Ceremonies - Auschwitz, the Final Stop

Auschwitz: The Final Stop

Six million Jews were murdered on European soil between 1939 and 1945 in camps, in murder sites and in other places.

The Legacy

Erika from Salonika:

"Today I have seven grandchildren: Lior, Iris, Tomer and Omri, Charles, Erika and David.
For my grandchildren and all the children of the world of any religion, I have written my testimony 50 years later so that they will be able to reply to anyone who dares to deny there was a Holocaust and so that they will always be on guard to make sure that there will never again be another Holocaust: NEVER AGAIN."

Source: Erika Amariglio, From Thessaloniki to Auschwitz and Back, translated to English by: Theresa Sundt, Vallentine Mitchell, London and Portland Or, 2000, p. 157.

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From the diary of Donia Rosen who was 12 when she hid in the forest after the murder of her family. Donia survived and immigrated to Israel.

"Words fail me, but I must write, I must. I ask you not to forget the deceased. I beg and implore you to avenge our blood, to take vengeance upon the ruthless criminals whose cruel hand has deprived us of our very lives. I ask you to build a memorial in our names, a monument reaching up to the heavens, that the entire world might see. Not a monument of marble or stone, but one of good deeds, for I believe with full and perfect faith that only such a monument can promise you and your children a better future."

Source: Donia Rosen, Forest, My Friend, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 1985, p. 94.

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Many would have thought that survivors would have lost their faith in life, mankind and society after the Holocaust. After the trauma and loss they experienced, they could have become bitter people in whom hatred simmered and whose every wish was directed toward vengeance. Many wondered whether life after Auschwitz had any value. Amazingly, the process the survivors underwent was a process of construction rather than of destruction. They directed their revenge into channels of renewal and revival; such as establishing families and contributing to society in general and to the building of the State of Israel in particular. Their renewed lives could not serve as a replacement or erase what had happened to them. Both they and their families continued to live in the shadow of the tragedies that had befallen them. Even so, the survivors did not submerge themselves in despair.

These are the words Erika chooses to conclude her memoirs. Two serious fears are expressed in her book, and they are interlinked. First, the fear that the Holocaust will be forgotten and denied, and second, the fear that similar events will happen again to someone in the world. She demands that we remember it so that it will be possible to prevent it.

Educational Discussion

• In your opinion, what conclusions could Erika have drawn from the terrible things she went through in the Holocaust?

• Are there other reactions that you would have thought she would have had after the Holocaust?

• In your opinion, why does Erika choose to mention her seven grandchildren here at the end of her book?

• How can we: "always be on guard to make sure that there will never again be another Holocaust: NEVER AGAIN".

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