Poland Day 6
Imagine Hell.
Now imagine being rescued from hell, and returning.
I can’t. I am trying very very hard, and I can’t. I am on a bus about to enter Auschwitz-Birkenau, watching my grandfather pass by the wooden-shelf bunks where he slept as a prisoner in the concentration camp for 3 years of his life, and I can’t even imagine.
Can you?
inside Auschwitz. nothing has color here.
These are infamous train tracks.
Because of the 70th Anniversary event that is here, I have been able to meet so many survivors and their families – many non-Jews, whose stories I have not been as familiar with. Each survivor’s story is unique and adds another layer to the twisted, horrible history you think couldn’t possibly get worse.
I met Alina, a Christian Pole who was working as a secretary when the SS intercepted a message she had been told to transcribe. They claimed the message was supporting the Polish Underground resistance. They sent her to Auschwitz.
I met Jacek, who was 17 when guards came to his house in Warsaw and took him away. He did not know why. To this day, he does not know why. HE DOES NOT KNOW WHY. They sent him to Auschwitz.
Each story of the Holocaust is unique in its horror. I am grateful to have heard their stories. Everyone should.
