Day #6: Tuesday, February 19, 2019 (Oswiecim/Lublin)

My fear about writing a blog is failing to grasp the words that articulate what I have seen and how I feel. Today we walked through places that have housed innocent people, onto whom unimaginable horrors were inflicted.


It is difficult to find the words to describe the experiences of these people in a way that will respectfully and accurately portray the level of pain they felt. How can I find the words to portray the feeling of being starved until your appearance becomes the epitome of “hunger”? How can I find the words to portray the emotions that come with seeing your friends, family members, whole community or yourself die? How can I find the words to portray the confusion a child must have felt as their toys, shoes, freedom and other possessions were taken away? How can I portray an individual, who had been freed physically from a concentration camp but was still mentally and emotionally shackled by the past?
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Because of this, out of respect for their lives, I will not attempt the impossible and I will write little.
 
Here are some little things that I noticed today:

• Nature seems to be ignorant of what occurs on Earth. The birds continue to chirp as people hold back tears. Even the sun sets beautifully in the places where people have died.
• No matter how beautiful the hotel, it is always eerie to sleep in the vicinity of a concentration camp.
• Life is never guaranteed. For many, it’s a privilege.
• The history of oppressed peoples do not start at their oppression. It is important to also learn about and teach their culture to ensure that a community’s pride does not die at the hands of evil.  
• History, in its physical form, is fragile in composition but powerful in significance.
• The trauma that one attains as a victim of the Holocaust is everlasting.
• The Sound of Music movie (which we watched on the bus) soundtrack is “mad lit”, meaning it stimulates my musical intelligence. 

Thank you for reading.

--Mayowa

Upper row, from left to right:

• Drawing by Marian Kolodziej, which portrays him as he holds his best friend, who had died at Auschwitz (where Kolodziej was also a prisoner).
• Outside of Birkenau. This picture does not capture how big it actually is.
• ​The remains of a gas chamber/crematorium at Auschwitz

Lower row:

• Drawings (superimposed on wall) by children in Auschwitz.