Is it just me or does that guard tower out in the field behind Springdale Farms look like its from WWII?! Driving by yesterday I had this knee-jerk reaction that I had seen it before – at Majdanek! Majdanek was a concentration camp in Poland where 100,000s of Jews died. Unlike Trblinka which was deep in the woods, Majdanek was 4 kilometers from the center of Lublin, a big city. Like Springdale Farms it was in the suburbs, on farm land, and easily seen from surrounding houses and those driving by on the road. And yet, amazingly, “no one” knew what was going on behind those guard towers!
Seeing that tower brought me right back to the cold winter day, years ago, when I was visiting that camp. It sent a shiver up my spine. I thought about the words of Richard von Weizsaecker the former President of the Federal Republic of Germany, (who served a rare double term from 1984-1994). In admitting German responsibility for the war he wrote, “There were many ways of not burdening one's conscience, of shunning responsibility, looking away, keeping mum. When the unspeakable truth of the Holocaust then became known at the end of the war, all too many of us claimed that they had not known anything about it or even suspected anything."
We Jews have long memories – and our own way of looking at the world. One foot in the present, one foot on the past, eyes focused on the future.
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2 comments:
It is because our eyes are focused in the future that the Jews have given so much to the world.You said it all in that three lined statement.
The tower is used during the fall to ensure that people don't get lost in the corn maze - in this capacity its function is that of a "light-house".
That said, I am sure no one ever imagined when places like Majdanek were being built, that they would be used for such attrocities. It is likely that people simply 'assumed' various purposes and continued about their business. How might things have been different if those same people had not assumed? If they had questioned, investigated the true intent and purpose for such places?
The Rabbi's comments remind me how very important it is to never assume things at face value. Rather, how very very important - even essential - it is to remain inquisitive, conscious, and participant in the world around us.
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