Never Again

It has been slightly over a month since we arrived back home from Poland. Since I’ve been back I have had many people contact me saying what a wonder experience it must have been. It was definitely an experience, but perhaps, wonderful is not the right word. We learned so much about how important words are and what they really mean; how a word or a phrase could change history. The phrase I would use is a once in a life time experience, or many a life changing experiences. Since I have been home I feel as though I think about the trip at least once a day and it is not only in relation to antisemitism or Jews, but I use it as a way to think about other daily activities. As our guest speaker Dr. Annamaria Orla-Bukowska said, you can use the Shoah as a lens to look at the rest of the world regardless of the topic. I cannot say how meaningful this trip was. I believe everyone should learn about the Holocaust in a similar way to how we did with great depth. While going through 13 years of school before college, it was barley taught in high school: it was treated as a very brief history lesson which is wrong. The teaching of the Shoah is an ongoing lesson, a lesson many individuals still need to learn.

It is said that the reason we learn about topics like this is so that they never happen again. Yet we also learned there have been 7 genocides since the Holocaust, none with nearly as many victims which is why it is not widely covered. We also learned that since the Holocaust, the United Nations decided that if we label something a genocide that means we must act without question. This shows that not only do the people not learn, but neither do the nations. A common phrase you hear after the Holocaust is “Never Again,” but we as students of Jewish Christian Relations and the Holocaust have to ensure “Never Again.” It is our duty after taking in all the facts and after a full semester concentrating deeply into the matter that we be activists. It does not take much; it can begin as just confronting people who spew hate. In order to move forward we need to help all move forward. There are some people in this world who are just hateful, and regardless of any facts you give or any time you tell them not to say something, they will just say it more but it is important to try. We now know what one man’s hate can cause. The flag of the prisoners of Auschwitz still flies every day. While 10 million died, Hitler still lost. If people learn the holocaust perhaps the next hatful person will lose without ever taking a life. It is ignorant to believe we can stop all hate, but it is not unrealistic to believe we can stop another atrocity. Everyone must act when in the face of hate.

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16670

Religion in Auschwitz is a topic I never thought about before coming to Poland. I always figured the victims were always more concerned with getting from one day to the next rather than if they would be able to practice their religion. However, its important to be able to practice because any detail you can do to maybe make the experience even a little less painful is very important, and practicing religion could be one of those things. The main victim was of course the Jews. 6 million is a number we should all be familiar with. However, what we don’t hear about often is the Christians that were also prisoners in the camp. One of the most famous is Maximilian Kolbe. He is a Polish Christian Monk who was imprisoned as Polish Intelligencia his Prisoner number was 16670. One day while he was in Auschwitz a prisoner escaped, when Prisoners escape there is collective responsibilities in the camp and 10 people are chosen to die at random for each escaped prisoner. When the ten people were chosen to die one man in the line up yelled out about his wife and child. this is when Maximillian Kolbe decided to step forward and offer his life for the man with the family. The Nazi guards accepted the exchange and chose Kolbe. The death would be by starvation in a starvation cell. The in mates would be placed in the cell for 2 weeks with no food or water. the other 9 men perished, Maximilian lived. When the Nazis entered and Kolbe was still alive they lethally injected him and he died immediately. He is remembered for his extraordinary acts that day and was Beatified on October 17th 1971 by Pope Paul VI. His nick name is the Saint of Auschwitz. This story was told in Auschwitz by our first guide but also in a special lecture that took place in a renovated Barrack in Auschwitz. The lecture was titles Clergy in Auschwitz and explained not only the incredible story of Maximilian Kolbe but also other information about the practice of religion in Auschwitz. It is said that only 6 mass services took place in 5 years at the camp because it was so dangerous if the prisoners were caught. There was also 464 Priests and 35 nuns 70% of which died. 3 Popes have visited Auschwitz since the museum has opened, the first was Pope John Paul II who had visited many times before as a bishop, the second is Pope benedict XVI, and the third is Pope Francis. Each of them left a memorial for inmate 16670 Saint Maximillian Kolbe in the cell in which he starved for two weeks. The lecture on Clergy in Auschwitz was very important because it was on a topic that is very important which I had never thought about previously. The ongoing participation of religion inside the walls of evil is an important lesson. It also was good to help realize that while of course the Jews suffered far grater losses there were also other victims within the walls of Auschwitz.

Picture description: a drawing done by Holocaust survivor Marian Kolodziej Inmate number 432. Who drew many pictures of Maximillian Kolbe. Kolodziej survived the entirety of the holocaust and has an art exhibition in the basement of a monastery in Harmeze.

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Dehumanization

Nazi Cattle car used to transport holocaust victims from all over Europe.

As the days go on in Poland, the class has visited Auschwitz I three times and Auschwitz II Birkenau once. Throughout these experiences the most prominent thing for me as been the dehumanization of all prisoners of these two camps. My first realization of this dehumanization was my first time seeing one of the cattle cars which is placed on the tracks outside of Auschwitz II Birkenau. This vessel used for transporting live stock was used to transport hundreds of humans to the location their lives would end. I shortly there after realized that all these people were to the Nazis Cattle and they were going to the slaughter factory to be processes. This evil twisted ideology is what allowed this to continue for so many years. These were not cattle these were people with families and homes from which they were so far. Throughout the class we learned the dehumanization is what made killing more simple for the Nazis, but not until seeing the cattle car did the class lesion make the full connection. After walking into the Nazi Death Camp I had my second realization of dehumanization. The barracks where the prisoners stayed looked like farms, I had noticed this but I figured it was an easy design and probably the quickest way to construct so many buildings. However, while that may indeed still be the case, no longer believe that is the reason the Nazis chose this design. After walking in our guide brought out attention to metal rings twisted into the foundation of the barrack, for which I could not imagine a purpose. The rings were stable rings for tying horses down in their stalls. The barracks we were standing in were horse stables. They road in on trains meant for cattle and were living out of stables meant for animals. They were packed into one barrack with approximately 700 other inmates with nine prisoners per bed. The prisoners lived like farm animals beside rodents and lice. Further, the Nazis would shave the prisoner’s heads. For many women, their hair acts as a major part of their identity. This is exactly what the Nazi’s desired to do: steal innocent people’s identities.

The irony of all of it is the true animals were the ones not in striped pajamas, but in uniform. The animals were controlling the humans: a new breed of animal called the SS. Sitting in a class room and learning about how the Nazis treated the victims is incredibly important and I believe all should know how the Nazis dehumanized the victims of the Shoah. However, I do not know if my words here will truly allow people to understand what went on in these camps just as my professor’s words could have never made me truly understand. No one, but the survivors themselves could imagine the atrocities that took place and the way these innocent people were treated. I do hope that no human ever again will be treated even half as poorly as the victims of the Shoah were treated. Through those who immerse themselves in education regarding the Shoah and Jewish-Christian relations, perhaps we can stop history from repeating itself.

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