0:00:17.040,0:00:23.840
Hitler’s Holocaust is one of the most iconic[br]examples of human cruelty, systematic desensitization

0:00:23.840,0:00:30.140
and social manipulation in human history.[br]That such brutality could possibly take place

0:00:30.160,0:00:36.720
in our modern world is a testament to the[br]power of a lie repeated often enough.

0:00:39.280,0:00:45.910
Humanity must learn from the horrors of our[br]past so as not to repeat them time and again.

0:00:45.910,0:00:53.110
So when those who survived the Holocaust speak,[br]we, collectively, should listen.

0:01:17.500,0:01:22.140
This video will convey the words of Holocaust[br]survivors and their family members.

0:01:22.140,0:01:27.380
These are their words, their stories, their lessons.

0:01:31.720,0:01:37.040
“What do they know—all these scholars,[br]all these philosophers, all the leaders of

0:01:37.040,0:01:42.490
the world? They have convinced themselves[br]that man, the worst transgressor of all

0:01:42.490,0:01:48.799
species, is the crown of creation. All other[br]creatures were created merely to provide him

0:01:48.799,0:01:55.570
with food, pelts, to be tormented, exterminated.[br]In relation to them [the animals], all people

0:01:55.570,0:02:00.880
are Nazis; for the animals,[br]it is an eternal Treblinka.”

0:02:02.480,0:02:12.110
“So, as many of you know, I spent my childhood[br]years in the Warsaw Ghetto where almost my

0:02:12.110,0:02:22.710
entire family was murdered along with about[br]350,000 other Polish Jews. People sometimes

0:02:22.720,0:02:31.320
will ask me whether that experience had anything[br]to do with my work for animals. It didn’t

0:02:31.320,0:02:38.400
have a little to do with my work for animals,[br]it had everything to do with my work for animals.”

0:02:39.960,0:02:45.760
Linking the human Holocaust to our treatment[br]of animals has long sparked controversy, disgust

0:02:45.760,0:02:51.260
and outrage. Opponents view the connection[br]as belittling and disrespecting the experience

0:02:51.260,0:02:54.140
of Holocaust victims and survivors.

0:02:56.760,0:03:01.320
But what do we say when those making this connection are themselves survivors?

0:03:02.880,0:03:07.629
“I totally embrace the comparison to the[br]Holocaust. I feel that violence and suffering

0:03:07.629,0:03:12.970
of innocents are unjust. I believe that the[br]abuse of humans and animals and the Earth

0:03:12.970,0:03:19.519
come from the same need to dominate others.[br]I feel that I could not save my family, my

0:03:19.519,0:03:24.970
people, but each time I talk about cruelty[br]to animals and being vegetarian I might be

0:03:24.970,0:03:30.510
saving another life. After knowing what I[br]know about the Holocaust and about animal

0:03:30.510,0:03:34.290
exploitation I cannot be anything else but[br]an animal rights advocate.

0:03:34.290,0:03:36.210
-Susan Kalev, who lost her father and her[br]sister in the Holocaust

0:03:38.330,0:03:42.620
One survivor, known only as by his code name[br]“Hacker,” when he participated in the Animal

0:03:42.620,0:03:47.790
Liberation Front raid on the University of[br]Pennsylvania head injury lab, stated,

0:03:47.790,0:03:53.280
“I believe in what Isaac Basheivs Singer[br]wrote … Human beings see their own oppression

0:03:53.280,0:03:59.680
vividly when they are the victims. Otherwise[br]they victimize blindly and without a thought.”

0:04:05.520,0:04:10.280
“When I see cages crammed with chickens[br]from battery farms thrown on trucks like bundles

0:04:10.280,0:04:15.790
of trash, I see, with the eyes of my soul,[br]the Umschlagplatz (where Jews were forced

0:04:15.790,0:04:20.570
onto trains leaving for the death camps).[br]When I go to a restaurant and see people

0:04:20.570,0:04:25.800
devouring meat, I feel sick.[br]I see a holocaust on their plates.”

0:04:33.309,0:04:39.080
Marc Berkowitz and his twin sister Francesca[br]were among Josef Mengele’s victims, forced

0:04:39.080,0:04:45.419
to undergo brutal medical experimentation.[br]He watched his mother and other sisters march

0:04:45.419,0:04:48.180
to their death in the gas chambers.

0:04:49.120,0:04:54.200
In fighting for the lives of Canada Geese[br]in danger of being killed, Berkowitz said,

0:04:54.200,0:05:00.080
“I dedicate my mother’s grave to geese.[br]My mother doesn’t have a grave, but if she

0:05:00.080,0:05:04.760
did I would dedicate it to the geese.[br]I was a goose, too.”

0:05:09.200,0:05:15.640
“In 1975, after I immigrated to the United[br]States, I happened to visit a slaughterhouse,

0:05:15.640,0:05:25.040
where I saw terrified animals subjected to[br]horrendous crowding conditions while awaiting

0:05:25.040,0:05:33.480
their deaths. Just as my family members were[br]in the notorious Treblinka death camp. I saw

0:05:33.480,0:05:41.880
the same efficient and emotionless killing[br]routine as in Treblinka, I saw the neat piles

0:05:41.880,0:05:53.520
of hearts, hooves, and other body parts, so[br]reminiscent of the piles of Jewish hair, glasses

0:05:53.539,0:05:56.019
and shoes in Treblinka.”

