Thursday, August 14, 2008

RIP James Hoyt




James Hoyt, one of the first Americans to witness the brutality of Buchenwald, a concentration camp my grandfather did time in, died Monday in his rural home in Iowa. Hoyt, who told his story to author Stephen Bloom for an upcoming book called "The Oxford Project" stumbled onto the camp and as a result still suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder until the day he died. He was a good man and a quiet hero.

I only found one other original article that mentioned Hoyt. All the rest were just quotes or reposts of the CNN article...Reuters and the AP didn't even bother to cover it.

Here's the thing...check out both articles.

Did you read them? If so, read them again. Count how many times the word "Jew" or "Jewish" appears.

I'll give you a hint...it's less than one. In a story about a guy who liberated a concentration camp full of starving, beaten and tortured Jews.

RIP Private Hoyt. It's a shame, but this world is running out of people like you.

1 comment:

TovahL said...

"RIP Private Hoyt. It's a shame, but this world is running out of people like you."

I read this entry shortly after it was posted but the quoted line has bothered me for a while. The world is not running out of people like him. There are people everywhere doing extraordinary things for others just because it is the right thing to do. People, aid workers, volunteers put themselves in harm's way daily to serve and save others. If you are not one who helps, if you do not know or perhaps recognize these people around you, then I feel sorry for you.