Innocence by Thamara Diogo

The word innocence can be defined in multiple ways. One may say that innocence means purity or righteousness. But I believe that innocence can be interpreted in more ways than one. When analyzing what innocence means, I believe it is important to apply its meaning to children. What struck me the most today was learning about how children were mistreated and killed at Auschwitz concentration camp.

Clothes and shoes belonging to babies that died in Auschwitz.

Photo drawn by a child at Auschwitz.

Before coming on this trip to Poland to further analyze the Holocaust I was afraid of many things. I was afraid of not being able to handle seeing the concentration camp and I was afraid of living in a place that was previously occupied by the Nazi's and the Third Reich. My first impressions here in Oswieçim was very diverse. I love how the country is built on low lands and has many colorful houses with huge land properties. On the other hand, this town is centered on so much darkness and sad history that you can't help but feel upset.

The absolute hardest part about today was seeing pictures of the many children who suffered and died in Auschwitz. As I previously mentioned, children are the most innocent human beings in the world and to have them killed simply because they were Jewish is immoral and most importantly inhuman. In one picture I saw a baby who was skinny to the bone and a doctor who was cutting him open to experiment on him. This was definitely one of the saddest and most sorrowful moments here. Its disturbing to think about how many doctors were brought into Auschwitz to experiment on young children and babies. On another occasion, it was reported that a woman who was a Russian- Jew gave birth in the concentration camp and had her baby taken to have tests done on him. The doctor ran tests on the babies eyes and put chemicals in them, and as a result he died three days later. It is hard to understand the Nazi ideology behind all this cruelty.

Father Manfred has been giving us many substantial, knowledgeable and specific information on the Holocaust and the different perspectives of different groups such as bystanders, victims and perpetrators. Today he analyzed briefly for us the Nazi ideology behind their cruelty. The exact words of Father Manfred were, " the Nazi's thought they were performing the will of God". He further proceeded to speak to us about the conscious of these men that fought in the SS. Father Manfred expressed that as individuals he does not know if the men had a conscious but as a group they had none. I believe that this is an issue that will always be a question to the world.

I am trying to understand how these SS officers could have tortured those pure and innocent children and taken life away from them at such a young age. Again, I will never understand the Nazi ideology and I don't think no one ever will. I believe that its important to understand Carol Mata's quote that states, “We are alive. We are human, with good and bad in us. That's all we know for sure. We can't create a new species or a new world. That's been done. Now we have to live within those boundaries . What are our choices? We can despair and curse, and change nothing. We can choose evil like our enemies have done and create a world based on hate. Or we can try to make things better" (Mata).