My husband brought home The NEWS and pointed out the obituary of Thomas Toivi Blatt at 88. He escaped from the death camp Sobibor in the Second World War and lived to marry, have two children then divorce but go on to keep reminding the world of the atrocities of Hitler’s regime.
We are close friends with his ex-wife Dena and she helped him write his book called The Ashes of Sobibor and is herself penning a book about the Holocaust. She told the story about when she and Toivi went to Poland they ran into a former neighbour who commented to her husband, ‘ah too bad the ovens didn’t get you, Toivi.’ And this so long after the war! The cruelty goes on.
Coming Remembrance Day we must remember the cruelty as well as the bravery and kindness. The cruelty of the oppressors and the kindness and bravery of those who risked their lives to make a better world for all of us.
And yet it all continues and the immigrants from the wars beg to seek shelter and live in peace. We who know peace and comfort, moan about these people who dare to invade our space, dare to ‘steal’ our jobs and we do this as we pass the homeless, the endless bread lines of our own citizens.
We don’t need another atrocious war to learn. We need to dig down deep, find our humanity, roll up our sleeves and help.
For Remembrance Day let’s get to it.
Liz RoyParksville