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An Associated Content Assignment Hits Close To Home

Date: Jun 12, 2009      Category: Associated Content, General

By now we have all heard the tragic news of the Holocaust Museum shooting, a horrible crime that was committed by James von Brunn.  I was glued to the television when the news broke, and shocked that von Brunn was a war veteran who fought against the Nazis but somehow ended up being a neo-Nazi worshiper.  Stephen Johns lost his life doing his job, while opening the museum door for an elederly man. I hope that Johns is remembered as a hero, and an innocent man who lost his life due to another man’s dillussion.

What shocked me the most is that von Brunn was a Holocaust denier, after fighting in the World War II against the Nazis. How exactly do you deny something that you witnessed? How exactly do you deny a genocide, and millions of innocent lives lost?

I do not keep my childhood a secret, but I prefer to not speak about it. Call it a healing process, call it whatever you wish, but I choose to not have every single day of my life defined by the fact that I survived a war. I feel that years have passed, and although my memories are not gone, I have had enough time to answers many questions. Inquisitive minds ask the same questions, over and over again. I will spare you some time and say that I have seen people die, get shot, blood on the street, have lost relatives, have lost family, have seen too much horror before the age of 11 and everything else you can think or imagine.

Associated Content of course wanted to be on top of this breaking news story, and as always wanted a personal angle on breaking news.  An assignment popped up about the Holocaust Museum shooting, that wanted a personal story of a visit, how the shooting story affected us, etc. The article needed to be a reflection about the museum, our memory of it and such. I have always loved AC’s “first-person experience” angle, as you never know what you’ll end up getting.

I submitted my assignment, titled “Shooting at Holocaust Museum: A War Child’s Reflection“. The article took some time, and I even edited out some of the portions that were too emotional to read for me. I could not turn the assignment in the same night, but had to wait until the morning to finish writing it. Call it a way of healing, and a way of releasing a painful moment. I have always said that writing is cheaper than therapy, and hopefully other writers turn to producing work when something tries to get the best of them.

I guess the double edged sword for me is that I wrote something very personal, that many readers found inspiring, and connected to. I’ve found the article linked on several places, including The Wall Street Journal. If I should be celebrating, I’ll apologize for not having a margarita. My intention was not to get publicity, but to heal in my own way.

The tragedy of the shooting still remains, and a family has lost a loved one. We are also left with thoughts of terrorists that are born and raised Americans, yet choose to kill innocent people because they are not of their preferred race. There is no knowing as to what James von Brunn could have done if he was given the chance. It is scary to even imagine how many people could have lost their lives, and even one death is way too many. What is even scarier is that there are people who think like von Brunn, and are now celebrating his horrendous crime. These people, like von Brunn, deny the atrocities of Holocaust happened. People like von Brunn, and von Brunn himself, should burn in hell.

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Responses: Comments (1)



1 Comment »

  1. I wanted to elaborate because Twitter shortens us and its hard to get it all in.

    I am amazed how there are people in this world who deny the Holocaust. The president of Iran is among them. Hearing these things on the news, I can’t get my head around the way they think. How can they NOT believe it happened? As you said, von Brunn was a part of a force fighting the Nazi’s, he witnessed himself the atrocious things that were going on, yet to this day he denies the events.

    The hate that is still in our world astounds me. You would think that by now there would be more acceptance and a sort of world wide love, yet we still hate.

    My heart goes out to you, yet I applaud you for claiming that assignment, and making it more personal. I look forward to reading it.

    Comment by Kenzy — June 12, 2009 @ 4:30 am

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