0:05:59.720,0:06:04.229
“For most of the society, life was lived[br]as if none of this was happening. People had

0:06:04.229,0:06:08.729
regular jobs, concentration camp workers went[br]off to work in the morning and came home at

0:06:08.729,0:06:14.199
night to loving families, a home-cooked meal,[br]a warm bed. It was a job for them as it is

0:06:14.199,0:06:19.689
for the animal experimenter, the trapper,[br]game agent, or the factory farm worker.”

0:06:19.689,0:06:21.169
-Anne Muller, who lost many of her family[br]members in the Holocaust

0:06:25.640,0:06:30.270
“It is wrong to harm others, and as a matter[br]of consistency we don’t limit who the others

0:06:30.270,0:06:35.119
are; if they can tell the difference between[br]pain and pleasure, then they have a fundamental

0:06:35.119,0:06:40.639
right not to be harmed. … Unless you believe[br]in fascism, that might makes right –

0:06:40.640,0:06:43.760
we do not have a right to harm others.”[br]-Henry (Noah) Spira, animal activist and Holocaust

0:06:50.160,0:06:54.520
“I know firsthand what it’s like to be[br]hunted by the killers of my family and friends,

0:06:54.539,0:06:59.469
to wonder each day if I will see the next[br]sunrise, to be crammed in a cattle car on

0:06:59.469,0:07:04.990
the way to slaughter. In the midst of our[br]high-tech, ostentatious, hedonistic lifestyle,

0:07:04.990,0:07:10.710
among the dazzling monuments to history, art,[br]religion, and commerce, there are the black boxes.

0:07:10.720,0:07:16.120
These are the biomedical research laboratories,[br]factory farms, and slaughterhouses – faceless

0:07:16.129,0:07:21.490
compounds where society conducts its dirty[br]business of abusing and killing innocent,

0:07:21.490,0:07:28.509
feeling beings. These are our Dachaus, our[br]Buchenwalds, our Birkenaus. Like the good

0:07:28.520,0:07:35.600
German burghers, we have a fair idea of what[br]goes on in there, but we don’t want any reality checks."

0:07:43.040,0:07:48.800
So what lessons should we take from the[br]horrific and unthinkable tragedy of Hitler’s Holocaust?

0:07:51.960,0:07:57.629
“The point of understanding the Holocaust[br]in Europe is to prevent and halt other ones,

0:07:57.629,0:08:02.829
not to remain narrowly focused on that particular[br]one, traumatic though it was.”

0:08:06.560,0:08:11.360
“That’s the real lesson of the Holocaust,[br]isn’t it? That people could do everything

0:08:11.360,0:08:18.620
and anything to those that they deemed ‘sub-human.’[br]Which is, of course, what we do to animals.”

0:08:22.759,0:08:28.169
Not everyone has learned the same lessons[br]as the survivors we’ve heard from today.

0:08:28.169,0:08:33.389
Albert Kaplan, a passionate vegan animal activist[br]who lost family members in the Holocaust wrote,

0:08:33.389,0:08:39.389
“The vast majority of Holocaust survivors[br]are carnivores, no more concerned about animals’

0:08:39.389,0:08:44.829
suffering than were the Germans concerned[br]about Jews’ suffering. What does it all mean?

0:08:44.840,0:08:51.760
I will tell you. It means that we have[br]learned nothing from the Holocaust. Nothing.

0:08:51.769,0:08:56.430
It was all in vain. There is no hope.”

0:09:06.300,0:09:08.080
"and life is an eternal Treblinka."

0:09:09.600,0:09:18.560
“And then, it finally dawned on me. “Never[br]again” is not about what others should not

0:09:18.560,0:09:27.879
do to us. “Never again” means that we[br]must never again perpetrate mass atrocities

0:09:27.879,0:09:34.879
against other living beings. That we must[br]never again raise animals for food or for

0:09:34.879,0:09:41.919
any other form of exploitation. And that’s[br]when I became an activist for animal rights.”

0:09:48.180,0:09:52.540
Please see the videos here for more information[br]on what the animals are going through right

0:09:52.540,0:09:57.340
this very moment all over the world. Share[br]this video around so

0:09:57.340,0:09:59.920
that these lessons are not in vain.

0:09:59.930,0:10:04.269
Many of the quotes I shared today are from[br]Holocaust Educator Dr. Charles Patterson’s

0:10:04.269,0:10:09.689
book “Eternal Treblinka: Our Treatment of[br]Animals and the Holocaust,” a powerful,

0:10:09.689,0:10:14.660
respectful and thoroughly researched text.[br]You can find the link to this book along with

0:10:14.660,0:10:19.420
other resources on the blog post for this[br]video linked in the video description.

0:10:19.420,0:10:25.009
If you want to help support this activism, see[br]the link here or in the description below.

0:10:25.009,0:10:29.730
Now go live vegan, hear their voices, and[br]I’ll see you soon.

0:10:31.680,0:10:38.660
And I recall the admonition by famed Yiddish[br]writer Isaac Bashevis Singer,

0:10:38.960,0:10:47.280
"that for the animals, all men are Nazis, and life is[br]an eternal Treblinka.”

0:10:47.280,0:10:50.000
Subtitles by the Amara.org community