by Danny Schechter
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0809-20.htm<snip>
I remember reading a story once about some of the Jewish fighters during the years of the Nazi genocide who escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto through the sewer system into another part of the city. Bedraggled and dazed, they came up into a city that was going about its business as usual, largely unaware of what was happening in a part of town that had been sealed off. (The street cars that went through the ghetto had to darken all windows so travelers couldn’t see what was going on.)
The escapees sought out brave members of the Polish resistance who were also fighting German aggression against their country. They too were at war with the invaders and occupiers. But they soon found that their “comrades in arms” couldn’t accept what they were being told, couldn’t believe the extent of the forced starvation and mass murder taking place just a few blocks away. They couldn’t image the extent of the barbarity, perhaps because it wasn’t happening to them. They were in denial.
The desperate Jews were shaken. They too couldn’t believe that they were unable to communicate the full horror of their plight and make it believable, even to people who shared some of their political goals. That realization turned into demoralization that turned to despair. They then felt guilty about fleeing and surviving while their friends and families were being killed.
They looked around at the normality and apparent indifference of carefree Warsaw, and decided to go back, back to their fate...