Speaking about the Unspeakable
May 5th is Holocaust Rememberance Day. From liberation to the persuit of justice. So many millions of people perished during the time of Nazi Germany. Among those lost were more than 6 million Jews and countless homosexuals, persons with mental illness and gypsys. All persons who were different and persecuted as such.
Lately, I have been thinking about what I would write to those who perished during this terrible time. What would I say to them? What has their deaths taught me about life?
What would you write to them?
My goal is to gather 50 letters so I can take them to the ceremonies on May 5th in memory of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi concentration camps.
So far, I have written 3 letters. One to the Jews who have perished, another to the mentally ill, and another, in the voice of a Yiddish grandmother who lost her gay brother in Auchwitz.
Please write your own letters and post them to share your words. Dare to speak about the unspeakable as a tribute to all of those lost lives.
Thank you for your minds.
Lately, I have been thinking about what I would write to those who perished during this terrible time. What would I say to them? What has their deaths taught me about life?
What would you write to them?
My goal is to gather 50 letters so I can take them to the ceremonies on May 5th in memory of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi concentration camps.
So far, I have written 3 letters. One to the Jews who have perished, another to the mentally ill, and another, in the voice of a Yiddish grandmother who lost her gay brother in Auchwitz.
Please write your own letters and post them to share your words. Dare to speak about the unspeakable as a tribute to all of those lost lives.
Thank you for your minds.
6 Comments:
Here is a letter I would write to the 6 million Jews who died. I imagine I would write different letters to each group of people who perished, and will do so until the Day of Rememberance.
To my fellow Jews who have perished:
As I become older, your death has more rather than less of an impact upon me. For one, I look around me, a world now filled with only 13 million Jews and wonder what the mere numbers would be if you and your offspring were here today. Maybe 39 million? 56 million? We will never know for certain. What I do know, is that because of you, I feel a certain obligation to keep your memories alive, and honor who you were and what you stood for as Jews, and as a minority during such a time of terror. My obligation extends to how I define myself today, and the values and beliefs I pass on to my children. If you had lived, there is a strong likelihood that such values would have been passed on to your children, for it is written that way. Every time I light a candle, or say a prayer, I think about you. In times of great stress and fear, I think about you. You give me courage and strength to confront difficult issues for I often imagine your fear as you approached your deaths, or the courage it took to live on during those difficult times. By comparision, whatever I am feeling does not feel so badly when I think about you.
It is with your memory in mind that I keep my roots alive and afloot today. With this, I do not forget.
My second letter is being sent to those individuals with mental illness who were sent to the camps, either surviving or having perished.
Being different with unexplained behavior has subjected others to unequal treatment thorough-out the ages. I can only imagine how heart-wrenching it was for the family of those individuals afflicted with mental illness to sit back and have to deal with the deaths or horrible living conditions for themselves and their loved ones. Those misunderstood people who may talk to themselves, laugh out loud, without reason, or feel as if they are being plagued and surrounded demons? (is this in fact not what was happening) If afflicted with the debilitating condition of schizophrenia, your world was already tainted with these images coupled with a wrenching inability to deal with the horrors surrounding you. I cannot imagine.
But schizophrenia is not the only type of mental illness, for there are those with debilitating depression and bi-polar disorder and some with obsessive compulsive disorders who were subjected to death because of their state of mind as well.
To me, I can keep your memories alive and your misunderstood plight surviving by taking more of an advocate's role today. How many of us have turned our heads, or become plagued by fear when seeing individuals on the street talking to themselves, without possessions or belongings? Do we stop and think that these people may be suffering from mental illness, and that this is the best they can do, if in fact they are rejected by their families and society as well?
How often have we reached out to these people, looked them in the eyes, bought them hot drinks or food or given them blankets? These small acts can and do make a difference in the most beautiful way.
I have also found that when thinking about you, I try to be aware of labels that are misunderstood, but subjected to stigma and call people on them. For example, when I hear a person called 'crazy' because he/she says or does something, or 'insane' or 'schizophrenic' I have often corrected the speaker.
These small acts of awareness can make all the difference, and make a statement towards those who are being treated differently because they are persons with mental illness.
Your memories survive!
In this letter,I use the voice of a Yiddish speaking grandmother, here are her words to her brother who perished during the Holocaust:
"Oy," what do I know from anything. You ask me what I feel about my brother, 'myer kin' who I lost more than 60 years ago during these terrible times. Such a story I have for you.
My brother Chaim, God bless his soul, couldn't be just a nice Jewish boy from Lotz. He had other things about him, things that made him different. Who am I to judge, but my brother, may he rest in peace, he had to be a 'faigl.' You got to say, what is a 'faigl.'Words I'm not so good at, but Chaim liked other boys, not girls. 'Oy vey ismere,' I know you say now, he couldn't leave well enough alone. Like being a Jew was not bad enough?
When we was taken to Auchwitz, Chaim was 18 at the time, the others found out about him liking boys. He was put into a train, which God forbid, nobody wanted to see. It was the tain for the 'faigls' we was told. No one wanted to believe that he should be given special treatment. Such specialness, no one should know. Because he liked the boys, he was taken away quickly, and we family never seen him again.
Today, my message to Chaim is different. 'Oy gottenu' you may think the world is a differnt place today, Chaim, may you rest in peace. If you seen our president here in the United States and what he says about the 'faygelehs' and how they should be treated, you would roll over in your grave. Nothing is differnt. This guy, Bush, he even wants to amend the Constitution to say that marriage is between a man and a woman. 'Oy veh, like he didn't learn from what happened to our people or to you, Chaim!
Here is what I say today. Live and let live. If you not bother anyone, leave you to be. Don't judge anyone just because he is different, 'nu?' Respect everyone, if you like them or not, what's the difference. Everyone has a right to be.
I'll keep fighting for you, Chaim. Today, I know what happened because you was different. The guilt, the shame I feel, I put into actions in your name.
My fourth letter is to the many gypsies murdered during Nazi Germany.
Whenever I think of gypsies, images of colorful bandanas, shining silver teeth, gold jewlery and full skirts come to mind. Also, I think about places like Romania and Hungary, piercing, beautiful notes that come from the sound of the violin.
Sounds exotic, romantic and even poetic, does it not?
For many gypsies, those nomads who roamed the earth from 1939-44, such good fortune was not in the cards for them. Many of these colorful, ususual individuals were put to death in concentration camps because, like Jews, mentally ill individuals and homsexuals, they were considered to be different, and because of this, lost their lives.
In all candor, I do not know too much about the persecution of the gypies, but I do know about persecution, death and destruction during that reign of terror known as Nazi Germany. It is with this knowledge that I acknowledge this group of human beings, for their plight was met with the same misguided fate of all who were persecuted.
Their memories shall survive!
Your letters are beautiful and incredibly moving, B. Primo Levi wrote that one of the prisoners' greatest fears was that nobody would hear their voices, that nobody would notice. That the world would simply go on, because people were busy with their own lives and nobody cared enough to stop the slaughter.
When I witnessed the horrifying car accident I posted about some weeks ago on MUA, I couldn't seem to get over it (still can't). One of our members privately mailed me to say that her father was killed in a drunk driving accident. She was appalled that his whole life was reduced to a tiny blurb in the newspaper. She told me that she would have taken great comfort in knowing that a stranger, a witness, was horrified at the accident and mourned her father's suffering and her loss, as I mourned the deaths of the people I saw lying on the road. There is great value in a witness who can say, "Yes, I saw it, yes, it was horrifying beyond words, and yes, every ounce of your grief and suffering is warranted. It's real. You're not crazy. It was hell and you're still feeling its heat."
I think I'd say something like that to the people who perished and those who were permanently damaged by the hell that was the holocaust. I'd say, We know. It took too long but we know. It was real. You *should* feel torn to pieces. Every ounce of your grief is justified, and I am grieving with you and for you.
warmly,
K
Thank you so much, K. for your beautiful post. I really appreciate it. To tell you the truth, although I know this blog subject is painful, and may make people unconfortable, it is actually the most meaningful one to me on the site. Even if a few words are said, it is good, to honor and pay respect to these millions of human beings who perished.
When I need strength, I actually turn to thoughts of the victims and survivors of the Holocaust to give it to me. In comparision, my plight does not ever seem so bad.
Thank you again,
b
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