Has the world gone mad? No, it has always been like this (antisemitic and stupid), at least for the last 3,500 years. I read every day about the Holocaust, the biggest disruption in history, a turning point in the history of humankind, philosophy and theology. So, nothing surprises me.
I read every day about the six German extermination camps: Auschwitz-Birkenau (1 million Jewish men, women, children, and babies murdered in gas chambers –with Zyklon B); Treblinka II (925,000 Jewish men, women, and children, and babies murdered in gas chambers –with carbon monoxide); Bełżec (600,000 Jewish men, women, children, and babies murdered in gas chambers –with carbon monoxide); Sobibór (250,000 Jewish men, women, children, and babies murdered in gas chambers –with carbon monoxide); Chełmno (200,000 Jewish men, women, children, and babies murdered in gas vans –with carbon monoxide and exhaust gas); and Majdanek (60,000 Jewish men, women, and children shot and murdered in gas chambers –with carbon monoxide and Zyklon B). So, nothing surprises me.
I read every day about the massacres of the Einsatzgruppen (with the effective help of the Orpo, the Wehrmacht and the Schuma –mostly Ukrainian, Latvian and Lithuanian) who shot and killed 2,000,000 Jewish men, women, children, and babies. So, nothing surprises me.
I read every day about the ghettos, the deportations, the transports, discrimination and antisemitism in Germany in the 1930s and in the world in the 1940s. So, nothing surprises me.
Nothing compares the Holocaust. NOTHING. For understanding the unicity of the Holocaust, please read Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews (CT: Martino Fine Books, 2019), Saul Friedländer, The Years of Extermination. Nazi Germany and the Jews 1939–1945 (London: Phoenix, 2008), Yehuda Bauer, Rethinking the Holocaust (USA: Yale University Press, 2002). Nevertheless, what is COMPARABLE to the Holocaust is the attitude of the world: the silence and the indifference, the excuse for discrimination and killing, and the ever lasting antisemitism. It doesn't surprise me, but it's shameful, revolting, and unforgivable.
After the massacres of October 7, 2023, we can all smell again that repulsive putrid odour. Do you know what it is? It's called antisemitism. It's truly disgusting, but it doesn't surprise me one bit.
1,400 victims (mostly Jewish and Israelis: men, women, children, and babies) were (in one sole day) brutally killed, mutilated, raped, and burnt. The massacres took place on October 7, 2023, at the Nova Music Festival near the kibbutz Re'im, at the kibbutzim Be'eri, Kfar Aza, Nir Oz, Holit, Ein HaShlosha, Nahal Oz, Kissufim, and Nirim, at the moshavim Yakhini and Netiv HaAsara, and in the town of Sderot. All these acts of terror and savagery were perpetrated by Palestinian Arabs members of Hamas (a Palestinian Islamist terrorist group democratically elected by the Palestinian Arabs in 2006 and who completely rules Gaza since then -for 17 years already, plays the victims, vowed to annihilate Israel and exterminate the Jewish people, and uses all European and USA money for guns, hatred, antisemitism and terror).
[Note: As a Holocaust researcher, I don't buy the incoherent narrative of "Hamas is bad"; "Palestinians or Gazans are good". Sorry, but no. In the same way that the vast majority of common Germans supported Nazism in the 1930s and 1940s, the vast majority of Gazans (who democratically elected Hamas in 2006) supports Hamas. Who actually is Hamas? Hamas is a Palestinian Arab Islamist terrorist group. It's true that, as in Germany in the 1930s, antisemitism and indoctrination in Gaza -at school (where mandatory history textbooks don't show the State of Israel) and at the camps for children and youth –a means for indoctrination in Jihad and martyrdom, with anti-Zionist songs and military training– reaches every child in Gaza. Indeed, children in Gaza are taught to glorify terrorism. In this shocking video (a kindergarten graduation in Gaza), we can see the "violent indoctrination of young kids –their aspirations are to become martyrs and kill Jews and make Palestine free of Jews 'from the river to the sea'"–writes Melissa Chapman; and adds: "When you support 'Free Palestine' you support this kind of child abuse". So, you can't blame those poor children who are taught to hate and kill, but you can blame the adults. Wake up].
