"A Photo From Auschwitz, 1944"

"A Photo From Auschwitz, 1944"

by Arfa Khanum

"If I didn't know where this photo was taken and who took it, namely an SS officer, I would think it was a moment of rest after the mass, in an open field, where one sits down and eats something after a pilgrimage, before when you go home and take a photo as a souvenir, just like I did as a child with our church community.

This photo shows a child who has found a dandelion in the grass

 and is now giving or showing it to an older child, perhaps a sibling.

A few minutes later, all the people shown here were sent to the gas chambers. And all that remains of these Hungarian Jews is this photograph, children, men, women, boys, girls and this small spontaneous gesture, then screams, shouts and silence."

- https://newzen.quora.com/

“My heart broke on its shame and sorrow. I suddenly knew how much crying there was in me, and how little love. I knew, at last, how lonely I was. But I couldn’t respond. My culture had taught me all the wrong things well. So I lay completely still, and gave no reaction at all. But the soul has no culture. The soul has no nations. The soul has no color or accent or way of life. The soul is forever. The soul is one. And when the heart has its moment of truth and sorrow, the soul can’t be stilled. I clenched my teeth against the stars. I closed my eyes. I surrendered to sleep. One of the reasons why we crave love, and seek it so desperately, is that love is the only cure for loneliness, and shame, and sorrow. But some feelings sink so deep into the heart that only loneliness can help you find them again. Some truths about yourself are so painful that only shame can help you live with them. And some things are just so sad that only your soul can do the crying for you.”

                                         - Gregory David Roberts, "Shantaram"