something to that effect. It's a large block of polished concrete, much like the Eisenmann piece. A plague proclaims the following:

In Nazi Germany, homosexuality was persecuted to a degree unprecedented in history, In 1935, the National Socialists issued an order making all male homosexuality a crime; the provisions governing homosexual behaviour in Section 175 of the Criminal Code were significantly expanded and made stricter. A kiss was enough reason to prosecute. There were more than 50,000 convictions Under Section 175, the punishment was imprisonment; in some cases, convicted offenders were castrated. Thousands of men were sent to concentration camps for being gay; many of them died there. They died of hunger, disease and abuse or were the victims of targeted killings.

The National Socialists destroyed the communities of gay men and women. Female homosexuality was not prosecuted, except in annexed Austria; the National Socialists did not find it as threatening as male homosexuality. However, lesbians who came into conflict with the regime were also subject to repressive measures. Under the Nazi regime, gay men and women lived in fear and under constant pressure to hide their sexuality.

For many years, the homosexual victims of National Socialism were not included in public commemorations - neither in the Federal Republic of Germany nor in the German Democratic Republic. In both East and West Germany, homosexuality continued to be persecuted for many years. In the Federal Republic, Section 175 remained in force without amendment until 1969.

Because of its history, Germany has a special responsibility to actively oppose the violation of gay men's and lesbians' human rights. In many parts of the world, people continue to be persecuted for their sexuality. Homosexual love remains illegal and a kiss can be dangerous.

With this memorial, the Federal Republic of Germany intends to honour the victims of persecution and murder, to keep alive the memory of this injustice, to create a lasting symbol of the opposition to enmity, intolerance and the exclusion of gay men and lesbians.

As one walks past the memorial, a view is afforded past through the small window in the block. One the inside, a black and white film plays: it's two boys kissing in the park. It is simple and beautiful. The piece is conceived so that the background in the film appears to be in the park. I wonder should we ever see such a thing in Dublin.