Coming back to the massacres: even Holocaust survivors were killed in the massacres of October 7: 91-year-old Romanian-born Holocaust survivor Moshe Ridler and 90-year-old Czech-born Holocaust survivor Gina Semiatich were shot (Gina in the head) by Palestinian Arabs members of Hamas.
Furthermore, 240 hostages (men, women, children, and one 9-month-old baby) have been kidnapped by Hamas; hostages which, as I'm writing this, are suffering a complete violation of human rights, fear, torture, or death. And does (some part of) the world care? Not at all. We have seen how rotten people tolerate and even support these abominable acts of terror, chanting putrid slogans in the streets (even in university campus): "Free Palestine"; "Free Gaza"; "Kill the Jews". Incredible. Unthinkable. Repulsive. And even worse: some "people" (actually, animals) are ripping the posters of the hostages. After the Holocaust, humanity can't fall lower than that, can it? The world hasn't really changed since the Holocaust, has it?
But, the funny thing is that the world HAS CHANGED since the Holocaust: we now have hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo, and many feminist and LGTBIQ+ movements who care for the rights of all, right? WRONG. I didn't see a single Black Lives Matter, Me Too, Feminist, LGTBIQ+ or Muslim organization publicly and openly condemning the terrorist attacks of Hamas of October 7 (which included raping –where are the voices of the so-called "feminists"?– kidnapping, mutilating, burning, and massacring), supporting Israel and caring for the suffering of the Jewish people. Not a single one. And that's actually funny, because women rights in Gaza are actually non-existent, LGTBIQ+ people are beaten and murdered in Gaza only for being who they are, and when George Floyd was murdered, all the world was appalled and condemned (unequivocally) that act of racism.
For all the (ignorant, antisemite, stupid) Westerners who "protest" about something they know NOTHING about, holding flags that are now stained with blood, here's a message from Mosab Hassan Yousef (indoctrinated by Hamas, now working for Israel) –somebody who really knows what he's talking about.
[Here, 5 things you need to know about Hamas, and 5 more things you need to know about Hamas (by Yoseph Haddad)].
So, Black Lives Matter, Women Lives Matter, LGTBIQ+ Lives Matter, but Jewish Lives Don't Matter? Shame on you. You hypocrites. You antisemites.
Here, a bit about the "conflict" (simply explained, in 10 facts).
I'll leave you with this heartbreaking testimony of Holocaust survivor Eliahu Rosenberg about the process of extermination of Jewish men, women, and children in Treblinka II, only 80 years ago, in the heart of Europe. As I said, NOTHING compares the Holocaust, but the attitude of (a big part of) the world is, sadly, very similar.
Wake up.
I'm not a historian. I'm just a Doctor in Philosophy. I'm a Holocaust researcher and I can't stand antisemitism. Tergiversating the truth, denial, revisionism, defamation and antisemitism are extremely repulsive. Here are some important facts for these turbulent times.
FACT 1) What is "Palestine"? "Palestine" is Eretz Israel. Period.
FACT 2) The "Palestinian" Arabs (or shall I say the Gazan Arabs and the West Bank Arabs?) didn't build a country in "Palestine" (and won't) because they opposed both partition plans: firstly, the Peel Report (1937); and secondly, the UN Resolution 181 (1947).
In the Peel Report, the "Palestinian" Arabs were offered by the British 80% of the land; the Jewish people were offered 20% of the land; the Jewish Agency agreed; the Arabs refused and condemned the partition.
In the UN Resolution 181, the "Palestinian" Arabs were offered 43% of the land, and the Jewish people were offered 57% of the land; the Jewish Agency agreed; the "Palestinian" Arabs refused. Why were the Jewish people offered more land? Because 6 million Jewish men, women, and children were murdered by the Germans in the Holocaust, so a big wave of survivors was expected to emigrate to that tiny piece of land.
Here are the maps of the two partition plans (1937 and 1947), accepted by the Jewish Agency and unanimously rejected and condemned by the Arabs:
FACT 3) The Arabs in the Mandate already got their land (in 1922): Transjordan / Jordan. In this "partition" (1922), already 77% of the land was given to the Arabs.
