Auschwich Revisited

As many of you know I recently traveled to Poland as a parent chaperon for a class field trip. I had great expectations of a wonderful post to my blog when I returned. Well I posted and let's just say that the content was great...but the photos lacked shall we say SIZE. You couldn't even really tell what they were. Many of you were nice enough to read and comment but wished my photos were larger. Shall we say...I am learning every day in this wonderful land of BLOG. So...I figured it out with much anguish & turmoil and lo and behold we have some...let's say sizable photos. My son Lincoln was invited to participate on this class field trip back in early fall. He was the only 7th grader chosen. We flew to Warsaw, Poland and then onto Krakow. We traveled daily to film and capture one of the worlds most gruesome atrocities....the slaughter of millions of Jews during the Holocaust. We went to Auschwich & Auschwich II better known as Birkenau. We filmed the 65th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwich...the ceremony. We stood outside with no shelter, no food, no water & no seating for 7 hours. Did I mention that the ground was covered by 18 inches of snow and it was 7 degrees outside. Not one person complained...how could you at the sight where millions of people perished in way worse conditions. In the above photo you see many suitcases, nicely labeled, and probably filled with wonderful family heirlooms. Family treasures confiscated by the Nazis with the promise they would shortly be returned. A promise never intended or kept as the owners were probably sent straight to the gas chambers for extermination.





...and the massive quantities of shoe brushes. Let's just say that the Nazis didn't let anything go to waste....except the millions of Jewish people who died at their hand Auschwich. Imagine looking into a large window display that is say....the size of a large living room. Filled to capacity with shoe brushes. It is really hard to fathom & that is why I try to give you a comparison.






I am weeping now. Looking at the vast amount of baby shoes in this photo one can only imagine the horror that must have been present in these killing fields. Mommies separated from their babies...the horrific cries. The helpless anguish felt as the mothers realize the fate that will soon squelch the very life from them. What might these infants have become? What great things might we have received from these precious souls? I weep when think about it. These images are in my mind forever...I will never forget what I have seen...but I leave the memory at just the right place as to not cry forever.







....the toys & the wonderfully knit woolens. I can't even begin to describe the sadness I feel when I think about the lost owners of these precious pieces. One can only hope that maybe they weren't all destroyed...maybe just maybe they were taken home by one of the Nazi soldiers and given to one of their daughters....as they were innocents too. It is hard to call a Nazi child an innocent but after really talking to people you know that they too were innocents. War is atrocious. Lives lost....lives stolen.







....oh my goodness....I would be remiss if I didn't mention the hair. Seeing a large window display utterly filled to the rim with tons of hair. Hair bagged like a crop of cotton...used in much the same way except taken not from a living plant...but from a lifeless human. The images...many too horrific to show or to comment on are imprinted in my brain....the suffering of the millions of Jews imprinted in my heart. May you all rest in peace and may your lives lost be a constant reminder that we must all fight for life....we must all fight for peace...Tikkun Olam.