About seven years ago, I was sitting with a family of refugees from Syria, in their first apartment in Germany. They had come from a civil war, fleeing over the Mediterraneren Sea to Greece and from there to Germany. I was helping the parents with paperwork from the government while their three beautiful little girls were sitting on the floor playing with their Barbies.

I drank a sip of tea and looked up. The three girls were deep in their play and the Barbies were speaking German. The parents couldn’t understand them, but the kids

were already in kindergarten, and four-to-six-year-old kids can learn a language very quickly.

I understood what the Barbies were saying. “Listen; is that a rocket or a grenade?“ “A rocket; run as fast as you can!” the other Barbie said. I was shocked, but that’s what traumatized children do.

Seven years later, I find myself living in rural Pennsylvania, being forced to witness war crimes on civilians in Gaza. (And yes, I agree that the Hamas attack on October 7 was a war crime too.)

But I want to focus on the children—15,000 murdered by Israel—actually by the administration of Netanyahu. Thousands of children who lost legs, arms, eyes, their

families and their innocence to a war where they didn’t fight, a war they don’t want.

Meanwhile since March, 600 children died in Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands have starved to death in Sudan, Uganda and Gaza.

All this is intentional and paid for with taxes paid by us, the public, whether in Germany or the U.S. As a German citizen, I grew up with a good education about WW2 and the Holocaust and the symptoms of two children traumatized by war—who became my parents.

I grew up hearing about Auschwitz, the war, the bunkers, the suffering, the end. I remember my dad telling me about American soldiers who gave him chocolate in 1945. I heard that a thousand times.

I also grew up with a mother who was in a bunker for two full years as a girl aged seven.

Mum didn’t have a Barbie, but a doll named Bärbel, who was lost one day when they were running to the bunker. She was never found again because of the bombs. Mum loved dolls all her life.

I admire Sophie Scholl, the German resistance leader who said “Stand up for what you're believing in even when you stand alone.” As much as I understand and am aware of the guilt of the Holocaust, I know one of the consequences is that I cannot be silent in times of oppression and war. I cannot just witness in silence when the men in power

destroy the lives of innocent people, no matter who they are or which religion they have.

Israel had been given a break because of the Holocaust… but it’s been used up a long time ago. There’s no excuse for what’s happening in Gaza or Ukraine or Sudan or Iran.

There’s too much pain and suffering in this world, and sadly it has to do with governments of countries that support these various wars and catastrophes,

whether with weapons or inactivity.

One of them is the U.S. Another one is Germany.

How many Barbies are needed to tell about the wars, the hunger, the people drowned in the Mediterranean Sea? Are there Barbies without arms, legs, eyes?

How to stop this? It’s a grown-up problem, when leaders don’t seem to be grown up, or are making money with it.

Imagine the Barbies could live a life in peace.

The Barbies could sit and drink tea together no matter the colors of their skins or their religions. Just children and Barbies having an innocent childhood.

I have to speak up, because silence in facing this is complicity.

Peace Salam Shalom

(I have drawn, linocut, and printed a limited edition poster, titled ”Silence is complicity.” I donate the incoming money to organizations helping children who are hungry or

dealing a war trauma. You can also donate a little money to Doctors without Borders, to help the children of this completely crazy world.)

Jasmine Schwenk is from Germany, and now lives in Honesdale, PA.