To Copy an Artist- My Take on Edel Rodriguez's "Unamed Bangladesh Genocide" Piece

Here is my painted image that I created attempting to copy the original artist. Please see the original image at the end of the post.

From March 26th to December 16th, 1971, a genocide was committed against the Bengali, Bihari Muslims, and Hindu peoples in East Pakistan. The genocide lasted almost nine months and it is estimated that between 300,000 to upwards of 3,000,000 were killed, became refugees or displaced peoples, or survived genocidal war crimes- these numbers are disputed with some independent researchers suggesting that the number of deaths was closer to 500,000 while the higher number is accepted and put forth by the current Bangladesh government. The perpetrators of the violence came from a few groups of peoples; the Pakistan armed forces, supporting Islamist militias which included Al-Badr and Al-Shams, and members of the Muslim League. This genocide came about during a war for independence and is thought to have started with the planned military intervention called Operation Searchlight, which was carried out by the Pakistani army to try and curb some of the nationalist groups fighting for an independent state. The Indian army joined in the fighting after tensions along its border with India erupted with Pakistan declaring war on India. When the Pakistani army surrendered unconditionally to Indian forces in December the genocide ceased and the remaining Pakistani soldiers became prisoners of war.

This genocide has had some long-lasting effects both on the country and its peoples. The independent state of Bangladesh was created out of parts of Pakistani territory, along with a full constitution that mirrored some aspects of the Indian Constitution. As many of the targeted attacked during the genocide affected students and the intelligentsia of the country, these murders led to vacancies in important positions both in government and higher education. In the aftermath of the genocide, famine, malnutrition and the extremely high number of displaced people/ refugees needed to be addressed. Cold war tensions increased around the world as the Soviet Union became aligned with independent Bangladesh’s ally India. The current Bangladesh government has instituted an International War Crimes Tribunal and laws have been introduced to make genocide denial a hate crime, but there are some critics who suggest that these laws are being used to punish political dissidents rather than the participants in genocide.

This artwork was created by Edel Rodriguez who is a fairly prolific Cuban-American artist. His illustrations and artwork have been found in children’s books, on popular magazine covers, art galleries, etc… This particular piece was published with an op-ed article titled “The Politics of Bangladesh’s Genocide Debate.” I was unable to uncover the name of the piece nor any mention by the artist on his motivation for its creation. What I see in it is a strong hand pressing down on the skulls of the dead… expressing the power that a few had over the lives of the many who then lost their lives according to the desires of that power. I also see the hand as it pushes down on the bones of its victims as an act attempting to silence them and hide the evidence of death and genocide. While this piece of art is relatively simple in its black and white coloring and lined images, it evokes the emotions and horror that acts of genocide bring to the surface.

Thoughts on the Film: "Forgiving Dr. Mengele"

I originally wrote this review last December. I hope you enjoy. :)

It is dark outside and I still see snow on the ground and feel the wind seeping through the cabin walls around me. There is very little moon outside... and so the only light in the room comes from my computer screen and the reflective views of light from my cat's blinking eyes nearby. I cannot see my face nor anything in the room around me, but I can feel the tears on my face as the moisture in them chills on my cheeks and I see the blurring images on the screen through the tears that are still gathering and pooling in my lower lids. This was a very painful and powerful documentary and I am grateful for the opportunity to learn some of the life, deeds and thoughts of Eva Mozes Kor.... prisoner number #8706 in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Germany during World War II.

Eva Kor was one of a set of twins that survived the Holocaust and Dr. Melange’s twin studies in Auschwitz during WWII. Her sister Miriam survived, but later died from complications with her kidneys from the experiments performed on her in the concentration camps. In an attempt to save her sister's life, Eva not only managed to will herself to live through the experimental treatments in the camp- for if she died her sister would be killed- but she donated a kidney to her sister after the war. She also tried to discover the records kept by Dr. Mengele of his experiments to possible help her sister and other victims. Miriam died in 1993 and Eva's efforts towards finding the documents were not successful, but those efforts helped create a group that brought many of the surviving 'twins' together and also brought her to the doorstep of Dr. Hans Munch.... a former SS doctor who knew Dr. Mengele in the past. Dr Munch has been tried for war crimes, but had also been found not guilty due to the number of people who testified that he saved them from death during the Holocaust. Ms Kor contacted him interviewed him looking for information on the experiment or any memories that he might have that could have helped. Dr Munch discussed his thoughts about Mengele and his experiments ('… did things in a very amateurish way) and his memories of Auschwitz – he still has nightmares about the gas chambers. This experience/ opportunity had a very profound impact on Ms Kor and she decided to go to Auschwitz for the anniversary of the liberation of the prisoners. She also made the unusual request that Dr Munch should also attend with her and her family. He agreed and she read out a statement that Dr Munch wrote stating that he was a witness to the 'gas chambers' and it was important to acknowledge his past as a testimony to the deniers and the revisionists of the Holocaust. After a chance emark from a reporter, she too decided to make a statement later . That statement was that for herself, she was forgiving not only Dr Mengele, but all the Nazi's who killed her family and the millions of others who died in the genocide.

