Bill Sykes' Newsletter
from America.
(Special Edition Mid-March 2003)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
c) The Holocaust.
1. QUESTION: Where you aware of what
happened during the Holocaust?
ANSWER: Initially I would say the answer was yes and no.
I was familiar with the happenings in pre war Germany
but it wasn’t until later, that I became fully aware
of the terrible things that had happened in Nazi Germany.
As the war was coming to and end, I escaped from captivity
and finally finished up in an American hospital near Nuremberg.
At this time I met up with an American sergeant who had
a jeep and was looking for someone to accompany him to
the concentration camp at Buchenwald and I offered to
go along with him. I will not go into details but the
scene was horrific. Let's leave it at that, as your young
minds must not be tainted at this time by human suffering.
Perhaps later in life you will obviously have to face
up to facts and be made aware of the terrible atrocities
that happen during war.
2. QUESTION: Do you know anyone Jewish?
ANSWER: Yes I have friends and acquaintances who are Jewish.
In fact after returning to England from POW camp in Germany
I did a two year tour of duty in Palestine and was involved
in the interception, and internment, of illegal immigrants.
The British troops acted with great restraint under the
provocation of continuous terrorist attacks being perpetrated
against them by Jewish militants. At that time, I knew
Palestine intimately as I had patrolled every road from
Safed in the north to Gaza in the south. I understood
the situation perfectly. The Jewish people were trying
to attain a homeland and we were there to control the
influx of illegal immigrants. By the way I took a return
trip to Israel with my wife a number of years later to
see if anything had changed. I’m afraid to report
that the only thing that appeared to have changed was
the enemy.
Sequel:
A year after I had answered the World War Two
questions, my wife and I were in UK and we visited Miss
Berry and her students at Trinant Junior School in Wales,
and what we had planned to be a one hour visit turned
out to be a full afternoon of pleasant discussion with
the children. I walked and sat amongst the students in
their classroom making sure that I did not miss one child
and I tried to answer each and every question they had
for me, and there were many. This was a thoroughly enjoyable,
and gratifying experience for my wife and I, and I hope
an educational lesson for the children.
We welcome feedback about any of the contents
of these newsletters. Please send all correspondence to
bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
|
