Saturday 30 June 2012

Gad Beck: 1923-2012

Last gay Jewish Holocaust survivor dies
BERLIN – Gad Beck, an anti-Nazi Zionist resistance fighter and the last known gay Jewish survivor of the Holocaust, died on Sunday in Berlin. He passed away in a senior citizens' home six days before his 89th birthday, which would have been on June 30.

Jerusalem Post. 

PS It is morally obscene to call him a "gay holocaust survivor" when he was not imprisoned for being gay.
Posted by Fagburn at 14:52:00
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3 comments:

  1. Angela Sarah1 July 2012 at 00:24

    Damn him for being imprisoned not for being gay, but for being a jew who just happened to be gay. Is that what you mean?!?

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  2. BK1 July 2012 at 10:35

    I have to say, I felt really angry for some reason when I first read the piece, too.
    But I've been thinking about it a lot and Fagburn is right - it IS morally obscene to call him a "gay holocaust survivor" because I think some outlets are painting him as just that (ie. his sexuality was the reason he was imprisoned).
    He was imprisoned because he was Jewish and to suggest otherwise is immoral. It's almost like some people are trying to co-opt the suffering of others.
    I know very well gay people were imprisoned and executed by the Nazis, but in this case it doesn't seem to have been the reason.
    Accuracy is important in any story/article, but when you're dealing with something this enormous and tragic (beyond words), then I think the words we use have to be extremely precise and considered so as not to suggest any falsehoods.
    The more I think about it the more I'm convinced by Fagburn's point. And I was quite furious when I first read his piece - I don't understand why I get angry sometimes like that, without thinking.
    I sometimes do the same when articles about Iran come up. And then I go away and learn something and realise I almost always agree with Fagburn.
    That initial anger is quite false sometimes and can be dangerous, I think.

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  3. BK1 July 2012 at 12:28

    Sometimes I feel so lost and factual accuracy is important. Obviously the facts can be used to suggest something which isn't true and we see this so much in the media, don't we?
    It's irresponsible and immoral.

    Sorry for commenting again; I'm bored today. :)

    x

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