Later, Eva opened up a small Holocaust museum in her town and has spent a lot of time traveling, teaching and talking about her experiences. Her work on forgiving Dr Mengele and the Nazi's who harmed her and her family has been met with different responses. Some of the individual twins that survived and were at Auschwitz when she brought Dr Munch were offended and angry. Others over time have been angry and have had negative responses to her talks and her advocating forgiveness as a way of healing. In November 2003, an arsonist successfully burned down the museum destroying almost all of the memorabilia and exhibits housed inside. One the outside of the building, a message was spray painted on the wall; 'Remember Timmy McVeigh'. (I am not really sure I understand what the arsonist was trying to say with that statement. I do not feel like what Timothy McVeigh was trying to express has anything to do with the Holocaust or its education, but I am pretty ignorant on all of his radical goals so there might be a clear link I haven't recognized.) She has begun rebuilding the museum and continues to travel and teach about the Holocaust and her experiences.

“... to forgive that God of Auschwitz. Me, the little nothing... I might as well forgive everybody.”
“It time to forgive, but not forget. It is time to heal our souls.” - Eva Kor

One thing that I found while listening to Ms Kor was the idea that she thought/thinks of herself as 'nothing' in comparison to Dr Mengele. In the documentary, the doctor was described as an individual who was at the forefront of German science and genetic research. In other research and testimony from survivors, his near obsession with twins and with his job as one of the doctors of Auschwitz camp is mentioned and some suggest that he went out of his way to work and make medical and life/death decisions for prisoners even when he was off duty. To be fair, before the war all of his studies were connected scientifically and for the most part ethically as well toward test subjects. It was only in the concentration camps where the life, death or pain of his subjects no longer mattered and so his studies and research were able to be given more of a full range in regards to his ideas and curiosity. It was here that Eva Kor, her sister, many other sets of twins as well as large populations of Jewish, Roma or other 'undesirable' individuals fell under his 'care' and supervision. In his work and what we know of it, Dr. Mengele tortured and killed hundreds if not more (depending on if you count arrivals to the camp in his numbers) and she is very lucky to have survived at all. To think of him as a 'God' seems so offensive to me and yet, I see it clearly. In his capacity, Dr Mengele had many of the powers that we ascribe to our deities (both good and bad). I can see the image of her- of myself- struggling to recognize that while the power situations are different, the human beings involved are equal... the same.... we are 'one'. To recognize that powerful fact is sometimes a hard and amazing moment. To seize the opportunity that she did within herself is simply breathtaking.

“... the pain of the shots that Mengele did to us...” - Pearl Pufeles

I just got shots in both my shoulders at the beginning of the week. For my internship in a doctor's office next year, I am getting all of my vaccines again as I have no titers to them in my body (long story.) When I am given one shot, I am febrile for a week with on and off migraines, vomiting, dizziness, weakness and shaking. I spend the days ahead downing Tylenol and ibuprofen and praying the symptoms and side effects will pass as quickly as Heavenly Father will allow. The effects are much stronger with two shots and so I found myself this week trying to rationally remind myself that the pain and discomfort will pass and it is short lived. Yet I sit with swollen shoulders and everything else and listening to Eva talk about a shot that her sister was given that eventually killed her and the years of pain and challenges that she struggled with and I listen to Ms. Pufeles and I am finally able to rationally realize how easy my situation is. I know it will pass.... I know it will pass soon.... I can be quite sure I will not have any significant long term problems. To recognize that these victims could not have even these simple assurances- if fact, they could be sure that it probably would cause pain and long term problems- is another window into a world and a reality that I have never had true first hand experience in. To be able to learn, to understand, to develop clarity about the experience of others, the depths of thought and behavior that humanity can dive and to recognize those traits or small flaws in myself... and work on transforming them to something positive and more wholesome is a beautiful gift

