Page 126 - Witness: Passing the Torch of Holocaust Memory to New Generations

An example of the lasting impact of the trauma, even many years after liberation, occurred during one March of the Living trip to Auschwitz. As an Auschwitz survivor led the students into the gates of the former death camp, a student was heard to say – innocently – “so we are now entering Auschwitz.” To which the survivor replied, gently, with this corrective: “No, you are not entering Auschwitz. For you will never enter Auschwitz. And I will never leave.”
One survivor in her 90s, Eva Shainblum from Montreal, attended the January 2020 commemorations, and returned to Canada with a handful of earth from Auschwitz. When her life’s journey was over, her wish was to be buried together with the earth from the very place where her loved ones were murdered.
Even many years after liberation, the trauma and memory of her ripped asunder family remained, and the longing to be reunited with her long deceased loved ones had not dimmed.
As one student suggested, after looking into the mournful eyes of the survivors on her trip:
“No one really survived the Holocaust. We see the eyes of survivors.”
While many – perhaps even most – survivors showed remarkable resilience and courage in rebuilding their
lives after liberation, their victory was never complete, as the loss of their loved ones was never far away.
But the survivors also express unending gratitude to the soldiers – American, Soviet, English, and Canadian – who liberated them and to their adoptive countries around the world who allowed them to strike roots, rebuild
their lives, and begin new families.
In return, these same survivors contributed immensely to the fabric of life in the communities, and in the
countries who gave them refuge, and welcomed them to their shores.
“Triumph does not erase the memories of a tragedy. It does not mend the scars that were left behind nor does it bring back what was forever lost.”
—Quoted by Hannah Berdowski, 16, March of the Living, 2012
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