When millions would have done anything to get out, one remarkable British soldier smuggled himself into Auschwitz to witness the horror so he could tell others the truth.
Denis Avey is a remarkable man by any measure. A courageous and determined soldier in World War II, he was captured by the Germans and imprisoned in a camp connected to the Germans’ largest concentration camp, Auschwitz.
But his actions while in the camp – which he has never spoken about until now – are truly extraordinary. When millions would have done anything to get out, Mr Avey repeatedly smuggled himself into the camp.
You can watch clips from this incredible story and listen to the broadcasts over at the BBC Magazine.
There’s this movie entitled boy in the pyama on the other side. Shows it from a different perspective .. through the eyes of a child on the german side who’s father is in charge of killing those in the camps among other things. It’s not based on complete truth for sure but it def. shows something different.
The horrors of the camps are pretty close to most of us .. at times it seems more than the horrors which still continue in present life. The problem is quite often that we can not change them by ourselves and they are not taking place nearby,in our daily lifes. Although .. in the meat industry ..
This picture … makes you wonder … it’s as with wild animal movies … in which you see little animals being torn apart by lions and such … the one who films does not do a thing … so he/she needs to numb herself or does not need to numb herself as they see it as life, something they should not interfer with. With camps .. throwing your own life away would not have saved them .. Only action by the masses could have reversed the system .. The movie with Cruise .. retriggers lots of the anger .. the guts … the will to kill the bastards ..
The masses that could take over … if they saw it … It’s like a large group of wildebeasts … who could have chased off the predators quite fast .. could have killed them in fact … but they never do .. Humans are also being controlled but more by what they know .. and think .. and fear as well .. caused by all of this .. The resistance forces were still not enough but for sure reversed some stuff for the better as well as the other armies ofcourse .. but unfortunately for so many too late ..
If you have nothing to see to in life anymore … you’d probably would have joined the resistance forces as well. Or it’s the ideals you carry inside. Will be harsh on you .. living in war … you will need to give up more on the inside at times (what you would have wished for for others as well) I can imagine.
What a truly remarkable man Denis Avey is. It’s brave men like him who got the story ‘out there’ as to what was really happening in those hellish death camps (it’s hard to imagine that noone had a clue at the time). And to help save the life of another through his kind deeds as well, just truly inspirational.
I once saw a series called ‘The Final Solution’ about Belsen etc, which was in turn the most horrific but the most interesting of programmes. It described everything from how the concentration camps came about right up to when most of the ‘ringleaders’ were hanged for their crimes against humanity.
After watching that series, I’ve never had more admiration for ANYONE than I did for the Jews who survived those disgusting camps.
LC x
I love stories like this, really makes you proud to be British knowing that people laid down their lives and risked everything to ensure we had relative freedom. A bit like the film ‘Two Men Went To War.’ which is based on the true story of a young catering corp recruit and an old Seargent to old to fight on the front line. They both decide to make their own way to Germany to bring down the Germans. Instead they end up in Occupied France and helped destroy an important German radio instalation.
Those were the days when it was alright to stand up for what you believe in, not like today when people are not willing to goto war and don’t want to stand up for people incase the upset someone else or offend someone!
Having recently published and written Remember Us, the story of a survivor of Mauthausen concentration camp, it is astounding to me to this day, despite years of research, that such evil took place. Yet there were more than a few who had the fortitude to reach out a hand or save lives. While the Holocaust deniers merely perpetuate the hate that was fomented in Nazi Europe, those who were present remind us of the reality of what results from extreme hateful thinking. The bulk of Holocaust proof exists not as Jewish testimony, but as records from people such as Denis Avey, as well as the Catholic Church, Poles, partisans, Russians, French resistance and so forth. Somehow Mr. Avey found the courage to stand up to evil and produce a spark of light in an place where darkness had extinguished all hope and humanity.