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Title: Pope visits Auschwitz death camp
Source:
BBC News
URL Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5024324.stm
Published: May 28, 2006
Author: BBC
Post Date: 2006-05-28 12:12:43 by robin
Keywords: None
Views: 222
Comments: 12
The German-born Pope walked alone under the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" gate at the entrance to the camp, where he met survivors and said prayers. More than a million people, mostly Jews, were killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. The Pope had specifically insisted on visiting the camp. Earlier almost one million Poles gathered in Krakow as he led Mass. Pope Benedict was to have been driven everywhere during his visit, but the BBC's David Willey at Auschwitz said he wanted to walk around the camp and meditate alone. After entering the camp, he said a prayer in front of a reconstruction of the execution wall where Nazis lined up and shot thousands of prisoners. He lit a candle in memory of the victims of Auschwitz, before meeting 32 survivors who had returned to the camp to greet him. Pope Benedict, a former member of the Hitler Youth, then visited the cell where Catholic priest Maximilian Kolbe died in 1941, after offering to take the place of a prisoner whom the Nazis had sentenced to death by starvation. He then left the camp to visit the nearby Centre of Dialogue and Prayer, where he was greeted by nuns from a nearby convent. Prayer controversy The Pope blessed the centre before moving on to the site of the gas chambers of Birkenau, where he will offer prayers in several languages. It is not clear if he will speak in German, as initially planned. Some Jewish groups have said a German Pope speaking the language of the Nazis would insult the memory of the million Jews murdered there. The Pope's spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, said the pontiff was making his visit to Auschwitz Birkenau as a "son of the German people". He revealed that the trip was not originally in Benedict's schedule, but that the 79-year-old pontiff had personally insisted on it. "In the first draft of the itinerary, there was no Auschwitz visit. The pope said 'I want to go to Auschwitz. I cannot not go to Auschwitz'," said the spokesman. On Saturday, on his first visit to Wadowice, the birthplace of his Polish predecessor John Paul II, the Pope delighted Poles by saying he hoped to see John Paul II made a saint. He later told hundreds of thousands of young people who had gathered to see him in Krakow to remain true to the teachings of Jesus, and to avoid being influenced by modern secular values. Some 900,000 people gathered in Krakow on Sunday morning to see the Pope, the largest audience yet on his four-day visit to Poland. He urged the crowds to help spread the Catholic faith. Poster Comment: "a million" "the million" down to a singular million Some Jewish groups have said a German Pope speaking the language of the Nazis would insult the memory of the million Jews murdered there. Speaking German is offensive, but I don't think it's a crime yet.
Pope Benedict XVI has visited the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz in a symbolic end to his tour of Poland. 
I don't feel any animosity to the people here, even with their prejudices 
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#4. To: robin (#0)
Demonizing the German language over Auschwitz is going way too far. "languange of the Nazis"? Might as well demonize the "land of the Nazis" too, along with the "people of the Nazis". Yes, the 1 million quote is interesting. Accident or no? Sounds like an editor needs to be charged with a crime.
Yes, the 1 million quote is
interesting. Accident or no? Sounds like an editor needs to be charged with a
crime. Yes, the language of Goethe and Schiller is now to
be ridiculed. I cannot imagine BBC not checking first. They may have
provided a little cover by saying "More than a million people, mostly Jews,".
But still, that implies not over 2 million, and at one time it was as high as 4.
Like most Americans, since his youth Cole had been instructed in the "irrefutable fact" that homicidal gassings had taken place at Auschwitz. The number of those so executed - also declared irrefutable - was 4.1 million. Then came the Leuchter Report in 1988. This was followed by a "re-evaluation" of the total deaths at Auschwitz (down to 1.1 million). As a budding historian - and a Jew - Cole was intrigued. http://www.nizkor.org/features/techniques-of-denial/four-million-01.html
Then came the Leuchter Report in 1988. This was followed by a "re-evaluation" of the total deaths at Auschwitz (down to 1.1 million). As a budding historian - and a Jew - Cole was intrigued. If the count at Auschwitz was reevaluated down by 3 million, that should also reduce the historic 6 million figure by 3 million, unless those 3 million are believed to have died elsewhere. I recall mention that a commemorative plaque at Auschwitz that claimed 4 million+ killed at Auschwitz being removed in the early 90's. Is a total of 3 million killed more accurate?
#10. To: Neil McIver (#9)
Makes sense. I'll check around.
Auschwitz appears to have been generally downsized. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust Between 1.1 and 1.6 million people were killed at Auschwitz alone; over 90% of the victims were Jews. But because the overall #s were so ever-changing to begin with, there does not appear to be any subtraction from whatever total anyone cares to use. So many holocausts, we should have pick a holocaust day, or that older word genocide: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocides_in_history http://www.holocaustforgotten.com/Lucaire.htm http://christianparty.net/wwii.htm http://www.serfes.org/orthodox/memoryof.htm http://www.genocidewatch.org/SudansChristianHolocaustFreeLanceStar25October2004.htm
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Some Jewish groups have said a German Pope speaking the language of the Nazis would insult the memory of the million Jews murdered there.
#5. To: Neil McIver, Diana, Eoghan (#4)
Demonizing the German language over Auschwitz is going way too
far. "languange of the Nazis"? Might as well demonize the "land of the Nazis"
too, along with the "people of the Nazis".
#6. To: All, Neil McIver, Diana, Eoghan, wbales (#5)
And again in a Spotlight article about Holocaust "revisionist" David Cole's trip to Auschwitz:[5]
#9. To: robin (#6)
Auschwitz. The number of those so executed - also declared irrefutable - was 4.1 million.
Replies to Comment # 9.
#11. To: Neil McIver (#9)
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