美国国家公共电台 NPR To Counter Anti-Semitism, French Women Find Strength In Diversity At Auschwitz

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Anti-Semitism has been on the rise in France. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley joined a group of women of different faiths and ethnic¹ backgrounds who have decided² to tackle the problem together. She accompanied them on a trip to a notorious symbol of where hatred³ can lead - the death camp of Auschwitz.

GINETTE KOLINKA: (Speaking French).

ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE⁴: One hundred and fifty French women - Muslim, Jewish, Catholic and atheist⁵ - are gathered around as 94-year-old Ginette Kolinka tells her story at a spot beside the rail track once known as the Judenrampe or the Jewish platform.

KOLINKA: (Speaking French).

BEARDSLEY: Kolinka was deported⁶ to Auschwitz from France at the age of 19. And this was the last place she ever saw her father and little brother.

KOLINKA: (Through interpreter) We arrived at dawn. It was still dark. Here on the platform, after we got down from the rail cars, we were told to go to the right or to the left. This was the selection - to live or die. But we had no idea.

BEARDSLEY: Kolinka says she thought the Nazis⁷ were humane⁸ because they let the old people and the mothers and children ride in trucks and told them everybody would be reunited in the camp. Kolinka says she soon saw the chimneys and the smoke and found out the truth.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking French).

BEARDSLEY: This interfaith women's group called Langage de Femmes, or Women's Voices, was founded a year and a half ago by high school teacher Samia Essabaa, who is Muslim.

SAMIA ESSABAA: (Through interpreter) Here we have grandmothers, mothers and daughters coming together at a camp where we witnessed the annihilation of women and children. We see here where the wrong choice leads. But this is not only a story of Jews. There are women in our group of African culture. And the Rwandan genocide was only yesterday. Today in France, we see people scrawling⁹ hate graffiti again. We must be on alert.

BEARDSLEY: Some of the women are learning about the Holocaust¹⁰ for the first time, like Awa Mangara, who grew up in Mali. She says she was extremely moved by Kolinka's testimony¹¹.

AWA MANGARA: (Through interpreter) Women are the heart of the family. They bring up the children. They're the basis of society, really. So if we stand in solidarity¹² against racism¹³ and anti-Semitism, we can be a real force for change.

BEARDSLEY: The French women pepper their Polish guide with questions about Simone Veil's time here. Veil, a former French government minister, was deported to Auschwitz at the age of 16. She went on to become one of France's most beloved public figures. Crowds lined the streets of Paris for her funeral in 2017. But just last month, someone scrawled¹⁴ swastikas on portraits of Veil that adorned¹⁵ two public mailboxes.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking French).

BEARDSLEY: Three young members of the group lay a wreath at a memorial near the gas chambers¹⁶ the Nazis blew up in an attempt to hide their crimes. The site of collapsed¹⁷ concrete with mangled¹⁸ metal girders sticking through has been left as-is since 1945. Jade¹⁹ Benouri and Chloe Coquin met on this trip. They both live in the Paris suburbs, where anti-Semitism has flourished in largely immigrant, African and Muslim communities. These 20-year-olds say this visit will make them react differently.

CHLOE COQUIN: (Speaking French).

BEARDSLEY: When young guys say the Jews are rich and control business and television and society and that's why we don't have jobs, well, that's not going to fly with me anymore, says Coquin.

JADE BENOURI: (Speaking French).

BEARDSLEY: Benouri agrees. We learned about this in school, she says. "But being here makes you realize it really happened and how massive it was."

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Singing in French).

BEARDSLEY: The women light candles and sing a song prisoners sang in the camps. Suzanne Nakache, who is Jewish, says for French Jews, it's important that the much larger Muslim community understands the trauma²⁰ of the Holocaust. She believes these women now do.

SUZANNE NAKACHE: They didn't understand. And they didn't believe. And now they understand. I think that they understand the Jew now. Yes.

BEARDSLEY: Nakache founded Langage de Femmes alongside Essabaa.

NAKACHE: My best friend is Samia Essabaa, who is a Muslim. And we are very, very close. And I trust her. I love her. She loves me, I'm sure.

BEARDSLEY: I wish everybody could be like us, says Nakache. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Auschwitz.

1 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 atheist   

n.无神论者

参考例句：

• She was an atheist but now she says she's seen the light.她本来是个无神论者，可是现在她说自己的信仰改变了。
• He is admittedly an atheist.他被公认是位无神论者。

6 deported   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的过去式和过去分词 )；举止

参考例句：

• They stripped me of my citizenship and deported me. 他们剥夺我的公民资格，将我驱逐出境。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The convicts were deported to a deserted island. 罪犯们被流放到一个荒岛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 humane   

adj.人道的，富有同情心的

参考例句：

• Is it humane to kill animals for food?宰杀牲畜来吃合乎人道吗？
• Their aim is for a more just and humane society.他们的目标是建立一个更加公正、博爱的社会。

9 scrawling   

乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的现在分词 )

参考例句：

10 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

11 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

12 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

13 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

14 scrawled   

乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I tried to read his directions, scrawled on a piece of paper. 我尽量弄明白他草草写在一片纸上的指示。
• Tom scrawled on his slate, "Please take it -- I got more." 汤姆在他的写字板上写了几个字：“请你收下吧，我多得是哩。”

15 adorned   

[计]被修饰的

参考例句：

• The walls were adorned with paintings. 墙上装饰了绘画。
• And his coat was adorned with a flamboyant bunch of flowers. 他的外套上面装饰着一束艳丽刺目的鲜花。

16 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

17 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

18 mangled   

vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• His hand was mangled in the machine. 他的手卷到机器里轧烂了。
• He was off work because he'd mangled his hand in a machine. 他没上班，因为他的手给机器严重压伤了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 jade   

n.玉石；碧玉；翡翠

参考例句：

• The statue was carved out of jade.这座塑像是玉雕的。
• He presented us with a couple of jade lions.他送给我们一对玉狮子。

20 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。