“We found the rest and peace we needed to balance the intense field of suffering and pain”

It is possible that many of you saw programmes on TV related to the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. For some of you it was compelling viewing but for others it was very difficult. Auschwitz remains an open wound and is always a difficult place to visit even on TV. On 27th January, 2015, three hundred survivors gathered in Auschwitz-Birkenau with dignitaries, interfaith representatives, and three thousand visitors, to remember the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the camp by the Soviet Red Army on the 27th January, 1945.

Preparing for Mass in the Centre, 27th January 2015

Some of the survivors, both Christian and Jewish, stayed in the Centre. They had made long journeys from many countries, some very fearful of returning to Auschwitz, some returning for the first time after 70 years. They brought with them an incomprehensible past filled with horrific stories from their time in the camps – hunger, brutality, slave labour, and tragic memories of family members separated and murdered. Yet, when the survivors arrived to the Centre, they seemed to feel at ease and at home immediately. How was this possible I wondered? I am still not quite sure of the answer to this but perhaps it has something to do with hospitality.

The Centre is a Catholic institution founded in 1992 by Cardinal Macharski (Krakow). The intention of the founders was to create a place for reflection, education, sharing and prayer for all those who are moved by what happened in the former concentration camp Auschwitz – Birkenau. This task, among others, includes creating a house of hospitality for guests where the dignity of each person is respected, no matter who they are, what their religious tradition is, or where they are from. The environment within the Centre is sensitive with soft colours, soft furnishings, and a spacious reception area where guests can sit, chat, and share together over tea or coffee. The staff is friendly and welcoming. But a building, no matter how beautiful it is, remains only a building, unless somehow there is a spirit and ethos that breathes life not only into the bricks and mortar, but into the very relationships within its four walls.

Centre for Dialogue and Prayer

The Centre has a tradition of welcome. On many occasions guests recount how good it is to return to a safe and calm place after their visit to the camps. “It was incredibly helpful to come back to the Centre after each visit to the camp. We found the rest and peace we needed to balance the intense field of suffering and pain.” “This past week has been one of the best and most moving weeks of my life, and I know it would not have been the same without the Centre for Dialogue and Prayer, and your warm and generous hospitality.” To have the availability of spiritual and pastoral support is also important for some guests. “I really appreciated the opportunity to talk with you throughout our stay. You understand and you empathise. I am grateful for the spiritual support: being able to pray in the chapel, being able to attend Mass.” The guests are many and varied, individuals and groups, some with connections to Auschwitz from both the victim and perpetrator sides, others engaged in peace work, retreats, parishes, schools and colleges, seminarians, conference groups, interfaith groups. But always the most important people who come are the survivors.

Perhaps the biblical heritage of hospitality received from our Jewish sisters and brothers and through the teachings of Jesus has impacted our everyday relationships, even if we are not overly conscious of it. This heritage reminds us of the encounter Abraham had with the three strangers. He welcomed them as guests. The story opens in Genesis 18:1, “the Lord appeared to him.” More than likely Abraham was praying, but when he saw the three strangers, hospitality took precedence. A midrash says the tent had openings on all four sides so no matter from what direction the stranger came, he could enter. From earliest biblical times welcoming the stranger goes hand in hand with hospitality (Ex. 23:9). We have many incidents from the life of Jesus also. He sat, dined, and welcomed strangers, outcasts and sinners. Zaccheus (Lk.19), a chief tax collector and rich, came up with his own plan B to make sure he saw Jesus. As we know, the encounter became much more than looking for a good perch on a tree. By the end of the day Zaccheus was telling Jesus his life story over a meal. Many other biblical examples could be included but they are not necessary. It is enough to acknowledge that hospitality and welcoming the stranger are intrinsic to the Judeo-Christian tradition and spirit.

Avi with his grandfather David and Ewa with her grandmother Alina

During the days of the 70th anniversary commemoration, Avi, a young man from the US stayed in the Centre. He accompanied his grandfather David who is a survivor of Auschwitz. Avi describes life in the Centre during those couple of days:

“Meeting children and grandchildren of survivors is an experience I’ve never really had before, and it has been so eye-opening. I would come down to the lobby each night expecting to quietly check my email, and I would routinely go to bed at 2 or 3 in the morning because of the new people I was meeting. I never expected that I would be walking away from my time here with these new friends and intimate connections. I heard these other people retell their family history, and how their families have incorporated and dealt with this massive trauma. We all have survivors in our family. Their stories are our stories. When my grandfather is gone, his story will be my story. Even now, it is a part of my history. It always will be.”

Children remembering children, Primary school, Brzezinka (Birkenau) January 28th 2015

As cantor, David sang the haunting Jewish prayer for the departed El Maleh Rahamim at the 70th anniversary commemoration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONGl0sML5OY.  His life story as a survivor of Auschwitz can be found at: www.youtube.com/teamwisnia

To witness the exchanges between the survivors was very moving. I watched them roll up their sleeves to show each other the numbers on their arms, exchange dates and years of their time in the camp and recount their stories with each other. They had a sense of life, humour, and wanting to talk. Avi continues:
“My grandfather and I sat with Alina and her granddaughter Ewa, as we had for several meals at the Dialogue Centre this week. Their English was much better than my Polish. Alina learned her English when she was in prison before she was sent to Auschwitz as a Polish political prisoner, as a non-Jew. She and my grandfather compared their imprisonment. Tonight, there were smiles, and there was laughter – as there actually had been consistently for the past few days, too. My grandfather and Alina broke into song a few times around the table, singing Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen. Ewa and I talked about music and living in Warsaw and TV (though the fact that we watched two different incarnations of 90210 made me feel super old). We talked about hearing stories from our grandparents and what it was like to come to Auschwitz with them.”

The survivors brought with them memories, but they left us with much more. They left an unexpected legacy of blessings to the Centre – they brought to the forefront, to the surface, the spirit of the house, the spirit of hospitality in its biblical sense of welcome, and they brought to the forefront, to the surface, the spiritual and pastoral care that is present also. In today’s world the ‘hospitality industry’ does not easily go hand in hand with biblical hospitality. But the survivors have shown us it is possible.

The final word comes from Leon a survivor from the ghetto and Auschwitz. Leon and I were together for breakfast on his final morning. He looked at me and simply said, “You will never understand what it was like here, nobody will.” And this is true. We have never been survivors and so we will always understand only a little. But that ‘little’ opens a door to creating the opposite of Auschwitz wherever we live, to creating a civilization of love where we accept each other as sisters and brothers created in the image and likeness of God.

Mary O’Sullivan rsm
South Central Province

P.S.
On the evening of March 3rd, 2015 Mary O’Sullivan rsm received an award: Person of Reconciliation, 2014 from the Polish Council of Christians and Jews.

Mary receiving the award from Rabbi, Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland, in Nozyk Synagogue, Warsaw. 
Also in picture is Professor Stanislawa Krajewski, Nozyk Synagogue, Poland