The Emirate of Transjordan (today's Jordan) was actually part of the British Mandate for Palestine and it was "partitioned" and created in 1922. "Jordans" and the so-called "Palestinians" are actually two branches of the same family.
The Emirate of Transjordan was renamed in 1946 the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan and in 1949 the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
In 1949 Jordan, yes, Jordan (not Israel) annexed the West Bank.
Map below: "Palestine" is actually Eretz Israel, the ancestral home of the Jewish people; Transjordan is Jordan: home to the Arabs of the whole British Mandate.
FACT 4) The "Palestinian" Arabs sadly don't want peace nor partition: like spoiled little brats, they want either all or nothing; all or war; all or terror. They rejected both partition plans (1937 and 1947) and, also, numerous offers (by the international community and by Israel) for building a state. They are the bullies; not the victims.
FACT 5) In 2000 (the Camp David summit), the "Palestinian" Arabs were offered another opportunity to build a state (Gaza + the West Bank + East Jerusalem as its capital). What did the "Palestinian" Arabs did? They turned the offer down and started an "Intifada" (meaning: suicide bombing and terror against Israeli civilians). This offer was never given by Egypt nor Jordan when they controlled Gaza (1949–1967) and the West Bank (1949–1967) –where were the "protests" of the world then? Antisemites!
FACT 6) In 2005, Israel fully withdrew from Gaza in exchange for peace. How did Gazas reacted to this gesture? By starting a terror campaign with rockets and missiles targeting Israeli civilians.
FACT 7) In 2008, the "Palestinian" Arabs were offered by Israel another opportunity to build a state. They refused again. Olmert said to Abbas: "Remember my words, it will be 50 years before there will be another Israeli prime minister that will offer you what I am offering you now. Don’t miss this opportunity". And Abbas (surprise, surprise) did miss it.
FACT 8) Let's go a bit back. In 1917, the British Empire issued the Balfour Declaration: a historic statement of sympathy for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. The recognition of the Jewish people’s right to self-determination was then supported too by France, USA, Italy, Japan, and China, and rejected by the Arabs: "This rejection of the legitimate and internationally-mandated and recognized claim of the Jewish people to a national homeland in the Holy Land is the bedrock – the ground zero - of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is the thread which connects every war, every atrocity, every diplomatic maneuver and every terrorist act initiated by the Arab side, from 1917 to today" (Balfour Declaration. Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
FACT 9) But let's go to the beginning. Here are some maths: Judaism exists for at least 3,500 years (more if you count the TaNaKh); Islam, only for 1,414. Can't do the math? The Jewish people are the INDIGENOUS people of that tiny land. Not the "Palestinian" Arabs. The Jewish (and Israeli) people are NOT the occupiers, NOT the invaders, NOT the thieves (you can't occupy your own land, you idiot; you can't invade your own land, you idiot; you can't steal your own land, you idiot), but JUST the native people of the Kingdoms of Judea & Israel (kingdoms that date from 1,100 BCE). (Actually, in the 13th century BCE, Pharaoh Merneptah already mentioned "Israel" in the Merneptah Stele -in your face, Gazan Arabs & West Bank Arabs!)
So, can't you count? The Jewish people were in that tiny land at least 2,000 years before the Arabs and before the Muslims.
Furthermore, "Palestine" was never EVER a state:
Before Israel, there was a British mandate, not a Palestinian state.
Before the British mandate, there was the Muslim Ottoman Turkish Empire, not a Palestinian state.
Before the Ottoman Empire, there was the Islamic Mameluke state of Egypt, not a Palestinian state.
Before the Islamic Mameluke state of Egypt, there was the Ayyubid Arab-Kurdish Empire, not a Palestinian state.
Before the Ayyubid Empire, there was the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem, not a Palestinian state.
Before the Kingdom of Jerusalem, there was the Umayyad and Fatimid Caliphates, not a Palestinian state.
Before the Umayyad and Fatimid Caliphates, there was the Byzantine Empire, not a Palestinian state.
Before the Byzantine Empire, there was the Sasanian Empire, not a Palestinian state.
Before the Sasanian Empire, there was the Byzantine Empire, not a Palestinian state.
Before the Byzantine Empire, there was the Roman Empire, not a Palestinian state.
Before the Roman Empire, there was the Hasmonean dynasty, not a Palestinian state.
