Dear friends, Friday-yesterday. I am leading a group of Bnei Akiva from Australia and South Africa. As usual the group sings holy songs of prayer during the visit. This time the guards of the camp hounded us all the time, shouting at us not to sing. Even in the gas chamber of Aushwitz 1, the guard came up to me and shouted at me: tell them immediately to shut up. We then went to Birkenau. In a secluded part of the camp the boys spontaneously started singing Ani Maamin. This was the song that prisoners sang on the way to be murdered there. A guard drove after us with his car and demanded that they be silent. I told him that I dont have control over this as they are singing from their hearts. He then threatened to arrest me and called the police. In my group were a few boys that their grandparents were prisoners or were murdered in Aushwitz. We cried a lot on that day when they shared their stories with us. I was threatened with 24 hours imprisonment or paying a 1000 zloty fine (about $350). I opted to pay as it was 2 hours before Shabbat. It is totally unacceptable that the camp administration treats Jewish groups as if we are tourists to the site like any other group. They have to be considerate and compassionate to Jewish groups. We are not visiting there out of curiosity. It is a journey to the depths of our souls. If the camp administration does not understand this, then they are incompetent to rule of this sacred site. The next rule will be that we are not allowed to carry Israeli flags as it might offend someone… I demand a formal apology from the camp administration and the refund of the fine that I had to pay. Please help raise the awareness of this issue for all future Jewish groups in Auswitz-Birkenau.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 21:58:57 +0000