60 thoughts on “Every Hour is Grace”

  2. pretty awesome,

    i thought it was against judaism to modify your body, i maybe completly wrong but hey, nice tattoo, pretty deep im sure!

  8. @5
    anti-semitism isn’t only limited to Nazis. branding yourself as a Jew in the current day is a bold move — especially if you can pass for White.

  11. @chris: That`s the entrance of the Auschwitz II concentration camp, not Dachau. (proof). And the star above is depicting the so-called “Judenstern” ‘badge of shame’ the Nazis made all Jews wear visibly from 1939 onwards.
    I really would have liked a background story with this one, too.

  12. Anyone know where the owner of the tattoo comes from ?
    ’cause in my eyes it looks like it says Jude and that’s the swedish word for Jew.

    But yeah, that tattoo is really a smack to the head ( possitive thinking ) were it makes you think.
    Would love to her the story behind it 🙂

  14. That is the most amazing tattoo ever – it’s confronting the history of the culture and the wearer seems willing (durr) to except the fact that something as horrible as the Holocaust happened to over 11 million people in total: however, it does somewhat disturb me when people say only 6 million people were targetted…. no one nowadays seems to remember the other five million… but whatever, my little aside has nothing to do with this tattoo….

    It’s beauiful; I like how the barbed wire goes around the star and not through – sort of artistic.

    EXTREMELY clever number 6 😀

  15. I don’t really like how the holocaust is only limited to a ‘Jewish disaster’ I mean, gay people were the largest number of people admitted to concentration camps and rate of mortality other then jews including black, disabled people, prisoners of war and many other, which you’ve also got to understand there are a very smaller number of gay people alive today compared to other minorities so any number of prejudice means alot.. Granted the Jewish held a FAR greater number of deaths the homosexuals received far worse treatment both from guards and prisoners alike. many gay men would often rip off the star of David sewn on the costume of Jews and sew it over their pink triangle (symbolizing a gay inmate) because the treatment was so horrible.
    The worst of it yet is that we only received an official apology from the German government in 2002!
    I do plan on getting a similar tattoo as a memorial for my people who have died in the holocaust, I find this piece extremely moving and I enjoy it alot!

  18. i dont like the star with the rest just dosnt seem to fit in that link wqas boring who cares what next modded blacks,moded chinese,moded protestestans or just tattooed and modded people…i would have liked to see an oven or maybe a smoke stack but the tracks are nice 2 each thier own

  21. wow! that is one intense tattoo.
    as an israeli and a jew i wouldnt do it,it takes a lot of balls to have it done,in my opinion anyway.
    i just hope it wont cause any problams in the future.

  22. “Anyone know where the owner of the tattoo comes from ?
    ’cause in my eyes it looks like it says Jude and that’s the swedish word for Jew”

    Jude = German for Jew

  24. Sean Dornan – I agree with you! Another interesting fact: if you were to add up the total population vs the percentage of the population murdered, more Roma were killed than the Jewish people… granted, the population of Jews was obviously greater than that of the Roma – but the entire population of Roma was almost completely wiped out… I believe the correct figure was 100 Roma left after the Holocaust.

    As (yet another) aside, and I’m not saying this to seem racist, or anti-semetic or whatever, but why are Jews today seen as a complete race? I thought Jews were just people practicing a religion?

    Meh – I’m sure the consensus is that this is a bitchen tattoo!

  29. what? for tax purposes? you would have liked to see an oven or a smokestack? oh, clearly bradley is just a complete racist or an idiot posting offensive things all over modblog because he has an incredibly uneducated sense of humor. oh, yes bradley, it’s me, the pathetic dumb black girl who just can’t stop cryin from the earlier post. you are a complete tool.

    on to the post, looks like he got the star first and added the rest later, I wonder if he had the whole thing planned out when he started. It’s a pretty brave tattoo, not just because people will see it and jump to conclusions and judgements, or because it gives people like bradley an excuse to say something bigoted to your face or online, but because he is wearing history on his skin, trying to make something negative a source of strength, or expressing anger or defiance, who knows how he percieves it or why he got it, it is just brave. And I really like how the clouds were done. yay for non-puffball clouds!

  30. i have had plans for a holocaust tattoo for a long time. I really like this one. I think its really important to keep this history alive. My mom was born and raised in Bavaria, so all of my moms family is still there. My oma was in the Hitler Youth. Every time I go to visit my family I go to a different camp. My plan is to find someone still living that survived the camps, interview them and add their number to the design.

