The Shoah

If walls could talk:

We would have screamed for mercy. Begged, cried and pleaded for release. Provided help and aid. We would have sent out warnings, to stand up and fight, or run. We would have guarded, as a refuge of protection. Crumbled in protest.

Instead, we could only do what we were designed and intended to do. Stand.

If we could speak, we would attest, and bear witness to the atrocities enacted in the name of hate. By a race, believed to be superior.

If I could talk and tell you what I have seen, what I have heard, what I was constructed for, you would beg me to stop.

I was designed for destruction. Built with the sole purpose to entrap, contain and keep hidden, the filthy secret of pure evil, by the darkest of mankind.

Humans/Humankind: a human being, especially a person as distinguished from an animal. Highly social, living in complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families and kinship networks to political states. As such, social interactions between humans have established a wide variety of values, social norms, language, and rituals, each of which bolster human society.

But throughout history there are those that have behaved far worse than animals. Showing the oxymoron in the title; humankind. Kindness plays no part.

For years I was privy to the prayers and promises, hopes and horrors, faith and fears - rising to my ceilings, awaiting a salvation that for many, never came. My rooms were filled with, and witness to ultimate loss, betrayal, strength and survival.

If I could talk, I would have thrown off my rafters, crying and screaming for help. I would tell you of a powerful purpose that could not be broken, although I witnessed the undeniable effort, in trying to break it.

Humanity sprawled its worst on us, and we stood, motionless, helpless. Palettes and canvases displaying unspeakable horrors, and we were silent.

We watched as the people in place to protect, lied and cowered as they gave in to greed and social pressures. Ugliness prevailed. Countless soldiers, policemen, civil servants, lawyers, judges, businessmen, engineers, and doctors and nurses chose to implement the regime’s policies.

Ordinary people also participated in the Holocaust in a variety of ways. Some Germans cheered as Jews were beaten or humiliated. Others denounced them for disobeying racist laws and regulations. Many Germans bought, took, or looted their Jewish neighbors' belongings and property. These Germans’ participation in the Holocaust was motivated by enthusiasm, careerism, fear, greed, self-interest, antisemitism, and political ideals, among other factors.

We thought we had seen the worst of it, and for over 6 years we watched silently, as humans behaved at the magnitude of their cruelty.

There were some who fought against it. Providing help and escape. Tens of thousands risked their lives to rescue Jews from the Nazis’ clutches. Undeterred by threats, they took Jewish children into their homes, concealed and provided for entire families, and established underground passage for children to neutral countries. Many were executed for these noble deeds. And we watched.

As bombs and bullets marred our surfaces and fractured our foundations, we stood as a reminder. A visible image of the carnage hidden within our structures. If we could talk, there would be no end to the tales we could tell of the lives we watched, marking, carving, etching the proof that they existed on our skin.

Crimes now recognized by the world as genocide.

Even today, as many come to walk my halls, reuniting to remember and pay tribute to the lives lost, and survived. If I could talk, I would fill in the missing pieces, the answers to the questions, why and how?

I would say, because mankind remained quiet, docile, ignorant to the truth. For some it was easier to pretend it wasn't true. I stood there for 6 years, absorbing the blood, sweat and tears of the ones forgotten. If I could talk, that is the hard truth I would speak.

Although I have been repaired, painted and covered with the pictures and the names of the loved ones who dwelled on my surface.

I still bear the scars.

Once you have heard what I would say, if I could talk. So should you.

"Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it."

George Santayan

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