Tattooed Remembrance: "Proudly Bearing Elders' Scars, Their Skin Says 'Never Forget'"

In a recent article from the New York Times, relatives of Holocaust survivors are sparking controversy by tattooing themselves with the number branded on the survivors in Auschwitz.  While many are shocked and appalled by this new phenomenon, those who have done it explain that it's a way "to live the mantra 'Never forget.'"

To read the full article, click here.


We received the following response from Ray B.:

I've had this thought myself several times. Not sure how Bubbie and Zadie would have felt about this -- I get the impression that they wouldn't have condoned it, that they wanted us to move on. I can imagine Zadie's horror seeing one of his grandchildren's bodies tattooed like this.

However, I think a tattoo like this could speak to more than Auschwitz memory. It would be a constant reminder to treat people with empathy and respect. It could encourage the wearer to always be critical of the increasingly disembodied and industrialized ways humans are treated now.

Thank goodness we have traded work camp labour and killing for Google analytics, but in a lot of ways that tradition of converting human lives to numbers continues. In 70+ years we have moved from labour camps and mass killing to repressing a new group of people -- only now we pay them $1.25/hour and say we are doing them a favour. Those unseen factory workers are the new numbers.

Interesting article, thanks.  – Ray B.