What age is too young
I know that some of you may not agree with me. My daughter only turned 9 a few months ago. We live very close to Auschwitz Birkenau, and I wanted to take my daughter. Upon purchasing the tickets for Auschwitz, there was an advisory that said under 14 years was not recommended. However my husband and I discussed it, and we both agreed we wanted her to go. Especially since it’s less than 1 hour from our home.
Living with sad history
As a child of a displaced person (political refugee) who grew up in suburban NYC area, I have been around people affected by WWII my entire life. Their family stories have forever been built into the narrative of my conscious. I had friends who had families all perished in the Holocaust. One of my friends her grandmother was even liberated from Auschwitz.
Collaboration
My father’s family is Latvian, they too experienced much personal sadness in WWII. However on this side of history, it doesn’t look good. Yes, it does make me feel uncomfortable because I acknowledge the feelings of collaboration. However my family was completely broken up. My grandfather was never found again. My uncle died of tuberculosis during this time. So it’s hard for to say they benefitted from this war.
Perhaps to some was it the only means of survival?
thinking in back and white
For me, I don’t think anyone is 100% good or bad, including myself. There can be room for redemption, and I can’t see things as just black and white. Circumstances and time can determine so much of our actions. The problem that exists is to live your life after tragedy. How does your soul survive? I think a big part to healing is forgiveness but not forgetting.
THe tour
The day we went there was a melancholy persistent rain. It only amplified our experience more. I made sure to shield my daughter from the too mature parts of the tour but she participated walking around the 2 camps. During that time, I told her a story my dad told me…9 years old standing for days in a sunless cattle car with no where but to stand. I still remember how he told me he tried his best not to cry. Then our tour guide elaborated by walking across the route to where most children never came back. This was perhaps the closest one could come to ever walking in another shoes.
what we can take home this experience
History shouldn’t be cleaned, to make a story easier for us so we can sleep at night. By doing that many people will think that it wasn’t that bad, and that’s exactly how these things can happen again. I think now many people don’t want to confront uncomfortable subjects. We treat the emotional capacity of people as weak, and we try not to bother others with our problems. Instead we should remind people how their actions make us feel, in order to at least express to others
do not cross this boundary.
my last thoughts
At the end of the day I told my daughter
This happened because people are fighting over religion
I truly believe that any religious fundamentalism (especially since Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all have some sects that repress women)is at fault for all the problems we humans have with each other in this world. Women have fought for centuries for the same rights as men. Yet religion is an excuse all rolled up under the holiness of God to treat women to be under the eye of men. When we talk about Afghani refugees, the Texas abortion statute, and the Settlements in Gaza, what is the underline problem? People who care more about their God than humanity.
In living colour
There is a place in this world for the faith and peace religion is supposed to bring. However like all things religion needs to evolve. Interpreting something like the Bible can not be done by th black and white thinking. I want a world where our girls can be free and show themselves (hair, ankles and all). We should respect all people in the here and now, and stop fighting about what will happen in the afterlife.