En route to Auschwitz one Sarah and I visited a small Jewish Cemetery in the town of Oswiecim (renamed Auschwitz after the Nazi invasion in 1939). We had in fact passed many graveyards whilst driving through Poland; however, what alarmed us was the size and maintenance of the other graveyards in comparison to the Jewish one we encountered. The Jewish Cemetery was surrounded by unnervingly large brick walls and the only entrance was secured by a metal gate. The reasons for such high security were due to recent events involving vandals breaking into the Cemetery and smashing the gravestones within it. Such events merely go to show that some people continue to fail to acknowledge the severity of discrimination and what it can escalate into despite the happenings in that very town in the 1940’s. After the gate had been unlocked and we were let in I was stuck by how dishevelled and unkempt the display before me was. There were very few graves and the few standing were marked with numbers or Swastikas and there was a distinct lack of flowers. Following the Nazi invasion of the Polish town in 1939 the Cemetery was vandalized and destroyed; many gravestones were smashed and used to pave the town of Oswiecim. After the war, a Jewish man named Szymon Kluger revisited Oswiecim and re-erected the gravestones that stand at present. In the centre of the Cemetery he also crafted a monument from a collection of the smashed gravestones. Another object that caught my attention was a small wooden construction by the entrance of the Cemetery that looked almost like a small house. It was in fact the grave of Szymon Kluger who was the last Jewish person to live in Oswiecim to this day. Sadly he died in 2000.
Issues that we reflected upon whilst in the Cemetery were matters such as; why are there no Jewish people living in Oswiecim at present? Why would vandals destroy the gravestones within the cemetery considering the events that took place within the town of Oswiecim (Auschwitz)? Have we learnt anything from history? Please feel free to comment with your views upon any of the above issues.
Pictures of the memorial made from gravestones (left) and Szymon Kluger's grave (right)
- Aggie :)
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