Reflections – Rebekah Sosland
April 27, 2006
Today will be the day that will always be remembered as the day that changed my life forever. As I walked into the crematory in
Auschwitz, a soul of a girl who suffered in that same crematory, jumped inside of me. I all of a sudden felt a horrible feeling inside, a feeling of hate, confusion, and torture. There were nail marks all over the walls from the suffering, innocent people who were trying to get out. The actual fingernails of my ancestors were carved in the very wall I was staring at, and that’s when I fell apart. This mysterious person inside off me was telling me that the worse part about it all was there were no answers to the millions of questions the sufferers had. Why? Why were they there? Why were they suffering so terribly just because of there faith? What can drive a human being, my own race, to do such horrible things? I stood there for about 5 minutes and just cried. I didn’t know what else to do. I was scared myself. I was scared because the person inside of me was scared, but we were there for each other. That is all that kept me sane is to know that we were there for each other. Every tear that is running down my face, I now dedicate to the soul of the lonely girl who is in me now in me, and will be until the day I die. To the girl who died with out answers, and who wept as I wept in that cold terrible place. May we never forget the people, the hate, and the suffering.
-Rebekah Sosland-
April 28, 2006 at 12:12 am
Rebekah:
I know the visit to Auschwitz was so difficult for everyone, but, I am confident that the lessons you are learning from this trip are going to last a lifetime. If anyone is capable of standing up against baseless hatred, it is you! Thanks for sharing your experience with all of us at home.
Love,
Debbie
May 3, 2006 at 11:49 pm
I think this is one of the most beautiful things I have ever read. I have read it several times over the last few days. It will always stay with me. I know my husband feels the same way as he is the one who pointed it out to me. Something in your essay touched me so deeply in a new way. I learned something from it…that part of my job on this earth is to live a life of joy…joy that the victims of the holocaust were denied. I don’t know you Rebekah, but you have the gift of going deep. I thank you for letting us read your reflections.