Alternative Facts at the Novaky Labor Camp

February 11, 1945 is my father’s and uncles' liberation day. Russian soldiers freed Jews from Bunzlau concentration camp.

I can’t find any photo of the camp; but from photo archives in The Holocaust Museum, I’ve copied this incongruous photo of the Menzer family. The archive caption: “Record Type: Photograph/ Photograph #: 24584/ Caption: Prisoners put on a musical performance at the Novaky labor camp.

It’s a stunning propaganda show. The Menzers appear to be well fed—and happy. And remarkably, they are performing in black face. I doubt it was their idea. Labor camps weren't known for artistic license.

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Here is how the library records the family history (note the mention of Bunzlau, where my Dad was a prisoner): “On January 9, 1945 Eduard Menzer was executed in Kremnica together with 747 people, 400 of which were Jews. At the end of March 1945 the Soviet Army liberated the area. Alfred Menzer, who was deported to Auschwitz and transferred to many camps in Germany, was liberated from Bunzlau. After the liberation the Menzer family reunited in Nitra and eventually moved to Palestine.”

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The picture is great material for modern-day “denialists,”—and it (or similar images) probably had propaganda value in dissuading people in the U.S. that Nazis were perpetrating atrocities.

History doesn’t lie; but despots do. Here’s hoping that February 11, 2017 marks an end to “alternative facts.” It’s not too late for our president and his press secretaries to start telling the truth.