Before the Hasmonean dynasty, there was the Seleucid Empire, not a Palestinian state.
Before the Seleucid Empire, there was the Macedonian Empire, not a Palestinian state.
Before the Macedonian Empire, there was the Persian Empire, not a Palestinian state.
Before the Persian Empire, there was the Babylonian Empire, not a Palestinian state.
Before the Babylonian Empire, there were the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, not a Palestinian state.
Before the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, there was the kingdom of Israel, not a Palestinian state.
Before the reign of Israel, there was the theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel, not a Palestinian state.
Before the theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel, there were independent Canaanite city-kingdoms, not a Palestinian state.
In that tiny piece of land, there was everything but a Palestinian state
FACT 10) Right after the proclamation of the Israeli Independence (May 14, 1948), five Arab nations (Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Saudi Arabia –under Egypt) invaded Israel. Israel won the war and gained some land (can't expect to star a war and not lose land when you lose the war). After the war, the Gaza Strip fell under Egypt (not Israel), and the West Bank fell under Jordan (not Israel).
FACT 11) The PLO (who called for Israel's destruction) was born in 1964, three years before the Six-Day War, and launched several terrorist attacks (always aiming at Israeli civilians): 35 terrorist attacks in 1965; 41 terrorist attacks in 1966; 37 terrorist attacks in the first 4 months of 1967, and so on, and so on, and so on. This will actually never end. We can see this now.
FACT 12) It is actually this terrorist movement (the PLO) who gave shape to the (invented and murderous) "Palestinian" identity. They are just Arabs. Muslim Arabs. Gazans and "West Bankers". Most probably: just Jordanians.
FACT 13) Nasser (a fervent antisemite who called for the "eradication of Israel") said in 1965: "We shall not enter Palestine with its soil covered in sand; we shall enter it with its soil saturated in blood", and on May 37, 1967: "Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel". At the beginning of June 1967, 425,000 Arab troops from Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq were ready to attack Israel.
FACT 14) In six days (5 to 10 of June, 1967) Israel defeated Egypt, Jordan, and Syria, and gained the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights (can't expect to provoke a war and not lose land when you lose the war). Olé to Israel, as we say in Spanish. Jerusalem was united for the first time since the year 70. That weird UN "partition" of 1947 (that divided Jerusalem) collapsed for ever thanks to the murderous Arabs who started (and lost) the 1967 Six-Day War.
FACT 15) On October 6, 1973, Egypt and Syria (aided by nine Arab states) attacked Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish people (the "Palestinian" Arabs fought together with the Egyptians against Israel). They lost. Har har! Such losers! Israel won again. Olé again.
FACT 16) In 1967 the Arab League summit vowed the 3 No's to Israel: “No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel”. Antisemites! Bullies! And they pretend to be the victim? Liars! Terrorists! Oppressors! Rapists! Kidnappers! Dictators! Thugs!
FACT 17) The "West Bank" is actually Judea and Samaria. It belongs to Israel. Period. Hebron is super holy to the Jewish people, not so much to the Arab Muslims (Abraham & Sarah, Isaac & Rebekah, Jacob & Leah are all buried in the cave of Machpelah in Hebron); Jerusalem is super holy to the Jewish people, not so much to the Arab Muslims. If the Arabs would have been peaceful from the UN partition in 1947, things could be different, but after so much blood and countless years of terrorism, savagery, rape and kidnapping, the Arabs are not worthy of any territory in Judea and Samaria. They can keep Gaza, that crap in ruins infected with terrorists. But with a 100-meters-tall fence and no entering to Israel ever again (that's what you get when you murder, rape, mutilate, burn and kidnap innocent Israeli men, women and children).
FACT 18) As I mentioned before, Israel fully withdrew from Gaza in 2005; in 2006 there were democratic elections in Gaza and the West Bank (I mean, Judea and Samaria), and Hamas (an Islamist terrorist murderous cowardly group that has vowed to exterminate the Jewish people and that loves to kill and kidnap Israeli men, women, children, and babies) won by the majority of the votes. Yep, the Gazas democratically elected Hamas. Who do you think Hamas are? Hamas are "Palestinian" (Gazan) Arab terrorists. Furthermore, ordinary Gazans love terrorism and antisemitism (anti-Zionism), and are part of Hamas or support Hamas.
