The European Experience: Part 3

The Anne Frank HouseAmsterdam

The Jewish Memorial
Berlin

'Dear Father! I am saying goodbye to you before I die. We would so love to live, but they won't let us and we will die. I am so scared of this death, because the small children are thrown alive into this pit. Goodbye forever. I kiss you tenderly. Your J.'

31st July 1942

Note written by a young child to her father

I am sitting here in bed, thinking of words to describe the feeling I first had whilst exploring the Secret Annex and while visiting the Jewish memorial. The truth is... I can't. I can only say that being able to feel a fraction of what these Jewish people must have felt at that time, the fear and the persecution, was a profound and intense experience. Learning of the generosity of people like Victor Kugler & the other helpers, the maturity of a young girl, reading stories and anecdotes from victims of WW2... It's something that can't be put into words.

In the movie Schindler's List, a Jewish woman being transported to a concentration camp sums up her emotions and humankind's insatiable hunger for life by saying 'One day alive is still a day more'. To be able to go out and feel the sunshine on your face (no matter how humid and scorching Singapore heat is) becomes special. Having a simple meal, being able to read books or go anywhere you want... all of these experiences becomes privileges. It reminded me of the importance of learning from our past to prevent us from making mistakes in the future, and of being grateful for even the smallest of things :)