Spewing Hatred, Dehumanizing Immigrants and Minorities, Stoking Violence: Are We Minimizing Echoes of Nazi Rule?
BOULDER, Colo., Aug. 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- There is something eerily familiar about chants of "Send her back," the rise of white nationalism, and the placement of undocumented immigrants in camps, subject to family separation and traumatic conditions. For Ellen Korman Mains, such horrors bring to mind the way Jews, and other marginalized groups like Gypsies and homosexuals, were treated under Nazism.
Indeed, Korman Mains will return to Poland for the 75th Anniversary of the Liquidation of the ?ód? Ghetto, and will present her award-winning memoir, Buried Rivers: A Spiritual Journey into the Holocaust (West Lake Books) there on Aug. 27 as part of the week-long commemoration events.
The second-largest and longest-lasting Nazi ghetto, the ?ód? Ghetto, according to Korman Mains, "was a holding center?not entirely unlike the U.S. border detention centers?where local Jews and those brought from elsewhere were centralized in over-crowded quarters while being systematically starved, deprived of medicine, fuel for cooking or heat, and sometimes water. Those who tried to escape, including my uncle, were shot." About 40,000 ghetto inhabitants died of illness and starvation, among them Mains' grandfather; another 200,000 were gassed in a nearby extermination camp; and, in the summer of 1944, the remaining 70,000 inhabitants were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, including Mains' mother, aunt, uncles, and grandmother.
Here in the U.S., Korman Mains says we must realize the danger to everyone of hate speech and join together "to not only denounce it, but to understand the factors that fuel hate-filled behavior, including false fear and hate-based rhetoric by leaders like Trump combined with genuine existential fears, feelings of powerlessness, and projecting blame on others to avoid such feelings," she says.
In an interview, Korman Mains can talk about:
- The dangers of hate speech and the importance of addressing it
- Returning to ?ód?, once known as "The City of Four Cultures" for the 75th anniversary
- The importance of acknowledging past suffering in order not to repeat it
- The healing power of turning toward fear and vulnerability vs. blaming others
- How politicians gain power by using fear to trigger primitive survival mechanisms
Praise for Buried Rivers
"Reflects the power of inquiry in a world riven with suffering, and the capacity to transform that suffering into wisdom." ? Rev. Joan Jiko Halifax, Abbot, Upaya Zen Center and author of Standing at the Edge
"Addressing our most pressing real-life questions about good and evil, this Buddhist reflection on the intimate legacy of the Holocaust is a riveting page-turner." ?Judith Simmer-Brown, Ph.D., Professor of Religious Studies, Naropa University and author of Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle in Tibetan Buddhism
". . . provides a fresh take not only on the Holocaust, but also the proper response to the seemingly inerasable stain left by profound anguish." ?Kirkus Reviews
About the author
The daughter of Polish-born Holocaust survivors and a practicing Buddhist, Ellen Korman Mains has led meditation retreats internationally and speaks about the cross-section of spirituality and social change. She also works with individuals to transform life issues into opportunities for embodied awareness and compassion. A citizen of Canada, the USA, and Poland, she has spent over two years in Poland researching, teaching, and helping to promote dialog.
Contact: Ellen Korman Mains, (720) 292-4520 until 8/19/2019; +48 793 366 441 after 8/20/2019; [email protected]; www.EllenKormanMains.com; Skype: Ellen.Mains13
SOURCE Ellen Mains
News published on and distributed by:
