[Jeff Higgins]

When I was a kid in the '60's and '70's, my mom would haul me and my three siblings to Warburg, Germany every summer to stay with my Oma and Opa. At some point during each stay, our Opa would drive us to the border between East and West Germany and make us look at it. He would tell us how lucky we were to be together as brothers and sister - all of his were on the other side.

On the way home, and at other times during our stay, he would tell us about all of his friends who were taken away and never came back. He was a pig farmer. His friends were the Jewish merchants in town with whom he did business. My mom's best friend was the daughter of one of these merchants - the whole family was taken away and never returned. My mom, my aunt, and my Oma were made to move into that family's home, in town, so as to make the town look occupied. All of the women and young girls out on the farms were made to do this, since removing all of the Jewish businessmen's families left the whole town pretty much unoccupied, which did not look good.

My mom passed away two years ago. When she was alive, however, she could name whole families that she knew personally who were taken away never to be seen again, quite obviously victims of the death camps. Her generation is rapidly leaving us. I shudder to think of the opportunity that presents to those who would brush this horrible crime under the rug. My mom, my aunt and uncles, my Oma and Opa would never stand for it - they saw it firsthand. What is going to happen when the last of them are gone?