Posted on Apr 23, 2022
Opinion: The failed promise of 'never again'
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https://www.npr.org/2022/04/23/ [login to see] /opinion-the-failed-promise-of-never-again
What does the world's pledge to "Never Again" permit massacres or genocide mean?
The family of Vanda Semyonovna Obiedkova reported her death to the world this week. She was 91 years old, "a kind, joyous woman, a special person who will forever remain in our hearts," said her Rabbi, Mendel Cohen — the only rabbi in the city of Mariupol, which has been under relentless attack for weeks.
But both Vanda's early years and last days were marked by tragedy and savagery.
She was ten years old in 1941 when Nazi soldiers rolled into Mariupol and began rounding up the city's Jews. The SS took away her mother. Young Vanda hid in the basement.
"She couldn't scream; that's what saved her," Vanda's daughter, Larissa, who has just been safely evacuated from Ukraine, told the website for the Jewish organization Chabad.
What does the world's pledge to "Never Again" permit massacres or genocide mean?
The family of Vanda Semyonovna Obiedkova reported her death to the world this week. She was 91 years old, "a kind, joyous woman, a special person who will forever remain in our hearts," said her Rabbi, Mendel Cohen — the only rabbi in the city of Mariupol, which has been under relentless attack for weeks.
But both Vanda's early years and last days were marked by tragedy and savagery.
She was ten years old in 1941 when Nazi soldiers rolled into Mariupol and began rounding up the city's Jews. The SS took away her mother. Young Vanda hid in the basement.
"She couldn't scream; that's what saved her," Vanda's daughter, Larissa, who has just been safely evacuated from Ukraine, told the website for the Jewish organization Chabad.
Opinion: The failed promise of 'never again'
Posted from npr.orgPosted in these groups: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Russia
Ukraine
Judaism
World History
Russia Ukraine Judaism World History
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."But both Vanda's early years and last days were marked by tragedy and savagery.
She was ten years old in 1941 when Nazi soldiers rolled into Mariupol and began rounding up the city's Jews. The SS took away her mother. Young Vanda hid in the basement.
"She couldn't scream; that's what saved her," Vanda's daughter, Larissa, who has just been safely evacuated from Ukraine, told the website for the Jewish organization Chabad.
German troops executed more than 9,000 Jewish people in shallow ditches outside Mariupol in October of 1941. Vanda's mother and her family were among those thousands.
Eventually, Vanda was detained. But her father, who was not Jewish, and family friends were able to convince the Nazis that the little girl was Greek. She spent two years hiding in a hospital, until the Soviet Red Army reached Mariupol in 1943."...
..."But both Vanda's early years and last days were marked by tragedy and savagery.
She was ten years old in 1941 when Nazi soldiers rolled into Mariupol and began rounding up the city's Jews. The SS took away her mother. Young Vanda hid in the basement.
"She couldn't scream; that's what saved her," Vanda's daughter, Larissa, who has just been safely evacuated from Ukraine, told the website for the Jewish organization Chabad.
German troops executed more than 9,000 Jewish people in shallow ditches outside Mariupol in October of 1941. Vanda's mother and her family were among those thousands.
Eventually, Vanda was detained. But her father, who was not Jewish, and family friends were able to convince the Nazis that the little girl was Greek. She spent two years hiding in a hospital, until the Soviet Red Army reached Mariupol in 1943."...
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