Former Chelsea Manager Takes England squad to Auschwitz

[Astarté]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...Auschwitz.html

[Papa Luigi]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...Auschwitz.html

It appears we have had a whole lot of scare mongering about the alleged racism of the Eastern European football fans; then we had the Jewish contibutors to those original scare mongering programmes bleating about having been misrepresented by the BBC; then we had a wave of opprobrium directed at the German football team because most of them would probably prefer to experience colonic irrigation than attend a photo opportunity at Auschwitz; and now we have the England football team parading around the camp, and dutifully claiming to have been shocked by what they learned. Oy veh!

How anyone can go to Auschwitz and be so ignorant of what they are going to see that they emerge 'shocked', is a mystery to me - they must have spent the whole their lives wearing a blindfold and a walkman with the sound turned up so loud they can't hear anything - but apparently several England footballers were 'shocked'. Perhaps, one day, they will learn about other little known phenomena such as the credit crunch, the Euro-crisis, and the alien invasion of their homeland?

Without doubt however, the progression of the not-so-subtly linked stories outlined above has been a stage managed affair with the intention of providing the pretext for this years first big dose of Holocaust rememberance - as if we could ever forget!

[Mike]

The Telegraph removed comments about the story.

[Papa Luigi]

The Telegraph removed comments about the story.

There must have been some 'naughty' comments. How dare these people think for themselves!

[Robert Edwards]

Auschwitz ... the Holocaust ... a case of overdone and overexposed. The result will be apathy, disinterest and indifference. I hope.

There are things going on today that are more worthy of attention.

[Tillerman]

Were any of these visiting footballers crammed into a cattle car at gunpoint and forced to go?

Absent contrary evidence, I have to assume going on the Auschwitz tour and the visit to Schindler's factory was a voluntary thing, something left up to the individual.

[Robert Edwards]

Were any of these visiting footballers crammed into a cattle car at gunpoint and forced to go? Absent contrary evidence, I have to assume going on the Auschwitz tour and the visit to Schindler's factory was a voluntary thing, something left up to the individual.

No way is it purely "voluntary". Can you imagine the damning stigma attached to any of them showing complete indifference to this relic of the Second World War? It is not some hallowed shrine but a reconstructed museum. I would prefer a tour around the Victoria and Albert Museum in Kensington. Far more educational and enlightening.

[Bevois]

Lets hope there is a Phil Tufnell type amongst the squad. Tufnell came up with the memorable line after a cricket tour of India 'Done the elephants, done the poverty'.

[Road_Hog]

Absent contrary evidence, I have to assume going on the Auschwitz tour and the visit to Schindler's factory was a voluntary thing, something left up to the individual.

You assume incorrectly. It was not voluntary. It was about as voluntary as working for a company, where your boss says, I need you to work Sunday (you don't work weekends), you can of course refuse, but then you will not get any more promotions, your pay rises will be stagnant and then you will be micro managed out of the company.

But technically you are correct, they do have a choice, but the reality is, that it isn't really a choice.

[Tillerman]

No way is it purely "voluntary".

Your evidence for this assertion is, what exactly?

Can you imagine the damning stigma attached to any of them showing complete indifference to this relic of the Second World War?

Are you claiming that the entire team took the tour?

It is not some hallowed shrine but a reconstructed museum.

Any place where more than a million innocent human beings were murdered for nothing more than their ethnicity may indeed be marketed as a museum, but it would also qualify as a hallowed shrine to all those possessed of a shred of simple humanity. Evidently, to hardcore anti-Semites, such as yourself, it would simply be an unpleasant reminder of a dream unfulfilled.