The way we remember

PAT JOHNSON REPORTER

When Dr. Hinda Avery was a child, the very word "Germany" struck fear in her. Born in Vancouver in 1940, Avery was raised in the relative comfort of the Diaspora, but became fully aware that her entire maternal line in Europe had been destroyed by the Nazis.

A recently retired University of British Columbia professor, Avery decided she should confront her fears and travel to the land of her family's tragedy. She went to Germany last year on an exploratory tour of concentration camps and Holocaust memorials. She shared her experiences recently in a slide presentation with the Sholem Aleichem Seniors group at the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture.

Among the destinations Avery visited was the House of Wannsee Conference, where Nazi leaders met to map out the so-called Final Solution. The immaculate grounds and the exquisite architecture provided a perverse counterpoint to the genocidal plans that were devised there. Avery demonstrated the dichotomy profoundly with a shot of a tranquil bench in a verdant garden where, she posited, Nazis might have relaxed between discussions that led to the extermination of most of Europe's Jews.

Avery also shared slides of the new Jewish museum of Berlin, which is an architectural wonder that reflects the grotesque schisms of Jewish history in Germany and the rest of Europe. Architecturally, the museum looks like a Magen David that has been smashed. Inside, nothing is at right angles. The structure is intended to disorient the visitor, especially a section that is completely devoid of exhibits and is meant to reflect the vacuum caused by the loss of a Jewish tradition in the country.

Avery also discussed the variety of Holocaust memorials that have been built in the last few decades.

In Berlin, there are a number of signs posted on street lights that remind people in their most banal moments about the atrocities that occurred under the Nazis. Small notices delineate aspects of the anti-Jewish laws imposed under Hitler's regime.

"Jews are forbidden to emigrate," says one, with the date of the proclamation.
"Any post office employee married to a Jewish woman will lose his job," states another.

There are also plaques next to train tracks that specify the number of Jews deported, their destinations and the date.

Among the most moving exhibits Avery shared with the audience was an exhibit dedicated to children who were victims of Dr. Josef Mengele's medical experimentation. A group of children was infected with tuberculosis as part of the mad doctor's work, then they were hanged in the basement of an elementary school to prevent discovery of Mengele's deeds.

The dank, dark exhibit room was one of the most appalling sights Avery witnessed.

Areas of Germany that had been under communist control had a distinctly different response to the Holocaust. In former East Germany, monuments tended to glorify the Soviet liberators of concentration camps, while downplaying the victims.

The types of Holocaust commemorations are unlimited, Avery said, but the ones she preferred were not the elaborate and enormous ones, but the ones that were more moving by their subtlety.

Small reminders, such as the ones on lampposts, are examples of bringing the Holocaust experience into daily life, she said.

However, she acknowledged that many memorials are very effective and worthwhile, including a religious monument that verges on the macabre. At Dachau, there is a Jewish temple that has been built in the form of a crematorium oven. The entryway leads into the sanctuary in a downward direction, with light entering through a chimney-like flume. A menorah rises from the top of the temple like a wisp of smoke.

Despite her initial trepidation, Avery's optimism was renewed by an extensive network of non-Jewish activists whose dedication to remembering and commemorating the Holocaust restored her faith.

"I feel that the journey was healing one," she told her audience.

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