Right after the democratic victory of Hamas in the elections of 2006, Hamas (or shall I say the Gazans?) started a "civil war" with Fatah (or shall I say the West Bank Arabs?) and then "took control" of Gaza in 2007. Hamas (not Israel) has ruled Gaza since 2007, for 16 years, producing nothing (no education, no infrastructure, no schools, no hospitals, no employment, no universities, no culture) but weapons, destruction, indoctrination, antisemitism, terror, and terrorism.
FACT 19) There are MANY terrorist organizations in Gaza and in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) (not only Hamas) that exist with only one purpose: to annihilate Israel and to kill the Jewish people. These Palestinian Arab terrorist Islamist organizations are: Hamas (ew!), Palestinian Islamic Jihad (ew!), the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (ew!), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) (ew!), and ISIS-Sinai (ew!). These Palestinian Arab terrorists kill with suicide bombings, shootings and stabbings, and have fired tens of thousands of rockets to Israeli civilians and Israeli houses.
Below, a video from 12 years ago, short and clear ("Debunking the Palestine Lie") for the ones who know NOTHING about the "conflict" and support terrorism and antisemitism:
If you don't fully stand with Israel and with the Jewish people now, if you don't fully condemn the brutalities perpetrated by "Palestinian" Arabs members of Hamas and ordinary Gazans (or condemn them with a "but", in a conflict you know nothing about), you are supporting terrorism, Islamism, dictatorship, antisemitism, and anti-Zionism (the new antisemitism, since 1948). And it's OK, really, nobody cares: the world is full of racist people and even fuller of antisemitic people. But you have to know what you are, what you are defending and what you are destroying when you write stupid slogans or excuse terrorism (terrorism exclusively against Jewish people, of course).
Sartre said in Réflexions sur la question juive (written after the Liberation of Paris in 1944) that only the antisemite makes the Jewish person "Jew", meaning, the object of their irrational hatred. As the Jewish World Congress says, "If you are more upset about Israel responding to terrorism than terrorism itself, it's time to check your moral compass"; "If you only speak up against Israel as it takes military action against terrorism, but not against the terrorists who massacred Israeli towns, you are engaging in antisemitism". Antisemitism is a strong irrational force that has existed for millennia. And it will not disappear any time soon. If you support de the 3 D's (Delegitimization, Demonization, Double Standards) then you are embracing the putrid gigantic mass of antisemitic people.
Below, a great video by Oren Cahanovitc (28 minutes, but really worth it) that debunks the misinformation and false facts around the never ending conflict:
[October 19 update: Here's another video that explains with clear language and facts what's happening today in Gaza –only 16 minutes.]
[October 20 update: here is Hamas explained from inside –sorry that comes from Fox News, folks, but since the "Left" turned antisemitic and got rotten, that's what there is]:
If after the slaughtering, savagery and kidnapping of hundreds of Jewish/Israeli men, women, and children, you still excuse the massacres of October 7 perpetrated by Palestinian Arabs members of Hamas (a terrorist Islamist group –which was voted by the majority of the Palestinians in 2006 and which rules Gaza from 2007) and ordinary Gazans, or write stupid, insulting and pathetic slogans like "free Palestine", you are either a tremendous ignorant in history or a putrid antisemite (most probably both).
Read about the Partition Plans of 37 (Peel Report) and 47 (UN Resolution 181) – unanimously rejected by the Arabs. Read about the wars of 48, 67 and 73. Read about the suicide bombers. Learn about the 3 NOs of the 1967 Arab League summit (“No peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel”). Read about Hamas and Fatah. Say no to terrorism. No to Islamism. No to savagery. No to Sharia Law. No to barbarism. Learn about the 3 Ds that makes YOU antisemite: Delegitimization, Demonization, Double Standards.
Black lives matter but Jewish lives don't matter? You hypocrites.
In 50 years, the Spanish terrorist group ETA murdered 853 people. In 1 day, Hamas murdered 1,400 men, women, children, and babies in the most savage ways, and kidnapped 222 men, women, children, and babies. These massacres are the "equivalent" of eight (eight!) 11M (the Islamist terrorist attacks in Madrid on March 11, 2004, where 193 people died). I don't see the Spanish people openly supporting Israel, the Jewish people, and democracy. Shame on you. If you don't stand against Hamas you are supporting terrorism.
