Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Honoring the Dead: Then and Now

Grave Markers at Jewish Cemetery
Photo by Kristie Botti
During our first few hours in Poland, we had the opportunity to visit the Jewish Cemetery in Oświęcim. After receiving a tour with the most intelligent Sister Mary of the Center for Prayer and Dialogue, our group discovered that many Jewish landmarks of Oświęcim were destroyed during the Nazi reign. One of these landmarks was the Jewish Cemetery in the center of the town. Sister Mary unlocked the gate for our group and we hesitantly wandered inside the gates. This was one of the first major landmarks in Poland that we visited, and anti-Semitism was immediately visible in the dilapidated cemetery. We were informed that after the war, this cemetery was destroyed, and the grave markers were thrown about the plots of land, cracking in the process. As I walked into this cemetery on the first day, I internalized all of the eeriness of nature that was before me. Sister Mary informed us that this cemetery has many unidentified graves, and because of the Holocaust, there is no one alive to take care of them. Only volunteers have been dedicating their time to help beautify the cemetery after a big movement for repair was initialized.

The results of the repaired cemetery are profound. Grave markers are aligned in an orderly fashion within the fenced area. They stand erect as a symbol of strength. It is a fitting symbol in the environment that we have experienced at Auschwitz, giving me the first sense of the strength of the Jewish people here in Poland. It represents the courage and strength that the Jewish population had during this time period in battling adversity and overcoming hardships through restoration.

It seemed symbolic that each erected tombstone was marked with a painted number, like the tattoo numbers on the skin of Jewish prisoners inside concentrations camps. Even in death, each of these people was just a number. Still, these nameless graves were honored with the Jewish custom of placing stones at the site of death, honoring those who lost their lives during the Nazi reign. These were present in various areas in the cemetery that we observed.

Mass Grave Memorial Site at Auschwitz-Birkenau
Photo by Marina Falisi
After visiting the cemetery, I had a similar experience when we took part in a memorial service in Auschwitz-Birkenau at the site of a field that serves as a mass grave. It was here that we were able to honor the lives of those whose bodies and ashes lie beneath the surface of the field. There are no grave markers and no numbers, only a memorial that reads, in several different languages, “To the men, women, and children who fell victim to the Nazi genocide. Here lie their ashes.  May their souls rest in peace.”

It was here that we were able to recite the El Malei Rahamim. Together we prayed, “Exalted compassionate God, grant perfect peace in Your sheltering Presence, among the holy and pure, to the souls of all our brethren, me, women, and children of the House of Israel who were slaughtered and suffocated and burnt to ashes. May their memory endure, inspiring truth and loyalty in our lives. May their souls thus be bound up in the bond of life. May they rest in peace. And let us say: Amen.” Upon the finishing of our prayer service, each Iona student placed a rock on the surface of the memorial markers that are positioned before the mass grave. This was a powerful image displaying the change of attitude towards Jewish resting places.

The graves in both the Jewish cemetery and at Birkenau were unmarked and the result of cruel Nazi rulers. However, even with all the destruction in Birkenau, after all this time, the Jewish people that are buried in the field are resting without a number, with the respect and compassion shown by the visitors of the site.

0 comments:

Post a Comment