Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela died December 5, 2013.  I did not know who he was until I was a freshman at Cornell University in 1970.  We prayed for him every day at Mass, and wished for his freedom.  I now know that he was a freedom fighter, trying to get equal rights for Black or Native  South Africans vs. white South Africans.

Sorry to say, after I left the Cornell community, I lost track of Nelson Mandela. Until years later, when he was freed.

And even years later after that, I was re-awakened to his story by the movie Invictus.

Mandela was a member of the African National Congress that advocated equality and the demise of apartheid http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid_in_South_Africasystem in South Africa.  Apartheid was like the Jim Crow Laws http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws in the United States.  Although the laws said separate but equal, there was nothing equal about these laws and they way people were treated.

The resources, services, treatment of persons, and whatever was not only inferior to black citizens, it was intended to denigrate, and other wise demean the black population and continue to keep the black population as an underdog.

The Civil Rights movement in the United States  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movements_for_civil_rights  worked to change these conditions. Although it has been somewhat successful, I will sadly say that there is still a lot of undercurrent of racism in this country.

We have so much to learn from Mr. Mandela.  Mostly, we need to learn forgiveness and conciliatory behavior so we can co-exist peacefully.  These are hard lessons. But the way for all nations to exist.

What Would I Do?

Reading the book, The Countrymen by Bo Lidegarrd, has brought home to me some questions about what would I have done in similar circumstances.

When I was a teenager, my mother and I used to argue about some of my plans and actions. I used to ask her for advise, and she used to be very angry about some of my thoughts and plans.  And, when I ultimately acted, not always according to her standard, she would be very unhappy with me.  I remember a significant interchange, during which she commented that I was the one child who asked her opinion and then went off and did something different. I told her that I respected her opinion, and changed my plan based on it.  We argued much less after that, I guess because she realized she had an ameliorating affect on me.

I am not brave. I am not strong. I have, over the years. capitulated when I have should have stood firm.

I cannot know what I would have done in Denmark in 1943.  Would I have been brave? Would I have whiffed out?  Would I have snitched?  Would I have pitched in? I do not know.

Reading About the Holocaust

I am not sure when the story of the Holocaust became an important story in my life.  I remember in junior high, my social studies teacher commenting on how the Jewish families probably talked about news at the dinner table, instead of frivolous things.  I had to raise my hand.  My family watched the news at the dinner table, and talked about it.

This teacher said something to the effect of "Of course, your family would." She then went on to tell me and the class that my Polish grandparents had been in a citizenship class that she taught. My grandparents had immigrated to the United States in 1903, and eventually become US citizens. I did not appreciate that then as much as I do today! 

I remember one time asking my father why his parents came to America. I suspect it was about this same time in my life.  He said my grandparents saw how things were and did not want to be a part of it.  I was not quite sure what that meant, but I had an inkling it had to do with the persecution of the Jews and other politics. While that was occurring during the time my grandparents immigrated, it was well before the Holocaust.

When I was in high school, one of our parish priests had traveled to Europe, to the what was then called the Eastern Block Countries.  He went to one or more of the concentration camps, and brought back pictures and information which he shared with us.  You must remember in the 1960s, access to the Eastern Block Countries was limited, and the information about the Holocaust was also limited to what was available in West Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Bulgaria and Hungary, maybe Czechoslovakia.  My history is fuzzy, what other countries would have been free enough to provide information about the Holocaust. But much of the history of the Holocaust was behind "the Iron Curtain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Curtain."

This same parish priest was really into Ecumenism, and one of his efforts included having the Catholic Women's Council do a Seder Supper during Lent. I was able to attend, and learned a lot about Passover.  I was also reading Chaim Potok's http://potok.lasierra.edu/ books, as suggested by my home town librarian.

So, when I went away to college, the person who eventually became my best friend had the soundtrack to "Fiddler on the Roof."  Her uncle was involved with show business, and this play and promoted it.  It became a favorite, and the story became a favorite.  I know the songs, and much of the dialogue of the movie, by heart. And the heartbreak, and injustices.  

Well,  before and while I was doing my social work internship when I was a social work student at Our Lady of the Elms, I did a lot of reading about the Holocaust, fiction and non-fiction.   I read everything in the small Millers Falls library, which was limited, and then branched out to what was available in the area libraries, including Greenfield and Springfield. My internship supervisor, who worked at the Franklin County Community Action Center, and who had been involved in the Southern Freedom movement, turned me onto several books, and encouraged my interest in the subject.

It is a subject that I have never tired learning about.  Be it Victor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, or now, the story of The Countrymen, it is a topic that I find fascinating, heartbreaking, and sure that when I see modern genocide activities, reminds me we cannot stand by and do nothing.

The Countrymen

I recently finished reading the book, The Countrymen by Bo Lidegaard.  This is a story about the Jews in Denmark during World War II. It tells about how the Danish people responded to the German threats against the Jews. It tells about how the Danish non-government responded to the German threats against the Jews. And it tells about how the country came together to help the Jews escape, as best they could to Sweden. And how Sweden opened its arms to the Jews, and offered material assistance to those who helped them to escape Denmark, when the Germans were trying to deport them to the concentration camps.

Years ago, I had heard what I learned was a myth, about when the Germans decreed that the Jews wear a gold star, as they had in other countries, everyone in Denmark, including King Christian, wore a star. Well, others smarter that I thought that to be the truth. It was not, but it exemplified the Danish attitude: they were countrymen all.

This is an amazing story about democracy, attitude, defiance, and politics. 

All of the countrymen who helped the Jews were so brave. And, as the story is written, it seems most of them did not think about being brave. They seemed to think about doing the right thing and being humanitarian. 

What a lesson we can learn.  There are still so many mass injustices in the world.  This is a lesson for us that when people step up, and do not back down to bullying and tyranny and hatred, but do the right thing, that something good can happen.