Education and Trees

We arrived in Poland on Saturday, March 16th. Once settled in, our group received a tour of our home for the next week, The Centre for Prayer and Dialogue; a Catholic center dedicated to open and honest dialogue of people from all perspectives. The Centre was started in the hopes of fostering positive relations between groups healing from the Shoah by providing a place of comfort and respect where all are welcome.

On the tour I noticed a lot of tree imagery in the Centre, which immediately reminded me of the tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburg which was brutally attacked. It remined me of why we were here, which was bigger than learning about the history of the ground. We are here to be witnesses, to be able to educate others so this evil is never seen again. When Stan Ronell came to speak to our class about his story, I was stuck by his sense of duty. He was made it his mission to sharing his story to make others a witness. He spoke to the importance of witnessing and urged us to take action. He was adamant about the education of young people about the Holocaust so that we do not forget or become bystanders.

I kept the image of the tree in the forefront of my mind, reminding me of our purpose while trying to find other meanings. Why had the Centre chosen this imagery? It had been chosen long before the connection I made was possible. Stan’s message of education was recalled through seeing this image and made me begin to question my own education about the Holocaust. Had I been taught enough? Were we really the heroes of the war we thought we were?

On Monday, we took our first tour of Auschwitz I. As a part of the museum, there is a room with children’s drawings placed around the room. I came across this drawing of a tree and felt a deep immediate connect to it, making the whole experience sink in. The tree, to me, became a symbol of strength and resilience, which suits the Jewish community well. I have always admired the strength and resilience of the Ancient Jewish people, and now here, under the deepest torture and victimization- still strong and resilient.

After being moved by this image, I did some research to the significance of the tree in Judaism. The tree symbolizes God’s creation and many times throughout the Torah, trees are compared to people. There are many lines from scripture that make this connection, including, “For as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people” (Isaiah 65:22). Once again, instilling the strength and resilience of the Jewish people in the image of a tree, by comparing days of a tree, which could be endless to the days of the people. There is also an important holiday in Judaism surrounding the tree called Tu B’Shvat, which is the new year for the tree. This marks the occasion of trees producing sap instead of taking up water. It is a time for growth for the Jewish people, to grow stronger roots and more resilient branches (Rabbi Shraga Simmons, aish.com).

Throughout our group’s experience in the camps of Auschwitz, I came across a book entitled Hana’s Suitcase, a story of a women from Tokyo dedicated to educating children about the Holocaust. Her mission is similar to Stan Ronell’s, which is to provide education to promote tolerance, respect, compassion, and to encourage others to step up and not become a bystander; all in an effort to never allow an event like the Holocaust to happen again. Throughout her journey trying to provide educational tools for children to understand an event that happened far away from them to a population they may not have encountered before, Fumiko Ishioka tried to get an artifact that belonged to a child donated to their small museum about the Holocaust in Tokyo. The Auschwitz Museum donated some artifacts, among them a suitcase belonging to a girl named Hana Brady. While flipping through this book, I recognized a drawing. While uncovering Hana’s story, some of her drawings were discovered in in the concentration camp Theresienstadt. One of these drawings was the tree from the museum.

Hana Brady’s drawing of a tree on display in the Yah Vashem exhibit at Aushwitz I

Hana’s story has a sad ending, having spent two years at Theresienstadt and then transported in 1944 to Auschwitz where she was selected to die upon arrival. Hana had an older brother, George, who was also transported to Auschwitz, however was processed into the camp for work and survived. Ishioka was able to get in contact with George Brady, who shared stories, photos and information about Hana. George visited Japan to meet with the children that were so dedicated to teaching others about the Holocaust. They prepared poems and art for him in Hana’s honor. Their work to expand education about the Holocaust was more successful with more information about Hana. The children wrote a poem memorizing Hana which stated, “We, Small Wings, will tell every child in Japan what happened to Hana. / We, Small Wings, will never forget what happened to one-and-a-half-million Jewish children. / We children can make a difference in building peace in the world- so that the Holocaust will never happen again” (Levine, Hana’s Suitcase, pp. 106) George was overwhelmed with their work and moved by the fact that Hana’s dream of becoming a teacher had become true through her memory. Through Hana’s story, education about the Holocaust is being continued around the world, making sure that this brutality cannot happen again. This experience and connection has inspired me to a commitment to further education for myself and to the best education of children.

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How Can We Live Like Maksymilian Kolbe?