Antisemitism is hatred. Antisemitism is defamation. Antisemitism is anti-Zionism (read Jean Améry). Antisemitism is indifference. Antisemitism is excusing terrorism. Antisemitism is double standards. Antisemitism is silence.
The world has become crazy. Enough. Am Israel Chai.
Below, an awesome and clear video about the history of Gaza, by professor Henry Abramson, PhD in Philosophy (University of Toronto) and Dean of the Lander College of Arts and Sciences in Flatbush, New York (Touro University) and a wake up call from Ben Gleib:
Coup de chance is another masterpiece by Woody, the master of cinema. The cast (Lou de Laâge, Melvin Poupaud, Niels Schneider, and Valérie Lemercier) is absolutely great, the script (Woody) is brilliant, the cinematography (Vittorio Storaro) is gorgeous, and the direction (Woody) is, as always, impecable.
This is a movie about love, betrayal, control, and luck. Amazingly written and beautifully shot. A masterpiece (in French) with a flavour of the great French cinema from last century (Truffaut, Lelouch, Godard), with a bit of Hitchcock (you can actually spot a Hitchcock book on a shelf in one scene –I only discovered it the second time I saw the movie), and with a wonderful soundtrack (jazz from the 60s: Herbie Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island" and Nat Adderley).
No explosions, plastic people or a 200MM budget; just absolutely pure excellent cinema. Bravo, Woody. You are the best! 10/10.
Bombardeo de La Moneda, Santiago de Chile, 11 de septiembre de 1973
Hoy se cumplen 50 años del golpe de Estado en Chile, el 11 de septiembre de 1973.
La dictadura chilena partió a Chile en dos. Produjo más de 3.000 muertos y desaparecidos, detuvo y torturó a más de 37.000 hombres, mujeres y adolescentes (Comisión Rettig, Comisión Valech, Comisión Valech II, Amnistía Internacional) y produjo 200.000 exiliados (Archivo Nacional).
Las dictaduras nunca se producen solas. En 1973 hubo muchos chilenos que apoyaron el golpe. Hoy, aún hay chilenos que consideran que los atentados contra los derechos humanos no fueron para tanto. La reflexión, la responsabilidad y el recuerdo de las víctimas se presentan como una tarea primordial para que las dictaduras no vuelvan a repetirse.
He aquí una reflexión personal (de hace 10 años) de una española que se siente a ratos chilena y de una chilena que es absolutamente española:
No me gusta que me roben lo que es mío
Pertenezco a esa generación de niños que les tocó, tras el bombardeo de La Moneda, nacer en otro país. Ahora somos adultos sin raíces, tal vez cosmopolitas, multiculturales, pero con familias disgregadas, con hermanos, primos, tíos, padres y abuelos a miles de kilómetros de distancia.
Soy una española que toma tecito todo el día, que duerme con guatero, que lee a Neruda y a la que le encanta el manjar. Poseo la sensibilidad y la dulzura chilena, y la alegría y la mala leche española. Tengo una parte chilena, otra española y otra catalana, y las disfruto todas. Pero no me gusta que me roben lo que es mío. Y aquel 11 de septiembre a muchos futuros niños se les robó una parte de sus raíces, una parte de su libertad. Hubo más de 200.000 exiliados, los hijos de los cuales perdimos para siempre una parte de nuestra identidad.
Mi padre se fue de Chile en noviembre del 73. Mi madre se reunió con él en Italia en el 74. De Italia pasaron a Hungría, y de Hungría, a España. Yo nací en Barcelona en el 75. Mi abuela Marina, una mujer de izquierda, intelectual y fascinante, fue torturada en cuatro centros de detención y tortura chilenos. Nunca quiso hablar abiertamente de las atrocidades que le hicieron. La liberó (al cabo de cuatro meses) su tío segundo el cardenal Silva Enríquez, un personaje importante en Chile, admirado por los momios católicos y defensor de los derechos humanos.
