二戰時有130萬人被關押在這裡,110多萬在集中營喪生。 登記的卻只有约40萬人,其餘都是一到集中營就被殺害。 110多萬是怎樣一個數字! 把我們現在居住的這整個城市全部人口集合起來,也才那麼多人啊。 A horror of all horrors. The scale of the atrocity is unfathomable.
很難想像,這座被毀的建築物便是人類歷史上最大的mass murder現場。 1944年,這裡每天焚燒6千具屍體。 而集中營指揮官的住宅離此不過150米之遙。 納粹指揮官Rudolf Hoss的太太描述這段Auschwitz時光是“heavenly, happy times”,他女兒說爸爸是“a loving father, the nicest man in the world”.
Rudolf Hoss自己的回憶錄裡寫:“Hundreds of men and women in the full bloom of life walked all unsuspecting to their death in the gas chambers under the blossom-laden fruit trees of the orchard. This picture of death in the midst of life remains with me to this day. I looked upon them as enemies of our people. The reasons behind the Extermination Program seemed to me right.”
很長一段時間裡,我都在信仰上掙扎,眼看身邊的朋友被病魔折磨甚至至死,但神似乎完全不垂聽我們的懇求。 然而在這天,在讀著上面這兩個親身testimonies,他們在這世界最黑暗的地獄中,在被苦難洗劫淨盡後仍然能看到神 — He is on the gallows with the boy. 我的淚水湧上來,有一個溫柔細微的聲音在耳畔提醒我 His goodness and compassion,無比輕柔卻又如此排山倒海,一瞬間席捲而來。 我的淚水傾洩而下,而內心卻是不可思議的平靜篤定。 沒想到神在這裡和我相遇。 The gentle, still voice was so small yet so penetrating that it cut open my inmost being. He knows me. He knows me so intimately; and yet he didn’t give up on me despite my doubts and my rebellious heart. My heart was overwhelmed and overflowing with warmth and gratitude. I’ll never forget this place.