Mon 5 Feb 2018, 08:40 AM | Posted by Mark Langabeer
Channel 4 recently broadcast programmes that included interviews with some Holocaust survivors. In particular, the account given by Freddie Knoller, now aged 96, stood out. He was an Austrian national of Jewish descent who at the age of 17 was sent to Belgium by his parents. From Belgium he fled to France and then to the unoccupied area of French territory, working as a farm hand.
He missed Paris, in particular the night life which introduced him to Jazz music. He obtained forged papers and returned to Paris and got work introducing German soldiers to the Parisian night life, including the brothels. Essentially, he was pimping for a living
He was soon picked up by the authorities who began interrogating him about his activities. During the, investigation, Knoller observed that there was a model of a human head on the officer’s desk. The officer claimed that he could tell a Jew from the shape of his skull and he then proceeded to rub his hands over Knoller’s head. Much to Knoller’s relief, he proclaimed that Knoller’s was of true German stock and he was offered a job, pimping for the Germans for more money.
At a later stage, Knoller joined the resistance movement. It was here that he made a big mistake. He told a girlfriend about his involvement and after their relationship ended she informed on him. He underwent torture, but rather than confessing about his involvement in the resistance, he confess to being a Jew and was sent to a detention centre and then to Auschwitz concentration camp.
Here he was detailed to carry cement bags, often in sub-zero temperatures. Extreme hunger induces a certain selfessness, and he freely admits that he stole bread from other inmates. He was friends with a doctor who he met at the detention centre and who managed to get Knoller a job sweeping floors inside the buildings. Knoller regarded this as a life-saver.
As the Red Army closed in, they were transferred to Belsen. They were forced to endure a lengthy march, when many collapsed and died on the roadside. Others attempted to escape and were gunned down by guards. Knoller witnessed some cutting flesh from the dead in order to survive. He and others resorted to eating the roots of nearby vegetation.
Knoller was finally liberated from Belsen at the age of 24, weighing only 6 stone. At the end of his interview, he took pride in the fact that he survived the concentration camps and pride in telling his story today. The experiences of Knoller are powerful reminders of why the ideas of fascism should never triumph again.
In recent times, reactionary movements have begun to surface. They have yet to develop into the extremes of the 20s and 30s. However, their ideas are sourced from the same well. They blame immigration and the other for the ills of society. Unemployment, low pay, poor housing conditions and deteriorating public provision provide fertile soil for right-wing politicians to sow divisions among working people. I think, it is true that when the workers take the path of struggle then these reactionary ideas are pushed into the long grass.
Ultimately, it will only be when Labour adopt a socialist programme that takes over the monopolies and banks, under workers control and management that we can have a plan of production to provide the necessities of life, rather than profit. Only a society that can supply an abundance can the likes Trump, Farage and their European counterparts be consigned as a footnote in history.
