Proudly Bearing Elders’ Scars, Their Skin Says ‘Never Forget’

[homasse]

Proudly Bearing Elders’ Scars, Their Skin Says ‘Never Forget’

When Eli Sagir showed her grandfather, Yosef Diamant, the new tattoo on her left forearm, he bent his head to kiss it.

Mr. Diamant had the same tattoo, the number 157622, permanently inked on his own arm by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Nearly 70 years later, Ms. Sagir got hers at a hip

Comments

[executivehpfan]

When Eli Sagir showed her grandfather, Yosef Diamant, the new tattoo on her left forearm, he bent his head to kiss it.

I choked up, ngl. My opinion about all this matters little as I'm not Jewish and of course can't speak on whether it's the right or wrong thing to do, but for me personally? I think it's a beautiful gesture.

[romp]

Her grandfather's opinion is what matters, not ours.

[hammersxstrings]

the idea that people do not believe the holocaust actually happened horrifies me. HORRIFIED. and i agree. the more people who don't take it seriously, or understand it, the likelihood rises it can happen again. no one thinks it will...but i bet that if you would've told Germans in the twenties it was going to happen, they wouldn't have believed you.

but then again, i get super ragey that people don't take history in general as seriously as they should. instead they just keep doing the SAME FUCKING THINGS over and over. argh

sorry. /endrant

[browneyedguuurl]

No, no need to apologize. It is INSANE to me how people don't believe this horrible part of history actually happened when there's irrefutable proof of it.

I think the idea of permanently tattooing those numbers on your body as a reminder and also tribute to your family members who survived this tragedy is touching.

[romp]

All this exactly. It's one thing to take in poor, undereducated kids who are looking for a target for their rage. It's another to coldly encourage ignorance and denial.

You're absolutely right about Berlin in the '20s and '30s. I'm sure people there felt they were advanced and educated and couldn't be affected by some "crazy" cranks.

[metanoiame]

Just read that article on Facebook, really fascinating. I'm Jewish, and if any of my relatives were survivors, I would seriously consider getting one of those tattoos as well. We can't even imagine what it was like, but we can try and remember.

[the_gabih]

I think that it's a wonderful way to memorialise what happened, but I'm a bit iffy about the people who just got the tattoos and didn't bother consulting their survivor relatives first. I mean, sure, it's probably important to the tattooed people, but I don't know that I'd be okay with my family getting something that was a trigger or similar for me without my permission as a sign that they are aware that something really, really awful happened to me before they were around.

[yeats]

i'm not jewish, so i don't think my opinions matter on the specific issue being discussed

[fuck_of_nature]

That comment kind of bugged me, because I know that young people in America are woefully undereducated about the Holocaust and other genocides, most students do know what it is, at least that it was something that happened during WWII in Germany to the Jews.

What I found really strange, though, was that, if I read correctly, this girl lives in Israel, and I find it really hard to believe that Israeli youth is that uneducated about their history, since the Holocaust is basically how Israel became a state and particularly the kind of state it is now. If it's true, I find that incredibly sad.

[yeats]

if you're talking about the comment from eli sagir, i think she's expressing the idea that people her age don't realize how recent the holocaust was.... it's receded to the realm of ancient history for them and they don't feel any particular connection with it.

[jetgirl78]

Cool story, bro time