Bergen-Belsen. The name sent a shudder down my spine. It evoked unreal black and white images – images from documentaries and photographs I had seen over the years. Yet what would I find in this place of death? Would it even be real?

Not alone on this venture, my 11-year-old daughter Rebecca was with me. I wanted her to see this reality.

Someone once remarked about the banality of evil. That was the thought that entered my mind as I entered the complex known as Bergen-Belsen. The notorious concentration camp is the final resting place of Anne Frank and thousands like her. All to discover, with tragic consequences, the commonness of the unthinkable.

As we passed from grave marker to grave marker (hailing the location of mass graves), I tried to explain what had happened in this place of the dead, but I was foiled. The clouds, the sky – color! How easy it is to form opinions based on the abstractions of black and white photographs, film documentaries, and raw statistics. We were standing in the midst of history, yet we both had difficulty comprehending that same history.

The October air, usually mid for northern Germany, was pleasant. Groups of German school children patiently listened as their instructors explained the nature of the camp, its history and how it was liberated by the British Army – and horrified the world.

We silently walked the enormous grounds, trying to grasp the inhumanity. “Here Lies 1,500 Souls; Here Lies 5,000 Souls; Here Lies…”

In the midst of this horror, I grasped at the one thing that “personalized” what we saw, this glimpse into the Holocaust. It was a photograph of a little girl the worked knows as Anne Frank. A person. After all, those who devalued human life did it one person at a time.

Maybe the greatest gift I can pass down to my children is the value of one human life. I proudly purchased a copy of thoughts, dreams and ambitions of a little girl, and give them to my little girl. What will she glean from this Diary of Anne Frank and this adventure the two of us shared?

The banality of evil.

The reality that it rained in Bergen-Belsen.

It was sunny in Bergen-Belsen. It snowed at Bergin-Belsen. People breathed their last at Bergen-Belsen. All 50 years ago, but still real today … as real as the clouds, and the sky and the color …

Influential pro-aborts

A short update for those interested in some of the movers and shakers of the abortion industry. Will Offley is the former security chief at Everywoman’s Health Centre, Vancouver’s first abortion mill, and is an activist with the BC Coalition for Abortion Clinics. Offley has now taken it upon himself to research us in the pro-life movement.

Frequently getting his facts wrong, Offley’s work has included “exposes” on such ‘undemocratic’ groups such as Focus on the Family, Campaign Life Coalition and of course, the group everyone loves to hate, Human Life International.

In a disturbing development, Offley is mentioned prominently by U.S. “Refuse and Resist” activist Michelle Gross (the police file on “Refuse and Resist” would be larger than the Encyclopedia Britannica). In an article written by Gross and available in the Armed Communist Resistance – “Arm the Spirit” web site, Gross writes about the “success” their thugs had in countering the recent HLI conference in Minneapolis.

“Info from Will was used to pressure the Archbishop (of Minneapolis) to pull out of celebrating HLI’s opening mass, which was the big news story here and which helped our side enormously: (May 3, 1997).

One has to wonder what inspiration Will Offley provided – in conjunction with the Montreal riot where anti-HIL thugs destroyed a police car and rioted in the streets? As well, the apparent link with one Tom Burghardt, who has called for physical attacks and revenge against pro-lifers, should cause all of us concern.

But don’t take my word for all this, visit the “Arm the Spirit” web site (http://burn.ucsd.eu/&7East/) and see for yourself who the so-called “pro-choice” movement is affiliating itself with. Remember that. Next time they oppose your pro-life work … pint out who the real extremists are … and make sure your doors are locked!

Hmm, bubble zone anyone?