My husband and I watched 'Shindler's List' last night. I had seen it before, but I don't care how many times you watch it, the film is incredibly moving and disturbing. I find it unfathomable that people could be so cruel as I cried through the entire movie. Seeing people tortured, treated worse than animals. Seeing children ripped from their Mother's arms. I just cannot seem to wrap my mind around the fact that six million Jews were murdered. Six Million. That is roughly the combined populations of modern day Chicago and Los Angeles. And this is an event that occurred during my parent's lifetime.
My Mother in Law was a child living in Germany during the war. Her Father was half Jewish and her Mother left them all to join the Nazi party. My friend, Lilo, was also a child living in Germany during the war, also. Her little town was bombed and the women and children had to go outside of town and live in caves. They were lucky to steal a few apples from a nearby farm or score a loaf of bread to share amongst them. Lilo remembers that everyone got along and shared and to this day, she is one of the most generous people I've ever known. "If I have it, I'll share it", is always her motto.
A few years ago I saw a man in Home Depot who had a concentration camp tattoo on his arm. I had never seen that before and I was stunned. How people lived through that type of ordeal and went on to live normal lives, I'll never know. I feet almost guilty because of the pain and suffering that these people have been through and the cushy life I have lead in comparison. And yet there are some people who believe the Holocaust never happened?!
Chloe was in the hospital a few years ago when she had been kicked in the head by a horse and her skull was fractured. Luckily, her injury didn't require surgery and she recovered quickly, but I'll never forget our days at Children's Hospital. The Mothers who wore an ICU badge so that they could come and go. The children who were terminally ill. I knew that every day of my life after that I would wake up happy and be thankful that I wasn't at Children's Hospital that day. I am guessing that the survivors of the concentration camps wake up like that. I am sure that it is something that haunts them still. It should haunt us all.
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Sunday, April 26, 2009
Schindler's List Revisited
My husband and I watched 'Shindler's List' last night. I had seen it before, but I don't care how many times you watch it, the film is incredibly moving and disturbing. I find it unfathomable that people could be so cruel as I cried through the entire movie. Seeing people tortured, treated worse than animals. Seeing children ripped from their Mother's arms. I just cannot seem to wrap my mind around the fact that six million Jews were murdered. Six Million. That is roughly the combined populations of modern day Chicago and Los Angeles. And this is an event that occurred during my parent's lifetime.
My Mother in Law was a child living in Germany during the war. Her Father was half Jewish and her Mother left them all to join the Nazi party. My friend, Lilo, was also a child living in Germany during the war, also. Her little town was bombed and the women and children had to go outside of town and live in caves. They were lucky to steal a few apples from a nearby farm or score a loaf of bread to share amongst them. Lilo remembers that everyone got along and shared and to this day, she is one of the most generous people I've ever known. "If I have it, I'll share it", is always her motto.
A few years ago I saw a man in Home Depot who had a concentration camp tattoo on his arm. I had never seen that before and I was stunned. How people lived through that type of ordeal and went on to live normal lives, I'll never know. I feet almost guilty because of the pain and suffering that these people have been through and the cushy life I have lead in comparison. And yet there are some people who believe the Holocaust never happened?!
Chloe was in the hospital a few years ago when she had been kicked in the head by a horse and her skull was fractured. Luckily, her injury didn't require surgery and she recovered quickly, but I'll never forget our days at Children's Hospital. The Mothers who wore an ICU badge so that they could come and go. The children who were terminally ill. I knew that every day of my life after that I would wake up happy and be thankful that I wasn't at Children's Hospital that day. I am guessing that the survivors of the concentration camps wake up like that. I am sure that it is something that haunts them still. It should haunt us all.
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3 comments:
Schindler's List is so haunting. How any human could do that to other humans is unfathomable, but genocide is still present in our world today. I had never seen the camp tattoos until we lived in Washington State. Several neighbors had parents who had been in the camps. We watched Slumdog Millionaire last weekend. Movies like that jolt us out of our suburban bubbles, and that's a good thing.
I haven't been able to watch that movie, Jana, and now I know I wouldn't be able to handle it. I'd get physically ill most likely. A friend of mine just visited Auschwitz the other day. He wrote that it was deeply disturbing. Did you read Sophie's Choice? The guilt that you mentioned was the major theme of the book - survivor's guilt.
I was haunted by that movie. The outhouse scene with the children was so awful. I have never been able to watch it again. The only Nazi movie I've seen since was Life is Beautiful. Not as brutal but so very sad.
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