O
n the 13th of April, Nisa and I took the train to
Canary Wharf for our Orientation Seminar – the
first step of The Lessons from Auschwitz Project. We
discussed our expectations of the project and agreed
that the seminars would be educational and that the
day trip to visit Auschwitz would be emotional to say
the least.
We took our seats, along with 200 other students from
across Hertfordshire, holding cups of coffee and half
eaten biscuits and settled down for a 2 hour orientation
that began with a quick introduction to the Holocaust.
We listened intently to the familiar facts and statistics
that we had heard in numerous Religious Studies and
History lessons, unaware that our perception of the
Genocide would begin its drastic change that very
afternoon. We were introduced to a Holocaust Survivor
named Zigi Shipper who was only nine years old when
war broke out, a chatty, soft-spoken man who wore a
warm, genuine smile. Throughout the duration of the talk
the hall full of once fidgety, loud teenagers fell silent
as we intently listened to the ordeals that young Zigi
was put through. We collectively sighed and swallowed
the lumps in our throats as Zigi recalled the harrowing
details of his time in numerous camps across Europe.
We also smiled and chuckled at the occasional jokes
Zigi made about his later years in which he met the
love of his life and mother of his two daughters. What
astonished us the most about Zigi’s talk was how many
times he said he was “a happy man” who has lived a
happy, contented life, which was bewildering at first,
considering all the horrors. To describe Zigi’s story as
inspiring would be a true understatement, his resilience,
belief in friendships and unwavering faith in humanity
left us feeling introspective. We left the venue with a
renewed appreciation for the little things we take for
granted on a daily basis such as clean water and the
comfort and security of a home and family. We were
also left questioning whether humanity had progressed
since the end of the war, we all vowed ‘lest we forget’
but allowed history to repeat itself in Rwanda, Armenia,
Bosnia and Darfur. Have we truly learnt our lesson?
The second part of the project required us to arrive at
Luton Airport in the early hours of a chilly April Tuesday,
to catch a flight to Krakow Airport. One flight, and
one coach journey later we arrived in the Polish town
Oświęcim just a few minutes drive from Auschwitz. Our
small tour of the picturesque town was led by Rabbi
Barry Marcus who helped us envisage a town that
once bustled with Jewish life. It once had numerous
Synagogues that were renowned for their grandeur
and beauty. These synagogues were destroyed by the
Nazis along with all their religious manuscripts leaving
only a few derelict walls and blurry photographs as
evidence of their existence. The sole synagogue spared
was converted to store rooms for the Nazi soldiers
to use, leaving no place of worship for the surviving
Jews to return to after the war. The difference in the
town before and after the Holocaust was chilling; what
had once been a hub of Jewish culture had become a
shadow of its former self.
Our next stop was Auschwitz I, the Nazi army barracks
that had been converted into a concentration camp
where millions of Jews were degraded, starved and
ruthlessly murdered. This was no doubt the most difficult
and emotional part of the project. We silently followed
our tour guide Mikael as he led us through the harrowing
halls of the camp. Despite having seen photographs of
the camp, we had pictured in our minds a camp full
of old decaying buildings which were contrastingly
different to the barracks which were in good condition
and looked almost modern. They were another reminder
that the Holocaust was not an event from Ancient History,
something so distant and from an unrecognizable society,
but an event that occurred less than 70 years ago.
Undoubtedly the most disturbing rooms in Auschwitz
were those that contained what seemed like hundreds
of piles of female hair, children’s clothes and toys and
shoes. The long corridors of photographs that were taken
as soon as ‘prisoners’ entered the camp allowed us to
put names and faces to the six million people that were
murdered. A moment that we will never forget was in
Auschwitz. It was an empty room but one side had large
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pictures of three or four victims. There was a picture of
a young boy and this made us think about our families. It
was in that moment that it truly hit us how alike we are to
the victims in the Holocaust. The individual stories helped
us humanise the people of an event where humanity was
difficult to find.
Rudolf Höss was the Commandant of Auschwitz. He,
his wife and four children lived yards away from the
crematorium. Höss murdered more than a million people,
but once he came home he lived the life of a solid,
middle-class German husband and father. What the
group was shocked to hear was how this man was able to
do horrible things during the day and become a father
at the dinner table. It is hard to imagine how they could
show empathy towards their own loved ones whilst doing
such horrible things to others but we must not forget that
humans are flawed and the journey to Auschwitz made
us realise that not only must we humanise the victims but
it is just as important to humanise the perpetrators.
After visiting Auschwitz I we then drove a few minutes to
Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Unlike Auschwitz I, Birkenau was
designed and built for only one purpose, to exterminate
as many Jewish people as possible. Walking down the
road leading to the entrance of Birkenau is no different
than walking down the road to your nearest bus stop.
As you walk through the arch in the famous guard tower,
however, you come to the realisation that what you have
entered is something preserved from a different time.
Accepting that it’s not a picture from a nightmare but a
real part of our history. Standing in front of the rows
of barracks is something we will never forget because
we couldn’t tell how far the rows of barracks went or
how long the camp was. We couldn’t see the end to the
destruction. A moment that will stay with us is staring
at the ruins of gas chambers and hearing the story of
the Sonderkommandos. Some Jewish prisoners were
forced by the Nazis to become a Sonderkommando.
The main function of a Sonderkommando was to bury
the dead from the gas chambers. We can’t even begin
to imagine what it must feel like to have to see and do
what they did. Buried near the destroyed gas chamber
was a manuscript written by five Sonderkommando. The
manuscript described the real story behind Birkenau
and what went on in the camp. What we will remember
is the lines of the manuscript where a Sonderkommando
wrote:
‘Dear discoverer of these writings! I have a request of
you: this is the real reason why I write, that my doomed
life may attain some meaning, that my hellish days and
hopeless tomorrows may find a purpose in the future. I
pass on to you only a small part of what took place in the
hell of Auschwitz-Birkenau. It is for you to comprehend
the reality.
(...) Dear finder, search everywhere, in every inch of soil.
Tens of documents are buried under it, mine and those of
other persons, which will throw light on everything that
was happening here. Great quantities of teeth are also
buried here. It was we, the Kommando workers, who
expressly have strewn them all over the terrain, as many
as we could, so that the world should find material traces
of the millions of murdered people. We ourselves have lost
hope of being able to see the moment of liberation.’
Another moment that resounds in our heads is when we
were looking at the belongings that were stolen by the
Nazis from the Jewish prisoners and what stood out to
us was a house key. When we close the door behind us
we lock the door and take the keys. The victims were
just like us. What is important to understand is that six
million is a very large number to think about but in each
person was a story and each family had a house that
needed a key. The families took their keys thinking they
would return but we all know they didn’t which is the
horrible truth. The day ended with a few words and
prayers from Rabbi Barry Marcus of London’s Central
Synagogue and we will never forget the words he said,
“Time will never let us forget”.
We felt incredibly fortunate as we sang Hebrew
prayers. Singing those prayers, we realised that it is
incredibly important that we don’t forget that every Jew
that came into the camp that every victim and every
survivor did not only fight for their rights but also for
their religion. Walking on the path that many walked it
has hit us that we are all susceptible to hate and horrible
things can happen to us. Any of us could have been part
of the masses at Birkenau. The stories that ended there
were like ours. The keys taken to Birkenau, never to be
used again could have been yours or mine. From this
experience we will take that we need to look behind
the number of six million and humanise the victims of the
Holocaust. We also need to accept that as easy it is to
use the term “Nazis” when talking about the perpetrators
of the Holocaust we need to remember that they were
humans and they loved and cared for someone. We are
the start and end of hate. The last words we want to
leave with you are by Friedrich Hegel, who said, “The
only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing
from history.”
Srushti Mehta 13C & Nisa Nami 13C
The
Lessons fromAuschwitz
Project
STUDENT REPORT