  31. #29 ur just stupid …but do u look good if so send me a naked picture and maybe we can hook up when my mom goes to work ….
    #27 it tax code 5368p9 it gives tax credit to jews…read it its a fact the jews run the world from 31 favors to the movie theatrres next thung u know there will be a tax on dounuts….
    what does this tattoo have to do with being brave??? its a remembrence
    besides all that what about the hidden meaning beacuse if u look at the star in a mirror and ur dyslixic i think it really spell out jude….

  32. Aside from the fact that this can be easily taken as a “i am proud to be a *insert religion or citizenship here*”-pride-tattoo, which i am usually opposed to because… how can someone be proud of being black or white or whatever… it’s not like they did something for it.

    But back to the tattoo, as far as I have heard it’s pretty ballsy to get tattooed in Israel because it’s still a social stigmata – which I can understand from two points – first that one might interpret the Thora so that it forbids it (like you can say christians aren’t allowed to get tattooed, too), secondly, and that really gives this tattoo impact – that the people in concentration camps had their “serial number” tattooed on them for easier “processing”, which by the way would be ironic if it wasn’t so sad, because orthodox religious groups believe that the devil marks people on their way to hell, and certainly, concentration camps were hell, just that the “inmates” didn’t deserve it.

    So after all, he will have to endure oppression, even if he himself wasn’t alive back then – but now, he will be oppressed by orthodox jews, because of that tattoo. A tattoo that reminds of the sufferings of the Jews under a horrible regime that tattooed and signed the Jews with the yellow Star so that they can be oppressed more easily. That makes it freakishly ironic. And all the more controversial. Which is, aside from the “pride”-thing, why this tattoo rocks on many different levels. As a reminder of the past and of the present.
    As a reminder that labeling people against their will is wrong, but if someone wants to label himself, it’s his choice. As a reminder that only tolerance will bring us freedom, and that false pride will will destroy us and others. As a reminder that we all have to fight together, not against each other.
    Good night.

  33. yeah whatever what about today’s holocuast i dont really see tomany jews doing anything about it so thet learned not that much then…

  34. wow, I think its beautiful and profound. As a Jew, I can really understand the message behind the star being tattooed- even though tattoos are seen as so taboo within the Jewish community, especially regarding the Holocaust. I actually recognized the bottom tattoo as the entrance to Auschwitz right away.

    to Brittney- Judaism is a religion, but it is also a cultural group with a bloodline that can be traced back thousands of years. We also, unfortunately, have genetic diseases specific to Jews, such as tay sachs disease.

  35. day, I disagree with you when you say you oppose getting ‘pride’ tattoos because people don’t do anything for their communities, as I’m sure many people actually do I know i am VERY actively involved in the gay community here in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I volunteer my free time at the youth project where I help homeless LGBT youth to get food and shelter, and I am also on a committee for the Halifax regional municipality to make sure that our specific needs are met.
    as well as I’m sure that MANY people are actively involved as well in their own minority groups. the reason people get pride tattoo’s (mostly) is because we have been oppressed or still currently are and it’s to show other people and ourselves that we won’t stand for it. we are this way and we are not cannot change. we are truly proud to be who we are.
    also getting the tattoo itself is a form of giving back to the communities, building strength and courage. and letting people know it’s alright to be who you are.

    so yeah.

  37. Wow. What a powerful tattoo. I’m also curious to hear the wearer’s reasons and thoughts about it.

    Just to clarfy – the entrance appears to be the one at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

    I was there 2 weeks ago so seeing this tattoo feels particularly poignant.

  38. 32 u fuckin being a cock smoker has nuthin to do with this thread unless may be it does i just dont care good 4 u
    i really like the swastika

  40. … but what does the tattoo say? what is its message? I would love to read the story behind it.

  41. Does BME recieve many tattoo submission from minority groups or otherwise persecuted groups featuring a particularly horrific aspect of the past?

    I would love to see an editorial on such tattoos and the motivations for getting them if that was the case.

    And lol, Bradly… I didn’t actually think Holocaust deniers dared come out into the open anymore after Germany openly apologised for the massacres of many of their minority groups – Roma, Jewish, blacks, gays, etc. Not at all to denigrate the horrific suffering of the Jewish, but I do wonder that their suffering has been perhaps more publicised than that of the Roma? Who still suffer terribly in Europe in terms of being placed in “Special” schools intended for the mentally challenged if not in Roma-specific schools?

  43. @Sean / 35: Being there for your minority and helping your community of course is something to be proud of, but I still don’t like group-pride-like tattoos because it suggests you deem your social, political or even sports fan group to be better than others. And I don’t say that it’s wrong to get them. Just I personally wouldn’t because I think it’s offending in a way.
    If people should all be equal and should be treated as such, it’s contraproductive if someone says “I’m proud of beeing this and that”, because being in that group doesn’t make you any better than other people so why should you be proud of it? Aside from the fact that “I’m proud to be different from you” isn’t quite the most tolerant expression (which is the offending part I mentioned earlier).
    Still, to everybody his own. Just my personal opinions.

