The Holocaust Did Not Begin in the Gas Chambers...

Cyanide pellets - for the gas chambers.Holocaust did not begin in the gas chambers - it began with words.

Jan. 26, 2009
IRWIN COTLER , THE JERUSALEM POST
On this United Nations International Holocaust Remembrance Day, words may ease the pain, but
they may also dwarf the tragedy. For the Holocaust is uniquely evil in its genocidal singularity,
where biology was inescapably destiny, a war against the Jews in which, as Nobel Peace Laureate
Elie Wiesel put it, "not all victims were Jews, but all Jews were victims."

Let there be no mistake about it: indifference in the face of evil is acquiescence with evil itself - it is complicity with evil.

Nazism succeeded, not only because of the "bureaucratization of genocide," as Robert Lifton put it, but because of the trahison des clercs - the complicity of the elites: physicians, church leaders,
judges, lawyers, engineers, architects, educators and the like. As Elie Wiesel put it: "Cold-blooded murder and culture did not exclude each other. If the Holocaust proved anything, it is that a person can both love poems and kill children."

Summer Jacobson's Poetry

We are very proud of Summer. She's smart and beautiful. It always warms our hearts to see her perform (singing/guitar), or to listen to one of her poems. We like to hear her political and social thoughts, too. She's more in touch with the important things in life at 16 years-old than I was at 26 years-old.

She brought home the "Showcase" catalog yesterday. It features work from high school students all over Europe. This was just published in the last few weeks, but it was from work submitted last year (when she was a sophomore). They selected one of her poems for it. Can you guess who the poem is about?

We love you Summer! You make us very, very proud! And, yes, we rocked the vote this time!

Summer Jacobson's poem

Computer Burnout!

Today is a very strange day for me. It has nothing to do with America getting a new president. I think that is "most excellent". It's just one of those weird days. I feel "off", if you know what I mean? I'm kind of tired, feel a little depressed - blue, just off.

I think I may need to take a break from my routines - especially the ones that involve computers. I may be suffering from technology overload or burnout, literally. Here's some questions that told me that I need a break:

1. When you open your email client, does it make you feel anxious about the work that you don't have time to do? Yes
2. Do you ever wish the web or social media would just go away? Yes (Facebook)
3. Do you have email messages sitting in your inbox more than 6 months old that are "pending" further action or unread? Yes
4. Do you sometimes wish you could read or type faster? Yes!
5. Do you experience frustration at the amount of electronic information you need to process daily? Yes
6. Do you sit at your computer for longer than an hour at a time without getting up to take a break? Are you kidding?
7. Is the only time you're off line is when you are sleeping? Yes, well, not really, but it seems that way.
8. Do you feel that you often cannot concentrate? Yes, this is my biggest problem.
9. Are you always seeking out additional information from the Internet or friends online to support a decision or complete a project but never processing it all? Yes
10. Do you get anxious if you are away from the Internet for too long? For sure!
11. Do you open up multiple tabs in your browser and then forget what you were going to do? Yes
12. Is your email, google docs or hard drive filled with "virtual piles" of information or “drafts” that haven't been processed? Yep!
13. Are you afraid to delete email or old files because you're afraid you might just need it someday? Archived
14. Are you unable to locate electronic documents, blog posts, email messages or other online information that you need in the moment without wasting time playing "find the file"? Depends...
15. Do you find yourself easily distracted by online resources that allow you to avoid other, pending work? yes, another big problem area for me!

Okay, how did you do? It's time for me to stop, or slow down at least. And yet, here I am writing about it on a computer!

Wet Plate Collodion Workshop In An Austrian Castle

I just got word that I will be doing a workshop in an Austrian castle (converted to a photo school) - at Schloss Weinberg, in Kefermarkt, Austria. The workshop will be April 4-5, 2009. I'm really looking forward to it!

An Austrian Castle

Can You Believe It? German Press About My Project!

I don't really believe in coincidences, and every once-in-a-great-while something comes along to remind me why I don't believe in coincidences.

Seligenstat Newspaper article about me working in the Jewish cemetery. Last November 9 (2008), which was the 70th Anniversary of Kristallnacht, I was in Seligenstadt, Germany making glass plate photographs in a Jewish cemetery that was destroyed during that pogrom.  My friend, Jan from Berlin, was there and a journalist named Armin Wronski, from the Offenbach Post was there, too. Jan's mother and step-father live in Seligenstadt. Jan and his family arranged for the paper to be there. As I made plates, Armin shot digital photographs of me and Jan told him all about my Kristallnacht project, auf Deustch, of course. I thought this would be a great piece and a huge accomplishment for me if they actually published it. To be honest with you, I didn't think they would. (You can click on the image to enlarge and read)

You have to think about this; I'm an American, with Jewish heritage, in Germany making photographs of one of the most terrible events in human history perpetrated by this country and its people. This is a very difficult and serious topic. It's hard to talk about, it's hard to think about, and a lot of Germans feel ashamed and powerless over the situation. Would you want to publicize this? Of course the angle is soft in this article, it's the technique, the Wet Plate Collodion process, that's intriguing for people. Also, if you know about Germany and the Germans, you'll know how out of place I look/seem in my dark box next to a cemetery, pouring strange chemicals on glass plates. This is not what I would call, "ordnung" - and Germans need things proper and in order. However, the people of Seligenstadt were very kind and gracious to me. They were interested in what I was doing - and that's a wonderful thing for me. I think the fact that the newspaper ran this piece is a testament to their willingness to talk about this, that's the key.

Anyway, back to coincidences; I didn't hear a word about it for two months. Just last week, it entered my mind, "What did they do with that story? Did they ever publish it?" On Monday, January 5, 2009, I wrote Jan and Armin an email asking what became of the story. Jan immediately wrote back and said, "It's in today's paper!" Are you kidding me? I was beside myself and tripping out. I hadn't really even thought about it until that weekend and the day I send the email, it's published!?! Wow! Like I said, no coincidences. What does that mean? Am I psychic? No, I'm not, but I am connected to this in a bigger way than I even think I know about and it's these kinds of things that prove that to me.

If you ever find yourself in a rut and are bored with life, move to Germany and start an art project about the Holocaust. If you have any German friends, ask them to raise interest in the local media about you and your project. And finally, to really get things going, tell them that you have Jewish heritage. Try it sometime, you'll find that it's both rewarding and challenging. Life will NOT be boring anymore.

Follow up - January 12, 2009: After running this by my German friend for a complete translation, I've got to say that I'm not impressed. There's not one mention of Kristallnacht, or the fact that my entire project deals with that. I'm sure he was censored, or censored himself. I had my hopes up. It's a "fluff" piece, and in the big picture, it means, nothing.