Um dia em Auschwitz

"The road to Auschwitz winds past farmland, historic churches and small country homes. Our driver, Irek Wis, knows the route well. For nearly two decades, he has taken visitors to the world’s most infamous concentration camp, making the round-trip roughly 250 times each year.

As we drive there, he offers us this advice: “You are on vacation,” he says. ‘Try to relax…I know that for you it will be a very unpleasant visit. No one promises that it will be easy. But try to little bit relax or the bad emotions will burn you.”

My parents and I know that Irek is right. We have twice postponed plans to visit Auschwitz. And there’s a reason. A personal one. Both my late paternal grandparents were imprisoned in Auschwitz during the Holocaust. And as Irek drives and talks about what to expect, it’s hard to reconcile the past with the present."

Fonte: Here and Now, NPR

O Zé Carlos, que está sempre atento a estas coisas, lembrou-nos do significado de hoje. Ontem passou esta história na rádio. Não saí do carro sem a ouvir até ao fim; mas custa a ouvir e não o consegui fazer sem chorar. Se se emocionam muito, talvez precisem de alguma privacidade.