The Shrewsbury Biscuit Podcast Episode 38 Ft Rainer Hoess:

It's been a busy and uplifitng few days for us. Rainer and Simon did a podcast interview in the English town of Shrewsbury; Simone, Rainer and Simon also did a BBC Radio interview (links to be shared when they are received). We joined forces with the talented, enthusiastic and wonderfully dynamic Thea Haimovitz Kabbalah who conducted the livestream interviews and gave us so much in the way of inspiration and ideas. And, to cap it all, Jessica Clark, one of the four original Footsteps team members, has rejoined us after three years of travelling and working overseas. Jess has a great knowledge of the Nazi medical experiments, a passion for history, a strong desire to promote tolerance and has many techological skills, which, in combination with Simone, will improve our options to spread our reach further. Please read her profile in the 'who we are' section of our website. We are very excited that we have turned a corner that will help us, and those who follow Footsteps, to make more of a difference.

Many followers of this page will have read Thomas Harding's 'Hanns andRudolf: The German Jew and the Hunt for the Kommandant of Auschwitz.' Itrelates the story of Lieutenant Hanns Alexander, who was tasked by theBritish War Crimes Investigation Team to hunt for senior Nazis. He and histeam eventually captured Rudolf Höss. Hanns Alexander was a German Jewish refugee who arrived in the UK in the late 1930s and would eventually see military service with the British army. In early 1940 the British introduced a policy of mass internment of newly arrived refugees. This had an impact on the family of Hanns Alexander and provides a somewhat tenuous link between his family and the Höss family. Erich Hirschowitz (by then calling himself Harding) was the brother-in-law of Hanns Alexander. On 19 July 1940 he was arrested at his home in London and the next day he was transferred to an internment camp near the town of Whitchurch in Shropshire, England. A few days ago Rainer was taken by Simon to explore the perimeter of where the tented camp once was. It is somewhat hidden from view, with no markers indicating its existence. Only a few derelict military buildings remain, but it was fascinating to look around this place, knowing that it had a connection to the past of the man who captured Rudolf Höss.

A view weeks ago Ben Lesser, survivor of Auschwitz and Rainer Hoss joint hands in Paris. They gave lectures and presented the translated version in French of Ben's Book: Living a life that matters. 

Another incredible meeting, this time in Paris ....

An open-air bookshop for 3 days with readings, theatrical performances, numerous meetings and a virtual walk in the Paris of 1941...For the third edition of its Book Fair, the Shoah Memorial is hosting three days of activities for writers, researchers, actors and musicians around recent publications that highlight the different forms of memory transmission.Once again, witnesses are central: stories of life or survival, essays and literary works, but also poetry as resistance and overcoming disaster. The new technologies are also put at the service of memory and the duty of transmission, questioned in a play and implemented during a virtual 3D walk, which plunges the spectator into occupied Paris.

This is one of the most heartbreaking of images (from the Auschwitz Memorial Twitter page). A group of Hungarian Jews in Birkenau circa May 1944. The little boy is showing or giving a flower to an older child. Minutes later everyone pictured would die. Two photographs depict more vividly than any words why we must stand against the politics of hate.

Footsteps Team member Simon today spent a fascinating couple of hours in the company of author Natlaie Cumming, whose book The Fiddle tells an incredible story of survival.

One day later than planned, but sometimes it takes a little while longer to find the rights words for what you actually want to say. Especially in this case where feeling transcends words.While entering the lobby of the Figi Theater in Zeist I’m already stunned by they amount of people I see. Later I will hear that it was 500 man and women who had even travelled from as far away as Hungary and Ireland to be there. Then it is time, the music starts playing and with a smile on her face and in her eyes Dr. Edith Eger walks up the stage in The Figi Theater, Zeist. One hand holds her daughter Audrey and the other holds Jacob van Wielink’s hand. After a loud applause filled with respect Dr. Edie takes a sit on the couch standing on the stage. She survived Auschwitz together with her sister Magda. Now she is a highly recommended psychotherapist living in San Diego and author of “ The Choice”. I brought a notebook to make notes for later, but my focus stays on the stage where dr. Edith speaks. Her narrative gives all her psychological learnings a deeper message. She talks about trauma, professional guidance and the importance to express the emotions.“ It is not what comes out that makes us ill. It is what stays in what makes you ill”, she says. Edith herself thinks is a pity she hasn’t got the time to talk more about PTSD. Which she thinks is not the right abbreviation to begin with. Of course her own trauma comes to pass several times. It is her own scar in life which she has accepted even though it has cost her over more than 40 years. She still experiences triggers. “ This morning when I arrived and I walked across those tiny tiles some sidewalks here are made of, I was back in Auschwitz, back in that line”.The band starts playing again, Edith Eva Eger is dancing again……Afterwards a handful of people were allowed to get their book sighed and speak to Dr. Eger. I was one of those people. I also had a very nice chat with her daughter Audrey. Although it was just 10 minutes, it stays with me as more than special to meet a person like Edith. Humbling and life changing.

Distinguished by a pink triangle sewn on the striped uniform, homosexuals crowded the concentration camps scattered throughout Europe, suffered humiliation and torture, were subjected to crazy pseudo-scientific experiments until their death. A page of Nazism too often overlookedAt least seven thousand dead and tens of thousands more in jail. These are the numbers, very difficult to estimate, of the "Holocaust", that still too hidden page of the Nazi extermination of homosexuals.At least seven thousand dead and tens of thousands more in jail. These are the numbers, very difficult to estimate, of the "Holocaust", that still too hidden page of the Nazi extermination of homosexuals…………………………..