 |
| Sign at the entrance to Auschwitz I |
On the tour of
Auschwitz, there was a lot of information thrown onto us. Despite the horrific
conditions these victims were living under, they were able to hold onto their
hope and fight as hard as they could to survive (within limits.) There are numerous
stories of prisoners doing incredible acts for others that could have been
enough to save just one other victims life. Some victims even went as far as to
sacrifice their own lives for others, such as the case of Maximilian Kolbe. After
seeing how unsuspecting some of the victims were, it seems impossible that
they’d be able to move on from that shock and maintain hope. I say shock
because many of the earlier victims expected something else out of Auschwitz,
either through faith or simply disbelief. As shown within the Holocaust Kingdom by Alexander Donat,
if people made it back to the ghettos with information on what was happening
within the camps, many people didn’t believe them. They genuinely thought that
their lives could not be much worse outside of the ghettos, and actually wanted
out and chose to go to the camps. I learned on the tour that some people had
even paid in order to be taken to the camps. This is even more devastating when
you think about the conditions of the cattle cars they were taken in. There was
often 80 people stuffed into one of the cars, and the travel could take days
without any food, water, or a proper bathroom. I assumed that after this they’d
realize it was much worse than they had expected. This was not always the case,
survivors tell of the wave of relief they felt when leaving the cattle cars,
since they expected to receive a shower and hot meal, but they were only
greeted with the first rounds of the selection process.
Upon entering the camp,
we walked under the sign that all victims would have seen as they walked in.
Written on it is the message that “arbeit macht frei," which translates to
“work makes you free.” Of course, this wasn’t true. Work ended up being just
another way for the Nazis to kill their victims. This message of work making
you free reinforced this false hope that Auschwitz would be something other
than the death camp it was. This sense that the victims had no idea what they
were walking into was reinforced after seeing the belongings of the victims of
Auschwitz. Their luggage alone can tell you this, many had written their names,
addresses, even birthdays, they expected to get their luggage back. Some of the
Jews had even brought their prayer shawls, in hopes that they would still be
allowed There was a whole section filled with pots and pans they had brought.
Most upsetting for me was the 4,000 pairs of glasses that were taken. More
famously was the pile of 80,000 individual shoes. Some of them were colorful
and fancy, some with bows and heels. These people were genuinely unprepared.
 |
| Illustration done by Marian Kołodziej in "The Labyrinth" exhibition |
It is difficult for me
to understand how these victims were able to maintain their hope. A few days
after our first visit to Auschwitz I, we visited “The Labyrinth” exhibit done
by Marian Kołodziej. One of his major themes expressed was to hold on to his
hope and humanity, and maintain it as much as possible. One particular drawing done
by him was showing the victims immersing themselves in the disinfectant, which
can be interpreted as an inner cleansing of the horrors of Auschwitz. It was to
clean off the layers and expose the humanity within. He believed that by
holding onto his humanity, he would be able to make it out of the camps. While
that helped, he also required the help of his friends when he got terribly
sick. Another reoccurring image was the presence of Christ. For Marian and many
others, it was the belief that Christ was holding them up that allowed them to
maintain hope throughout their experience. For other victims, the belief in
Christ wasn’t enough, and they believed that God wasn’t there for them. While
we were given insight into how Marian was able to get through, it is difficult
to say what pushed everyone else through. I know that we will never be able to
even come close to what it was like to be a victim of the Holocaust, but the
victims who were able to maintain hope are truly incredible.
0 comments:
Post a Comment