Según la Comisión Valech (2003–2010) y la Comisión Valech II (2010–2011), hubo más de 30.000 personas que fueron detenidas y torturadas bajo la Dictadura Militar. Hubo 3.065 muertos y desaparecidos (entre ellos nueve mujeres embarazadas y 307 bebés, niños y adolescentes). Ninguno de ellos tuvo a un tío cardenal que los sacara de ese infierno. Cuesta entender que haya gente hoy en día que siga idealizando un régimen de tortura y horror que partió a Chile en dos para siempre y dejó una mancha de sangre, humillación y vergüenza en su historia.
Hoy soy una persona sin raíces. Me adapto como un camaleón al país que sea, al idioma que sea, a la gente que sea. He formado mi propia familia (porque la otra, la disgregada, apenas existe ya), una familia multicultural que habla español, inglés y hebreo. Mi marido nació en Jerusalén; sus padres son judíos y norteamericanos. En casa comemos tortilla de patatas, crema catalana, falafel, chocolate chip cookies, aguacate (palta) y maíz (choclo). Nuestros hijos Yael, Itay y Dalit meriendan churros, celebran el Tió, encienden velas en Hanukkah y adoran el cuento mapuche El día que Txeg Txeg y Kay Kay no se saludaron.
En casa tenemos cuatro pasaportes diferentes. A mi marido le dieron los pasaportes israelí y norteamericano cuando nació. Yo obtuve la nacionalidad chilena solo a los 33 años. Pinochet decidió que los hijos de los exiliados no teníamos derecho a ser chilenos. Más que de un castigo, se trataba de una humillación. Muchos de aquellos niños no tuvieron tanta suerte como yo (yo fui española desde que nací) y fueron apátridas por mucho tiempo. Las navegaciones y regresos de mis padres y de los padres de mi marido son muy diferentes. Mis suegros emigraron de EEUU porque quisieron ir a vivir a Israel. Nadie había hecho desaparecer a sus vecinos, sus amigos o sus familiares; se fueron a un nuevo país con ilusión. Mis padres, al contrario, tuvieron que huir de Chile con miedo e incertidumbre. Vivieron en Italia y en Hungría antes de aterrizar en España; siempre les quedó ese agujero en las entrañas, la terrible sensación de que habían sido expulsados de su país y de que tal vez nunca podrían regresar. Mi padre volvió al cabo de 15 años a Chile, en 1988, porque, según él, echaba de menos las marraquetas.
Yo no soy nacionalista. No puedo serlo, porque no tengo nación. Pertenezco a varios mundos y, a la vez, me siento extraña en todos ellos. La Beca Pinochet dejó a todos aquellos niños a los que nos tocó nacer en otro país como flotando por el espacio. Somos extranjeros en todos lados. A mí me encanta vivir sin fronteras, pero me hubiera gustado haber podido escoger y no que me quitaran lo que era mío. Todos aquellos niños a los que nos robaron nuestra ciudad y nuestros abuelos perdimos, para siempre, algo inmenso y valioso. Pinochet nos robó una parte de la familia y un trocito de tierra que ya jamás serán del todo nuestros.
Antonia Tejeda Barros, Madrid, 11 de septiembre de 2013
(Post del 2013 –con comentarios- aquí).
Póster del legendario concierto de Amnesty International Chile, 1990: “Desde Chile, un abrazo a la esperanza”. Ilustración de mi padre, Juan Guillermo Tejeda Marshall
Antonia Tejeda Barros, Madrid, 11 de septiembre de 2023
Henry Goodman, Clara Rugaard, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Dalit Streett Tejeda, Mark Ryder, Anastasia Hille, Valentina Bèlle, Freya Parks, and Jack Roth in Love Gets a Room (Nostromo Pictures & Buffalo 8)
Love Gets a Room will be finally released in the US tomorrow, on June 23, 2023, in selected theatres. On June 30 it will be on VOD (video on demand). Do not miss it!
Love Gets a Room is a masterpiece about love, art, antisemitism, bravery, generosity, and beauty. A jewel that will make you weep, laugh, sing, and cry. Written by Rodrigo Cortés & David Safier and directed by Rodrigo, the movie is set at the Warsaw ghetto in January 1942 (six months before the deportations to the Treblinka extermination camp).
