Aimee’s World Tour

Auschwitz isn’t just another museum or memorial.  It’s a complex story- a story of history – a story of truth and a story of pain.  A story of beginnings and endings so vast you could never hear the half of them.  Yet they all come together so that none are forgotten.

This particular story begins with a bright-eyed little girl who lived with her mother, father and younger brother in Warsaw, the capital of Poland.  At the tender age of 7, Hanna loved to wear big bows in her blonde hair.  She still has the pictures. Unfortunately Hanna’s bright eyes would lose their sparkle all too soon.

Hanna’s father was a “threat” to the Nazi regime according to Hitler’s ideology.  As an intellectual, an engineer specifically, he was placed on a list prior to the war in 1939.  After having gone into hiding in a village outside Warsaw with Hanna’s grandparents, he came back to Warsaw and hid just a few streets away from his dear family. 

Hanna’s father was working on getting a new identity: a new name, a new occupation, a new life.  One morning when he was returning from a secret meeting to discuss his papers, the Nazis seized him right there in the street and brought him to Auschwitz.  He was among the first deportation of Poles from Warsaw – the 12th deportation total to Auschwitz from all locations at that time during the war. 

The iron fist of Hitler’s regime had no mercy. 

Hanna’s father was just one of millions yet to this day he stands as a reminder.  He may never have seen Hanna grow up but his great grandchildren know his story well. 

Like my brother last summer, tomorrow I too will go to see the graveyard of my family.  My visit is not merely rememberance but emersement, so that I may begin to comprehend the words of my Babcia Hanna.

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