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Published: September 29th 2009
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Dear Grandpa,
I visited Auschwitz and Birkenau, and I learned something about you. Or rather, I learned something about humanity. I learned that men are brave, and it is the brave ones who matter. I learned that men are humane, and it is the humane ones that matter. I learned that good CAN overcome evil, and that it is the good in man that truly matters. I learned that you are the greatest man that ever lived, that you are humane, you are brave, you are a hero. It is you who is the beauty in this world.
Sometimes it is hard for people to talk about the truly horrific things they have witnessed. It is hard for them to recount the things they have seen, the things they have been forced to do in order to preserve the things that make life worth living. I saw the ghost camps, Grandpa, I saw the living quarters of millions of people during World War II, and I saw the building where so many people's lives were taken from them. What I did not see were the faces of those who were interned, of those who's lives were taken from them
out of jealousy, greed, condemnation, or whatever it was that made them offensive to Hitler and his followers. I saw the remains of what you were fighting for.
I cannot imagine, Grandpa, what it would have been like to see the starving men, women and children in those prisons. I cannot imagine what it would have been like to see their faces as you stormed the concentration camp and liberated them. I cannot imagine their gratitude, the overwhelming feeling of joy, sadness, depravity, utter indecency... I cannot imagine Grandpa, because I was not there.
I want you to know that I support our soldiers, that I believe in the cause, I believe in humanity, I believe in the power of good, I believe the things that you believed when you risked your life to save so many people, when you risked your life to make sure I survived. It is you I thank today Grandpa, you and so many others who saved the people that you could, you risked your life, your dreams, your hopes, your loved ones because you knew if you didn't more people would die. You are a miracle Grandpa. You are an Angel.
I want you to know that I love you Grandpa. That I understand these things, that I understand what you went through even if I can't imagine it. I know that you are brave, I know that you are amazing, I know that you and your fellow soldiers are the reason I am able to live the way that I do. You are the reason I can see Poland, you are the reason I can be in the places I am, you are the reason I can be me without fear of reprimand and condemnation.
Many people remember the things America did for the world Grandpa, but not many remember the things that you did for America, that you and your friends, your neighbors, your countryman did for America and humanity. I remember Grandpa. I saw the filth of the Nazi regime, I saw the railway that took so many to their deaths, I saw the permanent mudpile of ashes from those whose lives were ended in these camps, the worst camps of this era. I cannot imagine. I simply am at a loss for words, and that doesn't happen often.
I've been meaning to write this letter
for a few weeks, but I did not know what to say. I didn't know how to express to you the feelings I have, the disgust, the awe, the utter bewilderment of witnessing for myself this place, this place that I only knew from history books, but the place that you knew from first hand experience.
I could not believe that people were still living in Auschwitz. To live so close to a place where so many people lost their lives at the hands of others. To live so close to a place where only the ghosts of good men, women and children rest. I could not imagine because I could not believe. I'm sorry I've never talked to you about this, Grandpa, I'm sorry that I was never brave enough to ask you what happenned. I was not brave enough to know the truth, to know what you had to go through so that I could be here.
I love you Grandpa. You are amazing. You are my hero. You are the reason I exist, you are the reason my children will exist, you are the reason that the world still has good.
Thank you Grandpa,
thank you for sacrificing your innocense to protect mine.
Thank you for loving me enough to save me from a world of depravity.
Thank you for loving Grandma enough to fight for her.
Thank you for everything I have and will ever have.
Thank you Grandpa.
I love you.
Jess
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Sharon Stackhouse
non-member comment
Evil exists in the world
To sit and stare at the remnants of one of the stark memories of true Evil in this World brings you to an understanding of why people can get so passionate to fight for what is good and pure. I've only seen photos and movies of the bodies as they were tossed into the mass graves. The shallow, gaunt faces of those doomed to die meerly because of whom they were born to be. I haven't been there where it actually happened, however, I have looked into my dad's eyes and felt his heart. I've seen his pride and his sorrow and his concerns for where we are going. To embrace people who say this never happened is to embrace pure Evil. For humanities sake we must continue to strive for what is good. We must continue individually to seek God and let Him occupy our hearts. God is good. Satan is Evil. Thank you, Jess, for your acknowledgment of history and my dad's experience of that history. I hope young people today will fight to know their history rather than allow it to be distorted or removed from memory.