“Most of my fellow survivors are so hurting, they do not even have the ability to even understand what I am talking about. And so many of them will die without ever feeling free from that pain” - Eva Kor

“Forgiveness has nothing to do with the perpetrator, has nothing to do with religion- it has only everything to do with the way the victim is empowering him or herself and taking control of their lives” - Eva Kor

When watching and listening to the other survivors and their stories and emotions as they flowed forth, the overwhelming thing I felt was anger. They talked about sorrow and grief, but the tone of anger was interwoven throughout every word and motion they made. In some situations it was so palpable that I felt like I could reach out, touch it and even pick it up and hold it for a closer look. While I feel like sometimes Ms Kor pushes people too quickly to accept her thoughts and she acts defensive, I can see how she must find herself verbally confronted by many people about her choices. Not only does she have to deal with the deniers and the revisionists, but she must also deal with those who feel like she is giving the Nazi's and those who worked with them excuses or justification for their misdeeds. Few people have to deal with the challenges of the process of forgiving others while being criticized for participating and utilizing that process for their own healing. I couldn't figure out how anyone could criticize her and after that was mentioned in class and how her forgiveness was 'controversial', I decided I needed to see this film only to try and understand that. It feels so sad that people who are stuck can feel so much anger about someone working to loosen themselves from the grief and anger. I felt some anger listening to the arguments that forgiving was forgetting and forgiving was accepting and absolving the perpetrators of the crime. I can tell I'm still angry because I want to argue for the defense even as I write this. ;) Watching this has made me even more convinced that the process of reconciliation is so important to the well being of the survivors, the offenders and the communities which surround them both.


“... and not create a catastrophe for the Palestinians... and say what have we done”

I thought it was interesting to watch Eva Kor sit at the table with those working towards peace in Palestine and Israel and hearing her say she didn't want to hear the stories that were being shared. On one hand, she recognizes that stories are important and educate people about situations and yet when it comes to the idea that some groups of Jewish individuals themselves are now being perpetrators of genocidal violence towards Palestinians she is unable and unwilling to listen. I was disappointed and annoyed, but when I continued to think about it I realized how distinctly challenging that must be for anyone in her position. I heard this line and realized that, at least in my opinion, a catastrophe has already been created for the Palestinians and I do not think that at this point, the use of the word genocide is that far off. Here is an opportunity for her and she wasn't able to really use it. I wonder what opportunities I have that I haven't noticed or taken to work towards this horrible problem and ending it successfully. I do not think that I have had any opportunities, but I might not have recognized them when I did. I have decided to write my governor and my representatives to ask for a change of name for Columbus Day and to also ask for a state holiday acknowledging genocides- not sure how to address my thoughts on the latter.

Thank you so much for mentioning this film. I am very glad I watched it and that I have the opportunity to share it with others. I am also happy to learn a little more about Holocaust awareness and how Dr Mengele's experiments affected people long after the war was over.

pictures from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489707/, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lhAU868230, https://www.tumblr.com/search/forgiving%20dr.%20mengele, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2807743/How-Angel-Death-saved-mother-s-life-creator-world-s-iconic-dress.html, http://gauredevta.blog.com/2014/06/26/dr-mengele-experiments/, http://tmcnews.tendenciapp.com/articles/survivor-of-nazi-experiments-speaks-at-medical-ethics-conference/, https://googlingtheholocaust.wordpress.com/tag/forgiving-dr-mengele/

Genocide Denial - the Midianites and the Holodomor

I am still trying to decide for myself what the term' genocide' means with all its nuances and difficulties, but I feel pretty secure in saying that I do not believe that there is a lot of middle ground in the definition. If you have a desire/intent to rid yourself of a group of people specifically for something that they 'are' or what they have, it's genocide in my definition- no matter how successful you were at doing so. I take issue with the term 'somehow less genocidal' because genocide = genocide period. Causing the death of people for their politics is just as much a genocide as doing so for the excuses of race or religion. As we have studied this semester, I have found myself going back to things I have read or heard about that dilute the intensity of the word genocide by excusing or diverting the conversation away from the facts. An example is the attempted extermination of the Midianites by the Israelites in antiquity. The Israelite and their prophet Moses were frustrated by growing religious tensions between the two groups of people and that some Israelites were converting or following teachings that came from the Midianites religion. The God of the Israelites told Moses to kill all of the Midianites and the Israelite armies were sent out and conquered their foes returning home with all of enemy's property/ livestock as well as the women and children who survived the battle. Accordingly, when the soldiers returned to Moses with all the bounty, he is angry and tells them to kill everyone but the virgin girls. That was done and the passage ends with ritual purifying.

