Radnóti (in Hungarian)

 
A Bori környék (Szerbia) rézbányái stratégiai jelentőségűek voltak a német hadiipar számára. Magyarországról több ezer zsidó munkaszolgálatost vezényeltek ide, ahol a Todt-szervezet irányítása alatt dolgoztatták őket. Köztük volt Radnóti Miklós is.

(My father and two uncles went through the same Bor mines forced labour camp).

Radnóti 1944 májusában került harmadszor munkaszolgálatra, majd Bor környékére vitték. Fizikailag egyre rosszabb állapotban is tovább írt. Verseinek egy részét egy kis noteszbe jegyezte fel.

Ezt ismerjük ma Bori notesz néven, a magyar irodalom egyik legmegrázóbb tárgyi emlékeként. Nem utólagos költői rekonstrukció, hanem a pusztulás közvetlen közelében született dokumentum.

Amikor 1944 őszén, a Vörös Hadsereg közeledése miatt megkezdték Bor kiürítését, Radnótit és társait gyalogmenetben indították Magyarország felé. Heteken át hajtották a legyengült embereket.

Radnóti végül már járni is alig tudott. 1944 novemberének elején, Győr közelében, Abda határában őt és több végsőkig kimerült társát agyonlőtték, majd tömegsírba temették. Holttestét 1946-ban exhumálták. Ruhájának zsebéből került elő a Bori notesz.

Radnóti nem egy névtelen áldozat volt, akinek csak később próbálták rekonstruálni az utolsó hónapjait. Írásban hagyta ránk saját eltűnésének, ill. eltüntetésének történetét. Verseiben ott van Bor, az éhség, a menet, a félelem, az összeomló Európa és a felismerés, hogy számára talán már nincs hazatérés.

Asians Never Go Crazy

Arthur Koestler wrote about Zen and the Faquir,  travelling to Japan and India to study these famous Oriental techniques. He came back disappointed; the Indians were cheating, and Zen archery missed the mark; it was no more than a relaxing method. In Japan, he discovered that people suffered from paralyzing stress, and he even visited madhouses to study the phenomenon. Japanese crazy people are never violent; their madness is different. I spent time in China and found the Chinese uniformly normal and rational, not like my neurotic Jewish folk. Yet, Chinese and Japanese also suffer from mental issues. BBC writes: 

 The Chinese government has recognised the need for mental health support for teens. Those plans include counselling rooms in every school, psychiatric services in at least one hospital in every county and more mental health professionals. The aim is to build a nationwide system of psychological support and crisis intervention by 2030.

According to the State Council, 92% of primary schools and 95% of junior middle schools now have a counsellor. Many major cities, including Beijing, have started to incorporate mental health into the curriculum.

Pic. Exam somewhere in China. I learn something new every day. 

Why Yes to the Burka

Eating disorders (anorexia) are a growing plague in the world. The numbers are appalling. Even in China, there are some 20 million boys and girls affected by this mental disease. We have it in our family! I looked up where it is more prevalent, and Australia appears to be the most affected country. Modernity, wealth, and the cult of the body are the main factors. In Afghanistan, it is unknown. Why? Poverty and famine could be one reason, but so could the strict prohibition of female skin exposure. The burka hides the female figure (pic), so girls are less troubled by a little bit of fat. 

Claude says that about 10% of Israeli adolescents suffer from eating disorders, and about 20% of affected girls die of the illness (this is a professional's verbal statement, not a published statistic). 9% of the US population, or 31 million, will have an eating disorder in their lifetime. Up to 23% of individuals with BED had attempted suicide, and virtually all (94%) reported lifetime mental health symptoms: 70% mood disorders, 68% substance use disorders, 59% anxiety disorders, 49% borderline personality disorder, and 32% posttraumatic stress disorder. 

In my opinion, there are important reasons to adopt the burka, but all over Europe it is forbidden. The burka helps women's mental health and self-assurance. It defends them from male harassment in public spaces. And of course, it protects against the sun much more efficiently than those zinc creams. It is most necessary in Australia, where melanoma is very prevalent.  

AI Woman

 

We are powerless against AI. In ten more years, it will be more intelligent than us, and we shall be unable to understand it. The perfect relationship will be with an automaton. 

Severe High Temperature Warning

 
It is very hot in Kfar Saba, on Trailblazer  Street 开路人. I cannot work. Wifey opposes air conditioning because her feet are cold. I feel tired. Pic. Sledding dogs in the Arctic.

Hungarian Jews under Nazi Occupation

The Jewish Community of Budapest Social Committee: Jewish Brothers, in these serious times, Be Unseen and Unheard! 

A very wrong policy. But no one can judge them because they were living under a death sentence, and Eichmann was zealously organizing their deportation to the Auschwitz death camp.

Kaifeng Jews 25 years later

When I worked in Kaifeng, I toured the Jewish Street and also had dinner with a Jewish family in their modest restaurant. The woman told me that they gave gold to Jewish refugees, which I interpreted as she expected me to give her money. I had the impression - like others visiting the city - that there were no bona fide Jews but impostors trying to milk rich foreigners. When the factory tried to connect me with a "Jewish" employee, it soon became clear that she was a Hui, that is, a local Chinese Muslim. Wikipedia has a more complete history, and it mentions that the Kaifeng Jews did in fact give gold to Russian Jewish refugees. So my impression may have been totally wrong; sorry, but the past cannot be repaired. It may even be true that the factory woman was a Jewish descendant. 

The Communist control and terror drove the few Jewish clans underground, or to melt into the Hui community. According to today's Tablet, the Central Government has focused on them, and they are under close police supervision, which could lead to the revival of some kind of community. I don't think that being a Jew is a privilege (on the contrary, we are persecuted everywhere), and I am not a missionary. The commercial picture above is a famous bridge that I visited. In the photo, it looks romantic, but I found it unremarkable. In general, Kaifeng was grey, built in the Soviet style, poor and joyless. Of course, that was 25 years ago, and China is very different now.