Menschliche Verantwortung

Vor kurzem waren wir in Wien, um im Jüdischen Museum in der Dorotheergasse die sehr aufschlussreiche Ausstellung Schwarze Juden, Weiße Juden? - Über Hautfarben und Vorurteile zu sehen.

In der Folge ein paar Informationstexte aus der Ausstellung, die noch bis 26.4.2026 zu sehen ist.

Das nachfolgende Musikstück wurde für den Film Schindler's Liste komponiert und stammt aus der Feder von John Williams. Darunter eingestellt einige bemerkenswerte Gedanken über unsere politische und gesellschaftliche, vor allem aber über unsere menschliche Verantwortung in der Gegenwart.

Kritik am äußerst brutalen Vorgehen der israelischen Regierung an der Zivilbevölkerung in Gaza hat übrigens nichts, aber auch gar nichts mit Antisemitismus zu tun.

Aus den Bemerkungen auf YouTube zu diesem Musikstück, Heartwork79:

I watched Schindler's List twice in my life - once in the cinema with my school class (as a student, not as a teacher) - and the second time as an adult, because I wanted to make sure I could process the movie with the thoughts of an adult. When I watched it as a teen with my class, I felt ashamed afterwards - ashamed of being German. In the same month when we went to cinema to watch Schindler's List, maybe a week or two after we watched the movie, we got a visitor in school. His name was Alex Deutsch - he was a survivor of Auschwitz. He told us about it. I felt even more ashamed. Especially double so because my grandfather was a member of the Waffen SS. I asked Mr. Deutsch if I could shake his hand. I told him that I was sorry. He answered that it was his pleasure to shake my hand and that I had no reason to be sorry, because I wasn't even born when it all happened and had no part in it. I'm incredibly thankful to have been able to shake this mans hand. Years later, when I watched the movie for the second (and last time) I realized that it was up to me, up to us all who are adults today to make sure nothing like this could ever happen again. I made peace with myself. I made peace with my grandfather - even if he was part of that system, to me he was just my grandfather. And I loved him dearly and I'm not ashamed to admit that. I wouldn't try to find a reasoning for what he might have done in the war - IF he did something that goes beyond the duty of a normal soldier, then it is like it is and I'm not responsible for that. Because I wasn't even born at that time. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE anymore for what happened back then. But WE ARE RESPONSIBLE for what happens now. WE ARE RESPONSIBLE to make sure NO ONE EVER FORGETS ABOUT IT. We are allowed to live free from guilt - remembrance DOES NOT EQUAL guilt. It took me years to realize that. I do my very best every day to make sure it won't ever happen again. I can only hope that there are enough people left in Germany who think like me to make sure it never happens again.

Foto: C* - Shoah-Namensmauern-Gedenkstätte, Wien