stanisław zalewski
Dear and distinguished Participants of the solemn celebration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Konzentrationslager Auschwitz!
I address my words of respect to all those who fate spared from industrial operations of the German Nazi machine of genocide in Auschwitz and other concentration and extermination camps.
A drastic but true expression. I am referring to the innumerable amounts of human hair, glasses, prostheses, shoes, clothing, and other items of daily and periodic use by children, women, and men of different nationalities and religions.
The storms of history dispelled the ashes of the owners of these possessions. However, their immortal souls remained in a space invisible to humans.
Today they have come to this place in large numbers and mingle among us. And if we open our hearts, we will hear their cries, moans and complaints to God.
"In a place such as this, words are missing, and the heart cries out to God in dreadful silence. Lord, why did you remain silent? In this silence, we bow our heads before the countless people who suffered and were murdered here. Yet this silence is a loud cry for forgiveness and reconciliation, a prayer to the living God to prevent it from ever happening again".
"How many questions come to mind here! One, in particular, keeps coming up: Where was God in those days? Why was he silent? How could he allow so much destruction, this triumph of evil?"
These were the words of Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau in 2006. He went on to say:
"We cannot fathom the mystery of God. We see only fragments of it, and we wander around when we want to become judges of God and history.
These words of the Pope became a point of reference for me: One must not rummage through the consciences of people who had experienced a time when people deliberately forgot about another person's right to live.
From here onwards, I will speak based on my "Polish War Paths", which began in September 1943 and ended in July 1945.