I heard a woman say,

“The Holocaust makes you think

of two things:

concentration camps

and the number six million.

And nothing in between.

But the Holocaust

was everything in between.”

She was a survivor.

She survived the terror,

the horror,

the everything in between

that was in fact

so gruesome,

we simply cannot imagine it.

The unbearable darkness

that humankind can unleash

on its very own.

~

Now 70 years after that brutal war ended,

headlines brag

of an 89-year-old Nazi guard,

charged with 158 counts

of complicit murder–

one for every trainload of prisoners

that came under his care.

Appearing in court with a cane,

he’s held with dementia, but no bail,

and waits to suffer the consequences

of his teenage actions.

Of things he did or did not do.

Of people he killed,

or did not stop others from killing.

Of acts he committed out of terror,

and horror,

and survival.

~

We all applaud as he’s taken away in shackles

and a green jumpsuit.

Because if this man is guilty,

then maybe we are less so.

But little do we know

that sacrificing one guard

for six million souls

will do no more to even the score

than removing a teardrop of saltwater

will help to dry up the sea.

Perhaps if we focus our anger,

and sadness,

and remorse,

and regret,

on understanding

the beliefs,

and culture,

and values

of others,

perhaps then,

we are freed

from the prisons of our histories.

~

And we can all become survivors.