Auschwitz



There are moments that put everything in perspective. It’s a feeling nobody can really describe, and personally, I didn’t really believe that those moments exist. I have been in school for 12 years and have had countless experiences but nothing can really compare to how I felt when I arrived at Auschwitz.

I arrived at Auschwitz early in the morning because tickets are always hard to get in the summertime. It was an excruciatingly hot day, and I could already feel the sunburn forming on the back of my neck. We went through security and started walking to the entrance of Auschwitz. The eerie feeling I felt is unexplainable. I remember walking in silence, alongside the barbed wire until I reached a giant gate that read “Arbeit Macht Frei” or “work sets you free”. A feeling of anger and disgust filled me as I stepped into the camp.



Everyone learns about the Holocaust in school, and everyone sees the statistics of the 10 million people that were murdered and the 72 million total lives lost as a result of the war. Everyone sees the pictures and reads the gut-wrenching accounts of the acts of cruelty and terror but nothing prepared me for what I would feel when I saw everything with my own eyes.

When I walked through the exhibits I was left speechless. 1.1 million people died at Auschwitz. To put that in perspective, if you were to hold a minute of silence for every person murdered at Auschwitz it would take you 1 year, 329 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes. We walked past countless pairs of shoes and glasses that the prisoners were forced to take off before they were killed and we saw the gallows which they were hanged upon if they disobeyed orders. I tried to picture each individual person. Everyone had a story. Everyone had a family. At that moment my perspective on the world and life in general changed. How could the cost of life be so low? How is it possible that millions of people were forced out of their houses while their neighbors either did nothing or sometimes even helped. Most importantly what can we as a society do to make sure this never happens again







Since that day I’ve learned to put everything in perspective. I know it is hard not to get caught up in school, but the next time you spend the whole day worrying about a problem that you missed on a test remember that it doesn’t really matter. Take a moment to remember how lucky you are to be safe, healthy, and live in a country where you have the rights you deserve. The holocaust was a terrible time in our past and it is easy to look past it, but we must always remember to put things in perspective and never forget.

Comments

  1. Emi L.August 31, 2018 at 1:29 PM

    The ending of your post is a reminder of a very important point that I tend to forget every time I'm put slightly out of my comfort zone. I thought the whole post was well written. You clearly care about the subject. The most jarring part of it was your calculation of how many minutes of silence you would need to mourn the tragedy-- I can't imagine myself not being able to talk for over a year, and I think that is a good illustration of how uncomprehendingly devastating the holocaust was.

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  2. CatalinSeptember 2, 2018 at 11:18 AM

    I think your point that we must always remember to put life in perspective and never forget the awful things that have happened in the past is incredibly important. As a German, I always feel guilty for the atrocious acts committed by my country. I do think that Germany works hard to thoroughly educate students these days about the past, which includes a visit to a concentration camp in 9th or 10th grade to contextualize the horrors.

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  3. MajerusSeptember 4, 2018 at 11:01 AM

    This is a very powerful post, Ethan. Your question, "How could the cost of life be so low?" really struck me. It's hard to even comprehend how an organized system of human devising could have been created to annihilate millions of fellow human beings. We need to learn about the genocides of the past to prevent future genocides, and act when we see signs of fellow citizens (whether of our country or of the world) being categorically and systematically dehumanized, devalued, and vilified.

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  4. Kevin LiSeptember 13, 2018 at 11:14 AM

    Your last paragraph on perspective is something I readily agree to. Too often students (me included) get overly stressed and think its the end of the world over a bad test grade or upcoming essay. However we need to realize that while these may be important for our future, we should still be grateful that we are living in a safe town in a safe time period.

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