-Primo Levi
Most anyone who knows me or follows me on instagram know that I had the amazing opportunity to go on a trip to Poland and Germany entitled "Tracing the Holocaust in Eastern Europe" this summer. Sounds morbid, I know. I can honestly say, though, it's a trip that has changed me. I know it's not your typical vacation destination, but I honestly encourage anyone who ever has the chance- DO IT.
After a semester of studying the Holocaust and an extremely intensive two weeks of interviews, museums, concentration camps, and former Jewish ghettos, I needed a little break from it all. It was not that I had become bored with the subject, more that I had become drained by the subject- as I'm sure you can imagine.
-A little background information: Auschwitz was one of the largest death/labor camps utilized by the Nazis. It was broken up into three sub-camps which served various purposes. Auschwitz III (Monowitz) was destroyed after the liberation. Auschwitz I and II (Birkenau) are the two available for tours. Auschwitz I has been renovated into several mini-museum displays that provide a lot of factual information. Birkenau, though, has been sanitized and cleaned but has-for the most part- been left as it was when in use. The last part of Auschwitz I is the room that holds the Book of Names- a book with the names of all the known victims. Across from the book is a wall covered with electronic picture frames all showing different current pictures of survivors with their families. From there, you turn to leave and what is in front of you is a wall with a Primo Levi quote painted across it: "It happened, therefore, it can happen again: this is the core of what we have to say."-
Well about two weeks ago, I was browsing Books-A-Million, and I found a section of books they were promoting and found The Boy in the Striped Pajamas was one of them. I had already seen the movie, but I had been encouraged by my trip leader to pick up the book. I almost put it back, but I decided to flip through it. The last few lines literally felt like a kick in the stomach. I was taken right back to standing in front of that wall with that Primo Levi quote staring back at me. I thought of standing at Treblinka- another death camp- staring at the monument with "Never Again" written in multiple languages. I thought about standing there and thinking, "But it has happened again. How does this keep happening?"
No, there has not been another genocide against the Jews. There has though been a genocide in Cambodia. There has been one in Bosnia. There has been one in Rwanda.
We never think something so awful could ever happen. But then it does. And then we think, "Oh, that can never happen again." But, again, it does.
I don't write this to trash talk the human race or to talk about how awful society is. I write this because I still am unable to wrap my mind around the 11 million people- that we know of, a figure that will forever be just a fraction of the number who were truly killed, a number that we can never know- that were killed in the 1940s. In civilized society with educated people. I honestly don't even know how else to describe it other than just questioning, How? How did this happen? How does this keep happening?
All I can say is Primo Levi was right. It did happen. It can happen again. And, unfortunately, it probably will happen again. Maybe not on the same scale. Maybe for different reasons. But it can happen again.
I began this post to more or less talk about The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, but it turned into something a little different. Instead, I'll let the book speak for itself. Even if you've seen the movie, take a minute and pick up the book. It is short, and you can read it in just a few days. I will say this, it is able to very accurately describe the events without a single derogatory name or gruesome description. It's from the eyes of someone with an inability to understand what exactly is happening and how something so awful could happen.
I guess that makes two of us.
