This Photo Will Haunt Me For The Rest Of My Life.

If It Doesn't Haunt You, There Is Something Wrong With You

 1 August 1943 | Liquidation of the Będzin Ghetto

Zagłębie Dąbrowskie, Occupied Poland

On 1 August 1943, the final blow fell on the Będzin Ghetto.

Once home to a vibrant Jewish community — with synagogues, schools, and businesses — Będzin had become, under Nazi occupation, a place of misery, hunger, and fear. The ghetto was established in 1942, and by the summer of 1943, the last remaining Jews were crammed into overcrowded quarters, already knowing what had happened in other towns before them.

That morning, German SS units, assisted by Ukrainian auxiliaries, began the liquidation of the ghetto. Houses were stormed, people dragged from cellars and attics, children torn from hiding places. The Jews of Będzin — around 10,000 men, women, and children — were forced into cattle cars and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Upon arrival:

997 men and 1,140 women were selected for forced labor and registered as prisoners.

The remaining thousands — mostly children, the elderly, mothers with babies — were sent directly to the gas chambers.

It was one of the last major deportations from Poland’s ghettos and marked the near-complete destruction of Jewish life in Zagłębie Dąbrowskie.

In Memory of the Jews of Będzin

Deported: 1 August 1943

To: Auschwitz-Birkenau

Selected for labor: 997 men and 1,140 women

Murdered upon arrival: Thousands — children, elders, and families together

Their names were not recorded. Their voices were silenced. But they were not forgotten.

 

 

 

Lithuania, 1941 — She Was Told to Undress, Then Told to Sing

In the quiet woods of Ponary, just outside Vilnius, thousands of Jews were marched to their deaths by Nazi Einsatzgruppen and local collaborators. Among them was a young girl, no more than thirteen, forced to stand in line with other women. One by one, they were ordered to strip, layer by layer, as the biting winter wind cut through the trees. She clutched her coat tightly — until it was ripped from her hands.

As tears welled up, a soldier sneered, “Sing for us.” Her voice rose — shaking, broken — a fragile lullaby carried on the pine-scented air. Then came the gunshot. She fell silently into the pit beside the others.

No name was recorded. No stone marks her grave. But in the shadows of Ponary Forest, some say you can still hear the faint trace of a song.

 

The Forgotten Victims: The Fate of Roma and Sinti in Auschwitz

At least 23,000 Roma and Sinti men, women, and children were deported to Auschwitz by the Nazi regime. Among them were 11,000 children — innocent lives swept into one of history’s darkest chapters.

After Jews and Poles, Roma and Sinti were the third largest victim group at Auschwitz.

Their suffering was immense:

Starved and beaten,

Subjected to inhuman pseudo-medical experiments,

And ultimately, murdered in gas chambers.

According to preserved records, over 91% of the Roma deported to Auschwitz perished.

This genocide — often overlooked — is a chilling reminder of how deeply the Nazi ideology targeted entire communities for extermination.

 

Gene Simmons mom

Flora Klein survived Auschwitz. Her entire family did not. In 1949, in the port city of Haifa, she gave birth to a son — Chaim Witz. They later immigrated to New York That boy grew up to become Gene Simmons of the rock band KISS.

 

Remembering Helena Meislová

Born: February 10, 1926 — Písek, Czechoslovakia Murdered: September 1943 — Auschwitz, age 17

She hadn’t yet spoken full sentences. She hadn’t run through fields, scraped her knees, or learned to read bedtime stories. At just seventeen months old, she was deported to Auschwitz—too small to fight, too innocent to understand, too human to be spared. There, she was murdered in the gas chambers.

She had done nothing. And still, the world lost her.

We do not remember Denise as a number. We remember her as a little girl with the soft hands of a toddler, who should have had a future filled with birthdays, books, and love. She was not lost—she was taken.

Say her name. Denise Repper. Because she mattered.

 

The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz

Mother's Day.

For many people, that means flowers and handmade cards and Sunday brunches and waves of laughter. It means celebration and gratitude and warm embraces and great rejoicing. It means resting fully in loving and being loved.

But not for some people.

For some, it only means tears.

For some, it just hurts.

In the hearts of many, this day is a bitter, unsolicited reminder of what was but no longer is, or a heavy holiday of mourning what never was at all.

Maybe it is such a day for you.

It might bring the scalding sting of grief for the empty chair around a table.

It might come with choking regret for a relationship that has been severed.

It might be a day of looking around at other mothers and other children, and feeling the unwelcome intrusion of jealousy that comes with comparison.

It might be yet another occasion to lament the mistakes you made or the words you didn't say or the kindness you never knew.

It might be an annual injury you sustain.

Consider this a personal love letter to you who are struggling today; you whose Mother's Day experience might be rather bittersweet, or perhaps only bitter.

This is consent to fully acknowledge the contents of your own heart without censorship or guilt or alteration.

If you are hurting, then hurt.

May you feel permission to cry, to grieve, to be not alright.

May you relieve yourself of the burden of pretending everything is fine, or faking stability, or concealing the damage.

May you feel not a trace of guilt for any twinge of pain or anger that seizes you today, because it is your right to feel.

Above all, though, may you find encouragement even in your profound anguish.

May you find in your very sadness the proof that your heart, though badly broken, still works.

Let the pain you are enduring reassure you that you are still able to care deeply, despite how difficult it has been.

See your grief as the terrible tax on loving people well, and see your unquenched longing for something better as a reminder of the goodness within you that desires a soft place to land.

If on this Mother's Day you are struggling, know that you are not alone.

May these words be the flowers that you wait for, or the call that won't come, or the conversation that you can't have, or the reunion that has not yet arrived.

Let them be hope packaged and personally delivered to the center of your heart, and may they sustain you.

In this time of great pain, know that you are seen and heard, and that you are more loved than you realize.

Be greatly encouraged today.

Close Call...

https://www.thebeaverton.com/2025/04/poilievre-rushed-to-safety-after-actual-journalist-question-makes-it-past-security/

Pierre Poilievre

Poilievre has been endorsed by Elon Musk, Alex Jones, and Tucker Carlson.  Trump said in an interview that his views and Poilievre's are "aligned".

Stand on guard, Canada!

Poilievre was leading the polls in November. Trump's circle know the reason their boy Poilievre is now tanking is because Canadians know about Poilievre's connection to them. They share the same advisors, paid influencers, and benefactors as Poilievre. 

You will see a firehose of BS about Carney, and Trump et el pretending that they aren't connected to Poilievre.  Just like Putin who pretended he preferred Biden/Harris.  It's a game of obvious deception that only fools believe.

- JD Vance and Poilievre's new favourite MP Jamil Jivani are literally best friends from University.  

-Republican operative Mike Roman advises Poilievre's party and was charged in 2023 in the USA for attempting to overturn the 2020 election.  

-The whole trucker protest was a Republican/Alberta separatist campaign with funds pouring in from Republicans. 

- Poilievre supports Danielle Smith - an obvious traitor to Canada and long-time Alberta separatist who loves Trump.

The connections are endless.

Donald Trump is a horrible Person

 This is the American President now. Fred Trump lll, who has a son William who suffers from genetic variant KCNQ2 and a seizure disorder, said that Trump told him he should stop caring for his son and just let him die.

https://people.com/fred-trump-iii-interview-son-william-disability-advocacy-8706139

Pierre Poilievre 20 years as an Member of Parliament

 Pierre Poilievre voted against all this. Nothing accomplished in 20 years