Love Gets a Room includes a play inside the movie: excerpts (originally written in Polish, translated into English in the movie) of Jerzy Jurandot’s play Miłość szuka mieszkania that was performed at the Femina Theatre in the Warsaw ghetto in 1941-1942. What is fascinating is that the original play by Jurandot is preserved in his own handwriting at the Ringelblum Archive I/519, which can be found online at the Centralna Biblioteca Judaistyczna [the Central Jewish Library in Warsaw]. In the first page of the play, Jurandot writes: "wystawiona w Feminie 1941 rok" [staged at Femina year 1941], which makes it clear that the play premiered in 1941. Nevertheless, the Gazeta Żydowska of January 23, 1942 (preserved also at the Ringelblum Archive and quoted by Barbara Engelking and Jacek Leociak in The Warsaw Ghetto: A Guide to the Perished City -originally written in Polish) informs in an add:
"Teat. "Femina", Warszawa, Leszno 35
Od piatku 16 stycznia i codziennie
w soboty ogodz 3 i 5.30
SENSACYJNE PRZEDSTAWIENIE
... Komedia w 3- ch aktach
Miłość szuka mieszkania
Jurandot i Wesby ego
Rewelacyjus obsada ..."
["Teat. "Femina", Warsaw, Leszno 35
From Friday, January 16, and every day on Saturdays at 3pm and 5.30pm
SENSATIONAL PERFORMANCE
... Comedy in 3 acts
Miłość szuka mieszkania
Jurandot and Wesby
Sensational cast ..."]
The Gazeta Żydowska was the "official newspaper for all the ghettos in the Generalgouvernement [which] was published in Kraków and licensed and censored by the Germans. It came out twice, and from July 1941, three times a week" (Barbara Engelking and Jacek Leociak, p. 35).
However, Holocaust survivor Mary Berg writes in her diary (originally written in Yiddish and translated into English and published in the USA as early as 1945) that the play premiered on October 29, 1941 (The Diary of Mary Berg. Growing Up in the Warsaw Ghetto): "October 29, 1941. Today I went with Romek to the opening of a play at the Femina Theater. It was a musical comedy dealing with present-day life in the ghetto, entitled Love Looks for an Apartment (...) The audience laughed heartily and spent a few pleasant hours in the comfortable theater, completely forgetting the dangers that lurk outside. The author of the play is Jurandot" (pp. 101-102). Barbara Engelking and Jacek Leociak follow the info done by the Gazeta Żydowska and argue that the play premiered on January 16, 1942 (pp. 566–567). The conclusion that we can take from all the unmatched information is that the play most probably premiered towards the end of 1941 (following the information given by the own Jurandot on the first page of the play, and also by the diary of Mary Berg) and that it enjoyed such a success amongst the Warsaw ghetto Jewish men and women (due to its joyful tone amidst suffering, hunger and death) that many performances at the Femina Theatre followed the premiere, at least until January 1942. In the movie Love Gets a Room we see that the actors have performed the play several times already, because the only thing that Ada (Valentina Bellè) wishes is that the public (that it, the poor Jewish people of the ghetto, cold and starving) clap at the end of the play.
Love Gets a Room had a Canadian premiere two weeks ago at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, on June 9, 2023. Below, Clara and Henry singing "The Yiddish Way".
El pasado miércoles 18 de enero tuve la defensa de mi tesis doctoral, titulada Viktor Emil Frankl y Jean-Paul Sartre: la religión a pesar de Auschwitz y una libertad sin Dios. El sentido y sinsentido del sufrimiento de las víctimas, dirigida por mis queridos directores Manuel Fraijó Nieto y Carlos Gómez Sánchez.
Los miembros del tribunal (Noé Expósito –especialista en Husserl–, Concha Rondán –especialista en Leibniz– y José Lasaga –especialista en Ortega), todos ellos brillantes, fueron muy generosos y me dieron un Sobresaliente cum laude. Jamás olvidaré su amabilidad y su generosidad. Tampoco olvidaré el cariño, la dedicación y la paciencia de mis directores de tesis, y todo el apoyo y el amor de todos aquellos que me queréis incondicionalmente, con todas mis virtudes y todos mis defectos. Ya sabéis quiénes sois.
Antonia Tejeda Barros 