We Must Remember

A decade ago a Holocaust or Shoah survivor made the rounds of schools in Durham, including Bowmanville, where we were living. I can't recall where she was a prisoner of the Nazis. One of the teachers who organized her visit was in the St. Paul's congregation and invited us to her home to meet this remarkable woman over supper. We were impressed by her message that living with purpose is the way to overcome such unspeakable evil. If I recall correctly she was approaching 80, so there is a strong possibility she is no longer with us even though she was remarkable energetic. We bought a copy of her autobiographical book that evening, but I have no idea where it has gone.

On this day of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz extermination camp a number of survivors returned to commemorate the end of that terror and those who died. They have also affirmed that despite what they experienced, including the loss of family members, they were not snuffed out, nor was the Jewish religion.



One of the returnees, Angela Orosz (above) is only 70. Somehow her mother's managed to hide her pregnancy and Angela was born shortly before the camp was liberated. She is one of only two babies born in Auschwitz. As the more elderly survivors reach their late eighties and into their nineties the question is being raised as to who will be left to gather a decade from now, and who will tell the stories. Ms. Orosz has no direct recollection of what happened there and the numbers of those who can recall diminishes. Will the world remember as effectively and respectfully once these remarkable survivors have died?

While this dark period in human history is so ugly we might be tempted to put it aside we can't. We can't forget the refusal of governments to take in Jewish refugees who often perished as a result. We can't forget that Christians in Germany and other countries ignored the plight of Jews or that some participated in their extermination.