Some apologists suggest that God – and therefore Moses- only allowed the virgin girls to live because they would have had nothing to do with idol worship and that was why everyone else had to die. Others state that killing and war were necessary evils at the time and this was normal behavior. At least one source suggests that as Midianites are mentioned later in the Bible, this couldn't be a genocide because not all of the Midianites were killed- They were able to fight another war with the Israelites later. However, boy children and infants would also have had nothing to do with idol worship and they were killed and if some people managed to escape death that doesn’t make a genocide 'not a genocide'.... it simply changes the evaluation of its success.

Today the Russian government still denies the existence of the Holodomor in Ukraine in 1932-33. (For a brief description and information see here.) I think the fact that the Russian government and diplomats took the time and opportunity to help shape the language of the “Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide' to exclude a 'targeted group' in their country makes one thing really clear to me... the men who helped craft the definition knew that what they did was genocide and so worked to make sure it wouldn't 'qualify'. I frankly find that heinous. I find the denial and the active participation to bury the crime almost as heinous as the original transgression. I believe this partly because I think that people who deny it because they genuinely do not believe the 'crime' happened and believe it has been made up are people that are so ignorant I can feel sorry for their lack of knowledge and understanding. Having a full knowledge and working to deny something for financial motives or to give yourself more credibility in front of other governments and the international community is pretty challenging for me to understand. I also find it provocative that a signatory of this convention who has basically agreed to try to 'prevent and punish actions of genocide in war and peacetime' ... is actively trying to distract the world from their own culpability and failings in the same areas. So to look at the Holodomor as 'somewhat less genocidal' seems a bit distracting and disingenuous; i.e. it's either a genocide or not. The major reason that seems to be given – that Stalin’s plans killed millions... many of whom were not Ukrainian, seems disingenuous at best because what that statement tells me is that those who say it recognize that it is a genocide.... just a much bigger one that encompassed a large 'class' of people rather than just Ukrainians.. (Lastly, I find a small irony in the fact that Russia has politically accepted the existence of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey and denies this one... they seem to be so alike in my mind that every argument to prove the “Great Catastrophe' proves the Holodomor as well.... deportations, false political accusations, government seizure of property, denial of food shipments and journalists, etc...)

That begs the question then as to whether the Holodomor is a genocide or not? The legal definition of genocide includes acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national ethnical, racial or religious group. Acts include killing or causing serious physical/ mental harm and imposing measures intended to damage the group, prevent re-population and/or forcibly removing youth from the group to integrate them into other populations. When the whole of the Holodomor is looked at in this perspective and broken down, we can see how clearly this 'series of decisions/acts fits into the legal definition. Joseph Stalin created the artificial famine by decreeing impossible quotas on grain/ other food products and tight enforcement of them. When it was obvious that his plan was causing starvation and mass death, he did not change anything about the policy and actively denied food aid offered from other countries. If he didn't know what the consequences were when he started his plan, he certainly had the information to figure it out and stop it as time went by. However, written evidence suggests he knew full well what the consequences would be for the peasants by ordering 'the destruction of the kulaks as a class'. When he was told about what was happening from some of his own men, Stalin was quoted as saying, “Wouldn't it be better for you to leave your post and become a writer so you can concoct more fables!” He created orders to shoot anyone who stole even a small amount of food and reflected that it would be much easier to just deport all the Ukrainians but that wasn't possible. Along with other evidence, it seems clear that the intent to kill and demoralize the Ukrainian population has been proved. The Holodomor included millions of deaths as well as serious mental and physical harm as has been testified to by the survivors in their stories of cannibalism, deaths and oppression. Starvation as well as the inability to disperse themselves to safer areas also curtailed births as family relationships and communities collapsed. The Holodomor fits the definition of genocide without any difficulty. It is regrettable that its existence is still being denied and a source of contention between Russia and the Ukraine. The challenges that both countries are going through now seem to stem from the same problems and ideas that caused this genocide in the first place. Moving forward from a place of contention doesn't seem like a great way to move forward... more like a way to potentially have another serious conflict arise again that has the potential to turn into a genocide. I hope that will change… another genocide would be more than tragic, it would be… I just don’t have the words…

pictures from: http://freethoughtnation.com/moses-and-the-midianites/, http://www.patheos.com/blogs/tinseltalk/2012/01/was-moses-black-urban-daily-proposes-black-actors-for-spielberg-biblical-epic/, http://rt.com/news/holodomor-famine-pirozhenko-ukraine/, http://ocfordarfur.wordpress.com/2008/09/

Thoughts on the Armenian 'Catastrophe' ... and Why do Americans Have No Knowledge of This?