Maksymilian Maria Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan Father, committed one of the purest acts of love man can do. He sacrificed his own life, for the life of a stranger. At the end of July in 1941, the attempted escape of a prisoner prompted SS Officers to choose ten random prisoners to be locked in the starvations cells in the basement of Block 11. This was as common practice to deter any prisoners from trying to escape or to try and commit suicide. At random, Franciszek Gajowniczek was selected a cried out: “My children, my wife!” Other prisoners felt little pity for him because they too had wives and children, but Maksymilian Kolbe asked to trade places with the hysterical prisoner.

It should not have worked. Kolbe broke regulation multiple times in order to swap places. His first break of regulation was stepping out of line. His second was speaking directly to the SS Officer. Both men should have been shot on the spot, but for some reason, the SS Officer allowed for the break in regulation and gave permission for the swap.

Kolbe and the other nine prisoners were then taken to the starvation cells in the basement of Block 11. The cells were small, dark, and claustrophobic. For two weeks, Kolbe was deprived of food and water. After the two weeks, he was one of the only remaining prisoners and was killed with a phenol injection. His cause of death was ruled a heart attack on his death certificate.

A drawing of Macksymilian Kolbe, by Marian Kolodziej, a survivor from Auschwitz. He was in in the very first transport and survived all five years. 

What Maksymilian Kolbe did was an act of pure love; an act of pure agape that I believe most people may not see in their lifetime. Franciszek Gajowniczek was a total stranger to Kolbe. Kolbe had no obligation to switch places with him. While I do like to see the good in people, I do not believe that the common person would be able to sacrifice themselves for a person they had never met before. I don’t know if I could commit an act of love that great. I know if I were in that situation and one of my family members were to be picked, I would swap with them in a heartbeat. I would like to think that I could maybe switch places with some of my closest friends, but I do not think I would be able to switch places with a total and complete stranger. It could be called selfish for not wanting to give up my life for another’s or it could simply just be human. We are built with this need for self-preservation engrained in us, and that is something that is very hard to ignore.

At that moment, I believe Maksymilian Kolbe was God on Earth. He let go of every selfish reason to not switch, and he made the ultimate sacrifice. He gave his life, for another man’s. At that moment, he was an embodiment of pure love, a complete contrast with the acts of pure hate that had led to him being put in that situation. Even while being surrounded by acts of total and complete hate, Kolbe stood out as the purest act of love.

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Parallels In The Past And Present

Sign at the entrance of Auschwitz 1. It reads: "Work will make you free."

While visiting Auschwitz, I could not help but recognize the parallels, as well as the extremely harsh contrast, between visiting the memorial museum today and being deported to the camp during World War II.

To get to the camp, we walked. We walked from the very comfortable and warm Center for Dialogue, where we are fed amazing food, in our heavy winter jackets and protective footwear. Similarly, the Jewish prisoners walked to the camp as well. They were unloaded on the shipment platform a short distance away and marched to Auschwitz One. Unlike us, the prisoners did not come from a comfortable center with warm beds and warm food. Many of the prisoners came from ghettos, where starvation was already plaguing their populations. Some who had arrived in the summertime were well overdressed. They had put on as many of their clothes as possible since most of the time they were only allowed to being that they could carry. Renee Firestone, a Hungarian survivor, wore a bathing suit her father had gotten her while on a trip. She held onto this bathing suit as a reminder of her past and childhood. She was devastated when SS officers made her remove it and give it up with the rest of her belongings (Last Days Film).

Once we got to the camp we were lead to a building where we went through security, picked up our headphones, and had our tickets scanned to give us access to the camp. The new prisoners also started in the same building. In this building they were stripped of their belongings, documented, shaved, assigned a number as their identity, and then forced into camp. Irene Zisblatt, for example, went to great lengths to hold onto four diamonds that her mother had given her. In order to hide them, she would swallow the diamonds, let them pass through her, and recollect them once they were passed. She repeated this many times throughout her time in Auschwitz (Last Days Film).

Once we were “processed,” we walked into the camp on our own free will. No one was forcing us, no one was threatening us, no one wanted to kill us. We walked in with our identity, with our dignity, and with our humanity. We had the right to exercise our free will all day. If we did not want to enter a building, we did not have to. If we wanted to sit for a minute we were allowed to. If we wanted to have a conversation with our neighbor, we were allowed to.

The prisoners had no free will. Before they even got to camp, their rights were taken away by the emerging German Empire. They were forced to leave their land and belongings, and once they arrived at the camp, they lost even more. They could not decide what to wear, what to eat, where to sleep, or what their job was. They were stripped completely of their right to make decisions. They were treated more poorly than cattle.

Crematorium 1 in Auschwitz 1.

While we were at the camp. We had access to clean bathrooms with flushing toilets and clean water. The prisoners shared a communal bathroom and had no access to clean water. One young prisoner washed her face with her own urine every morning. The last harsh comparison was our ability to walk out of the gas chamber. If a prisoner was sent to the chamber, their life was over. Once they saw the inside, they were never able to speak of it. We were able to walk away. We were able to walk through, leave the camp, and walk back to the center where warm soup and hot chocolate were waiting for us.

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The Kindness When Faced With Hate

Throughout our tours of Auschwitz One and Birkenau our tour guide was telling us stories of survivors from the camps. These stories consisted of brutalities they faced at the hands of the SS officers although the ones that have stuck with me are ones of prisoners helping each other and the help they were given.

Birkenau was created to house more prisoners when Auschwitz One ran out of space. For this reason, many of the stories of kindness came from there. One story was of the building in the women’s section of the camp where they housed sick prisoners temporarily before they were sent to the gas chambers. (seen in the picture to the right) When the building was so cramped, they had the women stay out in the courtyard exposed to the elements, they were given no food or water. In the winter if there was snow other prisoners would make snowballs and through it over the wall for the sick to have some type of water. Another story from that barrack was of a female prisoner, that worked in the “Canada Houses” or the storage and sorting houses of the possessions that the prisoners brought with them. She made a friend, which was rare since the life span at the camps was an average of three months. The friend had gotten sick and was put into the barrack to wait to go to the gas chamber. The female prisoner smuggled some gold she found in the Canada houses and tried to bribe the kommando with it, although they refused and wanted a body for a body. The woman took the officer and dragged a dead body she found and exchanged it for her friend. This story really got to me because I thought about how much I treasure my friends and would want to be with them as long as I could in a hell like Auschwitz, Birkenau. That inmate as well as others who worked in the Canada houses would smuggle goods back. There were stories of a girl who wore shoes way too big for her in order to wear a second pair of shoes inside them to smuggle back to other inmates.

Smuggling was a kind gesture that saved lives inside and outside the camps. While here we went to a pharmacy in the Bohaterów ghetto in Krakow belonging to Tadeusz Pankewicz. Pankewicz was a Christian pharmacist who was told to move out but convinced the Germans that because there were going to be two hospitals in the area that it would make sense to allow him to stay to local. They agreed and Pankewicz stayed in operation giving medications to the Jewish people of the ghetto for free and allowing to use his back door for escape. Today we consider Pankewicz a righteous gentile which means, a non-Jewish person who helped save the Jews. In the book The Holocaust Kingdom, by Alexander Donat, the wife Lena Berg worked in a pharmacy which saved her. Donat recalled that to have a job kept you from being deported. Shops described in The Holocaust Kingdom and Pankewicz’s saved Jews in a multitude of ways.

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The Almost Forgotten

Growing up in the United States our education I believe was limited throughout our High School and Middle School educational careers. Growing up we learned about the camps, who was targeted, why and how it happened but we never talked about how close to success the Nazi regime was to eliminating the Jewish population. When we were in Oświęcim we visited the Jewish Community Center where we learned about the Jewish community in the town of Oświęcim. We learned of how the Nazi’s destroyed all of the synagogues except the one that had become part of the Museum we had visited. The only reason that one survived was because the Nazi’s used it as an ammunition bunker and storage. A building of religion and piece turned into a storage unit for the tools to kill the exact people who originally owned the building. With the destruction and repurposing of the synagogues the Nazi’s did the same to the Jewish graves. A cemetery in the town had been destroyed, the tomb stones knocked over and broken. Volunteers over the years along with the efforts of the Jewish Center have worked to restore the tombstones even though they know they’ll never be able to reconnect the stones with the people they represent.

The above images are of the Jewish Cemetery with the volunteer’s numbers in attempt to catalog the work.
We were informed that the tombstones were also used as paving stones for the roads. They would lie the stones down with the writing face down to further desecrate the memory of the person. The Nazi regime attempted to destroy evidence of the Jewish people ever existing, not only did they destroy the people’s past, but they repurposed their artifacts for their advantage.

When visiting Auschwitz One the other day we saw more examples of this destruction and repurposing. In my early schooling I had known that the Nazi’s had taken the clothing and valuables of the prisoners to help supply the German people back home. Although the extent of this I never knew. What really disturbed me was the fact that the SS would have the sonderkommandos, the prisoners forced to handle the dead bodies, cut the hair off the corpses of women from the gas chambers so their hair would be taken to be made into textiles. Textiles that would then be turned into mattresses, shoe lining, and coats for German soldiers. This to me was the worst possible interpretation of “reduce, reuse, recycle.” This was using the innocent victims as sheep. When I first saw the exhibit that exposed this atrocity I was immediately repulsed, I held back the instinct to scream in disgust.

In class back home we had talked how trying to wrap one’s head around six million deaths were so incomprehensible. Our professor shared a paraphrased quote from Rabbi Marc Gellman’s eulogy on September 24, 2001 for the victims of the 911 terror attack. Rabbi Gellman said six thousand (911 victim count) and six million, sounds more like scores and to instead think of it as one person dying six thousand or six million times. (For more on the eulogy the link is provided bellow.) I still couldn’t wrap my head around that concept until we saw that hair exhibit. Seeing the hair made it easier for me to see the six million. At the time of liberation, they found 300 bags of hair, equaling seven tons of hair. They had on display for a lack of a better term two tons of the hair, this in no way is close to the six million but it helped me at least put it better into perspective.

In one of our late-night group reflections, we were asked to use creativity to describe what we were seeing. An image of the 1,100,000 Jews who died in the concentration camps and the ones not counted in the one million, fading away with their symbols and culture. The Nazi’s were so close to wiping out the Jewish culture from eastern Europe.

Click here for Rabbi Marc Gellman’s Eulogy: https://eu.thenewsstar.com/story/life/faith/2016/09/16/reflections-eulogy-delivered-years-ago/90482788/

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Reflecting on Auschwitz Birkenau

Walking through the train tracks to Auschwitz Birkenau, there were so many thoughts running through my head. Thoughts of walking on the same exact path the prisoners walked to get to the death camp, where they would soon be murdered; thoughts of walking to one of the biggest graveyard sites in history. I was imagining myself sitting in the tight cramped spaces of the cattle car of the train with my belongings or possibly nothing, wondering what my fate would be. Walking down the path towards the death camp, I thought about walking it with no shoes, hardly any clothing, and possibly not having eaten a meal on this long journey. What would I do once the Cattle car stopped, and I was walking towards the camp? I can only imagine how the prisoners felt upon their arrival to the camp.

Arriving at the camp and seeing how enormous it was, was truly shocking. I thought to myself “wow this is extremely big, bigger than I had imagined it to be or what I had seen in photos.” Going up to the watch tower and looking out really put into perspective how big it was. Being in the watch tower, I thought about all of the SS officers who would sit up there and watch all of the prisoners to ensure that no one escaped. Walking through the gates of the camp I saw that the camp was exactly like what I had seen in pictures and the “Last Days Film.” Victims like Alice Lok Cahana, who walked through the camp and could identify each building and the atrocities that occurred in those buildings. One thing that I found interesting was that in the film Alice said that while they were in the latrine, they would pray on the Sabbath. They couldn’t communicate due to the language barriers, but they knew the same prayers.

Seeing the train tracks going through the gates of the camp and imagining the prisoners going off to their deaths, was extremely depressing and heartbreaking. Walking through the camp and seeing all of the barracks from the men’s to the children’s to the women’s and seeing the living conditions was saddening. Seeing the rows of bunk beds that they had to sleep on, the washroom, and the toilets was so unsettling. What struck me the most was where the prisoners changed before going to the gas chambers and seeing what was left of the gas chamber and crematorium. While walking through the camp I thought what if I was in the prisoner’s position, what I would do? How would I live and work in the camp? How would I survive? I honestly do not think I would have lasted a week. The prisoners showed so much courage and resilience. I also believe their faith got them through the horrors. The fact that they were going through this torture and still never once gave up their faith! They were truly courageous!

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Reflecting on Auschwitz 1

Walking through the gates of Auschwitz and reading the sign “ARBEIT MACHT FREI” meaning “Work Sets You Free,” was extremely difficult to comprehend. I could not believe that I was actually here. It took me a moment to process that I was standing on the grounds where heinous crimes occurred. What really struck me as I walked through the camp, was seeing the pictures of all of the prisoners on the wall, and learning about how dehumanized they were, from losing their “civilian clothing;" shaving their heads; and getting hardly any meals or no meals at all. Hearing this was extremely rough and made me think about all the suffering the prisoners went through.

Many of the prisoners were forced out of their homes and brought many belongings, including pots and pans. Talking in class and learning that they brought pots and pans with them was something that I always tried to put aside. It was odd to think that they brought kitchen household items, but that is because I learned of what occurred at the camps. The prisoners had no idea. Seeing all of the kitchenware as I walked through the room was an eye-opening experience. As they were being deported from their homes, they probably assumed that they were being moved somewhere else, so naturally they brought belongings like their pots and pans, in their minds, they did not think that they would be going to a concentration camp where they would be killed. I cannot even fathom bringing my personal belongings with me including, household items, only to find out that I would be going to a concentration camp where my life would soon come to an end.

Photo: Many of the pots and pans the prisoners bought with them.

What struck me the most were the photographs of the children. I always see pictures of adult prisoners, but I do not often see photos of the children. Seeing how frail, ill, and maltreated they were was extremely emotional. Many of these children had no idea what was going on, or what their fate would be, which I could only imagine would have been extremely terrifying and traumatizing. Especially, getting separated from their family and parents, and not knowing where they were going, must have also been terrifying for a child. Many of the children were dehumanized, starved and put to work, and had to wear prisoners’ uniforms. Seeing the pictures on the wall of the children was an emotional experience for me. Knowing how they were treated and what they went through made me horrified, especially seeing all of the shoes and children’s clothing. I cannot even imagine what they went through or even the thought of being taken away from my family. For the parents of the children, not knowing where their child was being taken or what fate lie ahead for them, must have been an extremely fearful experience.

There were 1.5 million Jewish children killed, between 140,000-150,000 Poles were killed, 2,300 Gypsies killed, and 13,000 Soviets killed. In reading "The Holocaust Kingdom" and how the Jews were dispersed from their land and learning about what belongings they could bring with them, then actually seeing those belongings in the camp, put so many things into perspective.

Talking in class about the number of prisoners who were killed and coming to the camp and seeing some of their pictures, put into context the severity of the suffering the prisoners went through and how humbling and emotional this is. All of the stories of the prisoners will live on as we remember them.

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Jewish victims and Why

The primary victim of the Holocaust was mainly the Jewish population of Europe. Over six million perished but there are reasons why Hitler targeted the Jews. There are also reasons why nobody understood why they were being attacked in the first place.

On March 20-21 we learned many reasons why the Jews were targeted and how it can relate to some of things we learned in class. Hitler’s hatred toward the Jews started when Germany lost World War One and went through the Great Depression. He felt with most of the Jewish population not supporting or fighting well enough on front, was the reason why Germany lost the war and why the country was in such a bad economy. Hitler used his Anti Semite and other racial hatred towards others to help him get into power. Only then his ultimate goal was to have a true Aryan nation. Hitler's main goal was to racially purify Europe. By this Hitler wanted to kill anyone that wasn’t an Arien and make sure that nobody would oppose him. So that germany won't ever lose or go back to the bad state it was in before. To this day it’s still never clear of where hitler's hatred for the Jews came from.

During our trip we learned more about Anti Semitism and how it relates to some articles we learned from the past. From class and in the tours, we were told the history of Anti Semitism and how it came to be. Many people are Anti Semitic because they always believe in the same thing. One of which is the killing of Jesus. They all blame Jews for most of world's failures because they see Jews as parasites who take away good advantages and always have more money than others. This and other religious beliefs begin the hatred which will then lead to genocide. In the yellow book “Memory and Reconciliation Part A” was an article called “The Address to the Churches”. It had a section called the Ten Points. In the Ten Points it talks about how Jews and Christianity are very similar and how they have a lot to do with each other. The first major point that it talks about is how Jesus was Jewish. What many Anti Semites forget is that Jesus was Jewish and fail to realize that he was king of the Jews. Also it talks about how God spoke through the Old and New Testaments. The last example that I can think of is that since Jesus was Jewish and that people use the word Jew as if they were enemies of Jesus make us believe that they where. When obviously they weren’t. The Jews were Jesus’s people and they weren’t his enemies.

There are many reasons and excuses why people are Anti Semitic but all we know is that we must learn. What I have learned is that people will have hatred for something without even having good facts about it and not looking at the people of they target, and think they are not human. In one of the museums we went to. Marian Kolodziej a catholic who survived the holocaust drew the hatred of the victims of the Holocaust. His work showed the Jews and other victims as zombies as they were starved, beaten, tortured, and killed. To this day I will never and nobody will ever know a good reason why this hatred has occurred or happened. People believe it began in the 19th century or later. But the only question is why do people have a hatred for a group of people who Jesus represented and was apart of.

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Gas Chambers and Deportation

Today on March 18th 2019 me and my class visited the concentration camp of Auschwitz on our spring break trip to Poland. This was personally my first time to be in Europe and to ever experience something like this.

On this day we took our first tour of part 1 of the German Concentration Camp. Once we first got their we saw the famous gate with the words “Work shall set you free.” but in reality it didn’t. While we explored the concentration camp I came across the gas chambers. This was pretty graphic because I saw the scratch marks of the people who were trying to desperately get out as they slowly died. As I was exposed to this environment I couldn’t help but think about the visualization of what these people went through as they were slowly being poisoned and trying to desperately get out and not die.

Another part of the camp we saw was a room full of hair from female victims. This was a shock. One reason because after all of my readings and knowledge of the holocaust I have never heard or seen something like this. Apparently when the females were killed in the gas chambers their hair would be cut off, or if any female victims died their hair would be taken. Once the Nazis took their hair off they would use the hair for themselves. The hair would be used for insulations, parts for boots, and warmth for their cloths, Seeing this made you wonder especially since most of these were ponytails. Who did that ponytail belong to? What was their story before and during this mass genocidal campaign. It just makes you wonder “Wow that use to be somebody's ponytail.”

After we left Auschwitz we went to a railroad track. Their Professor Folly told us how this was where the Jews were deported and where they stood as they were to be sent of to the camp. As I was told about this information I thought about the book we read for the class. The book we read was called “The Holocaust Kingdom”. In the book it would often talk about how Jews were deported consistently to the death camps. While I was there standing the only thing I could think about was the SS men and their dogs forcing people into the trains and dragging others out of their home. While standing in place you can feel the conception of the scene when the Jews were forced out of their homes and place in trains. On March 19th when we saw the train carts you can really see and just sense the over crowdedness when they were forcibly crammed in these karts against their own will.

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Prayer and Dialogue

This image perfectly captures the solemnity of the day that we spent at Auschwitz I. I could not help but be reminded of the words, “the presence of absence and the absence of presence”.

It has been almost two months since returning from Poland. Though we know the importance of keeping the memory of the Shoah alive, sometimes that becomes difficult. There are endless distractions as part of our day-to-day lives that easily allow us to forget about what we may have seen and heard at the concentration camps just a few short weeks ago. However, when given time to reflect on my experience once again, many questions race through my mind: “Have I done my part in advocating for human dignity? Can people tell what my experiences were like through my actions? Is the memory of the Shoah alive in my everyday life?”

During our last night in Poland, we had a group discussion about how we would take what we learned there and use it in our lives back in New York. We talked about spreading advocacy and love, ultimately as part of an effort to avoid any hatred and discrimination like what was evident in the Shoah. The Holocaust and Nazi Germany are not things that should be forgotten. Rather, they should be the lens through which we look at the future of our world. They should recognized, and in doing so, there will be more efforts made in preventing it from happening again. After all, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” –George Santayana

While in Poland, we stayed at the Centre for Prayer and Dialogue—two important things when discussing the Holocaust. The Centre encourages visitors to simply talk about what happened just a block away during the Second World War, and does so in a peaceful, welcoming way. This dialogue focuses on four different “voices: the voice of the earth, the voice of your heart, the voice of the other, and the voice of God. Engaging in dialogue while listening to these four voices can lead to a world of understanding and of acceptance.

Father Manfred, in one of his lectures, reminded us that dialogue is necessary so that all people can live together and form trust with open encounters. He also said, in another lecture, that it is better to look into somebody’s eyes, rather than at them while engaging in this dialogue. By doing this, we are observing something that lies behind the eyes and therefore developing a deeper relationship with the person. Our relationships, according to Father Manfred, and the responsibility we have in them is what helps us make sense of our lives.

These wise words from Father Manfred go hand-in-hand with the Teaching of Respect. Documents that were discussed in class like Nostra Aetate, We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah, Dabru Emet, and many more are all a part of the Teaching of Respect, which is in direct response to the Teaching of Contempt. I have faith that the world is progressively reaching a point of acceptance, love, and respect for all humans. It is no secret that it best reached through prayer and dialogue, as we got to experience first-hand during our unforgettable time spent in Poland.

An image of stones at the entrance of Auschwitz-Birkenau. In the Jewish faith, stones are used instead of flowers for remembrance, as they are permanent.

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