Vrba and his friend were held prisoner in the dreaded German concentration camp, but managed to escape and walk for10 days in their emaciated state to the Hungarian border. On meeting the first group of Jewish officials in Hungary and having related horrifying eyewitness accounts of what was happening in Auschwitz, Vrba quickly realised that they did not believe him.
He then documented in writing all that he and his friend had seen and gave it to the Chairman of the Hebrew Council. This man read the document and quickly placed it in a drawer; he was secretly negotiating with the Nazi’s.
The Chairman of the Hebrew Council never made the truth public and that decision went on to cost the lives, in horrendous circumstances, of 300,000 men, women and children.
Is this story so different from that of South Africa and Zimbabwe? How many ‘secret’ documents have ex-President Thabo Mbeki and President Jacob Zuma been keeping in their bottom drawers? And what about the report on Zimbabwe that the Mail and Guardian have fought so long and hard to have made public?
How many lives could have been saved had these two Presidents done the right thing? Only God knows but we can hazard a guess.
Robert Mugabe and his Zanu (PF) party never had any intention of keeping any promise made to the ANC leaders! The ANC have details of the atrocities, the oppression, the murders, the rigged elections, the theft and plunder of Zimbabwe. There is blood on their hands. – NM, by e-mail
Post published in: Letters to the Editor