This occurred in Slovakia, and the perpetrators were Slovaks. Last year I spoke with Holocaust survivors in the Czech Republic. They all agreed that the start of anti-semitism in the Czech lands occurred before the Nazi occupation. Following the end of the war, upon their return home from concentration camps, the surviving Jews were confronted with the hatred of those who had confiscated their property. Not only their descendants, but they themselves are living among us today.
Survivors become witnesses.
Their testimonies are gathered, published and stored in archives as a warning for future generations. Nevertheless, their suffering can never be adequately described. During her life, my mother never found the courage to tell her children what it was like to be in a concentration camp. This experience is shared by almost all concentration camp survivors. First, despite the difficulty in communicating the level of atrocities, the circumstances leading to their escalation are communicable.