    @38: I really like ice cream.

    —
    So yeah, I think I’ll get a “I’m proud I’m not bradly”-tattoo…

  45. day/42- It’s not about putting one group over another, but it’s on your body. and it’s about what has affected you in your lifetime. and what you deem is important enough to put on your skin forever as a constant vigil.
    and being proud in something dosn’t mean you oppose equality. it simply means you have faced hardship in your life or the life of your ancestors and you overcame adversity.
    being proud isn’t a negative. and I hope you are proud in yourself as well, in all of your good points and bad points.
    we are truly equal in our differences.

  46. Anyone who speaks German want to tell me what #6 says? All the “Very clever” and “extremely clever” comments on it has made me a wee bit curious.

  47. Matt – he says Tattoes free you. In the concentration camps were signs that said “arbeit macht frei” – work frees you.

  48. just one question: why?

    pride?
    feeling well in the role of a victim?

    I’d wish this whole jews/germany story would finally come to an end.
    but: nice tattoo for sure

  49. Matt, it is a rephrasing of “Arbeit macht frei” (meaning “work brings freedom”), which was a slogan put on the entrances of many Concentration and Work Camps.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbeit_macht_frei

    Tätowierung Macht Frei is grammatically incorrect and means literally “Tattoo brings freedom”.
    I don’t know if he wanted to say “Tattooing brings freedom” (Tätowieren macht frei) or “Tattoos bring freedom” (Tätowierungen machen frei)

    —
    Sean, well, I somewhat agree with you, but I personally wouldn’t get a tattoo depicting I’m proud of my colour, origin or sexual orientation.
    I know that you don’t mean it that way, but how would you react to someone who has a “I’m proud I am straight” or worse “I am proud I’m not gay”-Tattoo?
    And that said – my backpiece is a geometrical design made by me that represents the struggles and the good times I had personally in my own life.
    I don’t want to say “to each his own” in this context now because that was written on the entrance on the Buchenwald Concentration Camp…

  50. I wish that non-iamers couldn’t post on modblog.

    Also, this is probably the bravest and most powerful tattoo I’ve ever seen. It really sucks that we don’t get to read the story behind it!

  51. Perhaps it’s less of “I’m proud to be a Jew” and more “I’m not ashamed to be a Jew”.
    I don’t know, but being Jewish that’s what I feel when I see this. When simply being what you were got you exterminated because you were deemed inferior.
    But there was/is no shame wearing the yellow star.

    I couldn’t wear such a powerful image, tho I do have a small David.

    I wish someone could get more info on this person and the tattoo.

  52. #49 maybe try making ur wishes on ur birthday umight havebetter luck
    #50 ur just apperntly dumb
    watch schundlers list or m,aybe hogans heroes that shouldmhelp put things smrter

  55. #54 im just amazed at how dumb u are lol not really there r so may dummys here but what really counts is that evry1 just siplmies argreee with me

  56. This is a bold, bold tattoo…I don’t think I could ever deal with the reactions the owner will probably get for the rest of their lives, but more power to them for taking that head on.

    I went to Berlin last year for vacation and decided I should take a trip to a concentration camp. I am not Jewish but I felt it was an important (albeit grim) part of world history that I should witness while I could. I went to Saschenhausen and it was hands down the worst, most terrible place I had ever been. I don’t know if it was a mental thing, just knowing the horror that went on there or what, but it was insanely depressing, physically draining and haunted me for a long time afterwards. So to have a tattoo of such a place – I can’t imagine. So I think it’s interesting that the owner of this tattoo chose the theme – a sad but constant reminder of a past that cannot be undone but hopefully can be learned from.

  57. This sent chills down my back when I first saw it… an extremely powerful representation of life!

  59. As a granddaughter of someone who went through the haulocaust and somehow made it through, I really think this tattoo is amazing and quite powerful. The stories I’ve heard from my father are absolutely horrible and the time my grandmother spent in the camp really messed her up. I don’t know if I could ever get something like this done… although I am proud of my grandmum for making it through and love her dearly.

    And I guess the tattoo taboo in Israel would explain why my dad still can’t get used to all my mods.

  60. the tattoo obviously has a certain significance to the wearer – and i believe it symbolises the memory of those who lost their lives in the camps are not forgotten – the tattoo is in fact the gates of auschwitz with the train lines which run into the distance – i visited the memorial site a couple of years ago whilst visiting relatives in Krakow – a very moving experience and one i will never forget – my dad an engineer who has since passed was also at the Nuremberg trials. in all a fitting tattoo in memory of so many people – may they never be forgotten.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *