How Is It Possible?

I recently traveled to Central Europe with my Jewish spiritual community, IKAR. We educated ourselves about the heartbreaking tragedies of WWII, paid tribute to the six million Jews and 12 million people who perished in the Holocaust, and met social activists working for a better future in their countries.

This article is not easy to read, but I feel compelled to tell my truths.

Throughout my life, I’ve learned a great deal about the Holocaust, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw and experienced in Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.

We began the trip in the city of Wannsee outside of Berlin, where the Final Solution to kill all of Europe’s Jews was decided upon in an invitation-only conference. It took the Nazi officials no longer than an hour and a half to present and finalize the plan, which was followed by a weekend filled with partying and celebration. Beginning at the place where the Final Solution was born was a horrific start to our trip. I felt the continuous need to remind myself that, yes, the events of the Holocaust really did happen.

A few days later in Warsaw, we toured the area that had been the Jewish ghetto and the Jewish Historical Institute Archives. I learned that a man named Emanuel Ringelblum was the mastermind behind the decision to collect and archive thousands of pages of testimony of what the Jews experienced. Ringelblum’s group of archivists, called “Oneg Shabbat,” is largely responsible for the written record of the history of the ghetto leading up to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. When the members of the Jewish resistance could no longer hold off the Nazis, the SS ordered the entire ghetto to be burned to the ground. Many lives were lost and turned to dust and ash on the streets. When the war was over, everything that was built or rebuilt was done on top of these holy ashes. May their memories forever be a blessing.

But even after this harrowing introduction, I still wasn’t ready for Auschwitz.

At the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps, I saw rooms filled with worn glasses of all types and mounds of human hair that had been shaved from the heads of every prisoner in an effort to steal their last shreds of dignity. I also saw suitcases packed by thousands of Jews from the ghetto and beyond, along with worn-out shoes that had once belonged to innocent children. They had walked hundreds of miles, not knowing that they were being led straight to gas chambers.

I broke down sobbing. How could entire countries act like this, for no other reason than the oppressed being different? How did so many millions of “normal people” blindly follow cruelty and allow their neighbors to be gassed and murdered, rather than speak out against this insane evil?

How did so many millions of “normal people” blindly follow cruelty and allow their neighbors to be gassed and murdered, rather than speak out against this insane evil?

At the end of the tour in Auschwitz, our guide looked into our eyes and asked us to remember one thing about the experience. “These were regular people who did this. These were people just like you and me.” There was my answer.

I stood alone in the courtyard for a few minutes to speak quietly to the perished souls who lost their lives. I told them how terribly sorry I was for what they suffered and endured, and that I would never be able to fully understand the hell they had experienced. For the first time in my life, I felt that I was a link in the chain of the Jewish people, and they were part of that chain.

I then promised that I would live my life differently in order to honor theirs. I wish I could tell you exactly how I plan to do that, or when, or how often. While humans are capable of unspeakable evil, I know we are also capable of unlimited love, compassion, goodness and a moral imperative to seek justice. I have seen this throughout my entire adult life from mentors, friends, and colleagues.

That is where I will start, but I would love to hear your thoughts. Maybe we can do this together.