This week I read most of the book “The Sandcastle Girls” by Chris Bohjalian. I was really impressed with the writing of the author and how he did seem to capture so much of what the experience might have been like in the recollections and visuals of the characters. I was also pretty astonished by how well he writes in the perspective of the gender he is not- I think that takes a great amount of brilliance, observation and listening. It also suggests that we are human beings divided into man and woman are not as different as we believe that we are.

After doing my reading I decided to tackle the first question that was brought up about the genocide in our class- Why do American's know so little about the genocide? I found while I have tackled this question I have gotten a firmer idea of what a genocide actually is and why the Salem witch trials , while pretty horrific and had almost all of the same motivating factors, were at least different in a few ways. I took the time this week to try and do a short informal poll. I have 100 or so Facebook friends and so I asked point blank on my page last Thursday if anyone had heard of the Armenian genocide and what they knew about it. I got seventeen responded and all of them were negative - “What is that?”, “ Is that recently?”, and other generic responses. I also asked very quickly at the beginning of my medical assistant class on Tuesday and all five students plus the teacher denied ever hearing about it. I asked at church and simply seemed to cause confusion including people asking who the Armenians are... When I mentioned that ISIS yesterday had destroyed a memorial dedicated to the Armenian genocide in a class, the only comments seemed to be outrage that a church was hit and confusion as to why it was a memorial. So I spent a few hours in the library trying to research the question as to why we as Americans hear nothing. I looked at the books I used when I studied World War I two semesters ago and there was no reference at all. (Heck, I looked at all the sources that I used internet, etc... for my paper that semester and found pretty much nothing.) So I think that one reason that Americans do not know about it is that the majority of the books and sources that we can use for studying that period of time focus on the 'Western' and 'Eastern' Fronts and the death and military strategy there as well as success, failure and stalemates. It feels that where our troops were and what they were doing as well as our allies are considered much more important for us to know and study. I think that is only a part of the reason though because one source I found suggested that the Armenian genocide is the second most studied genocide – second only to the Holocaust. Yet, everyone polled knew of the Holocaust and not the other.

I think a big part of why Americans are not taught about the Armenian genocide is actually political- politics now and in the politics after the end of World War II. I have come to this conclusion for a few reasons. The first reason is after the readings and some research it appears that all genocides have governmental involvement in common and as such, politics must necessarily be involved to a certain degree. For the Armenians, it was the members of the political parties/ groups of the Young Turks and the Committee of Union and Progress that designed and carried out this genocide. It appears that only governments can really create genocides because only organizations that are that big and wield that much planning and power can effectively achieve these aims. While others may dream of doing so in small groups or individually, they can't do so effectively without all the pieces that are necessary and it appears that for the most part, only governments have ties to all the pieces required... a military, central planning, ability to develop machinery and secret organizations and police forces, etc... So political groups may have as part of their platform a policy or a platform that encompasses ideas that make the genocide not only possible, but more likely. The government of Turkey has a lot to lose if they 'admit' and acknowledge the genocide. First, the government itself owes most of its assets to the acquisition of them from the Armenians. That in itself is a large motivation to keep quiet. The longer that the Turkish government denies it, the harder and more difficult it will be for them to eventually back down

One of the challenges of learning about the Armenian genocide was to discover its existence. Over my lifetime, history has been an important aspect of my education and my life. It has marked itself upon my mind and with few exceptions all my college electives have been history based. So how was this piece of recent history missed? Isn't it interesting that candidate Obama would use the word genocide when talking about this act... and President Obama will not?

So… how many of my readers have heard about this genocide? What do you know about it?

pictures from: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13330603-the-sandcastle-girls, http://www.genocide-museum.am/eng/armenian_genocide.php, http://www.crethiplethi.com/for-turkey-as-a-model-in-the-middle-east-america-remains-crucial/usa/2012/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama