Oscwiecim

I was thirteen when I was presented with my first book on Nazi concentration camps and the war. Written by Olga Lengyel: The Five Chimneys is her life in the camp. She lived through it and left me to carry the thought all throughout my life. Why?

In a few years later, common conversation would sometimes remind me of this book.

So, I started reading about it, from my teen days and when I turned spiritual, I tried to go deep into the thought: of how could anyone conduct genocide.

Getting an Indo-Israel project put me upfront with the Jewish community in the Promised Land. My visits to Israel and the holy places there, increased my anguish and incense. I couldn’t fathom out. Why?

At my Corporate presentation, I started with a full length Hebrew Prayer. Thus,the  connection deepened and led me to wonder. Why?

So, a visit to Auschwitz was certain and my son reminded me a week earlier when I was in Lithuania, not to forget. I got a decent hotel opposite the main entrance of the Musuem, so that I could park comfortably and walk to the Gate. This I did. I had 90 minutes before closing time and I didn’t want a tomorrow. So I parked, changed and ran. There was a small crowd that dwindled as I went in. When I reached the main gate with the sign: Arbeit macht Frei, I gasped. What a joke. Work is liberating. What a liberation. Constant untruth also creates history. So it did. Reading about it and going there were clearly two different things. As I walked through the gates, I imagined others doing the same, so many years ago. Some to the left, some to the right.

A walk through the camp showed me the realities and this has been well documented and presented most graphically by the Polish Government, for people to understand the magnitude and detailing of the program. This program was not during the Mahabharata, or the Parting of the Seas. It happened just 75 years ago. Yesterday. Modern times. How did it escalate to this level, unchecked. Can it happen again? Has it started?

Most people were quiet and for obvious reasons there was no touristy chatter. Soon, people started to leave and now there were just a handful left. Dusk drew.
I started praying and as I roamed about I said every prayer I  knew, again and again. This was unreal. Precision shop-floor technique was programmed to deliver people. Hundred by hundred. One by one.

As I walked about and came to the end of the tour, I got into a room with a great chimney.

I saw the crematoria and shreiked.

Comments

  1. Tulsi

    Chilling.

  2. Cheryl and Neil

    So moving. We should never deny or forget the holocaust.

  3. Naishadh Vyas

    Keep posting.

  4. Godspeed & keep posting

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.