By: Roberta Brandau
Hope. How does anyone remain hopeful under the hopeless conditions we heard about today?
Today, as we visited a center in Lublin that aims to preserve Jewish history during WWII, the notion of “hope” – particularly when it comes to Jewish children – kept coming back to my mind and capturing my heart.
In one of the carefully designed spaces our passionate Polish guide (who learned conversational English playing video games! “Love it”, says the researcher in me) took us, there was a picture of a smiley 7 year old boy who lived in Lublin before the war. “This boy was so loved by his family that they dressed him like a king”, said our guide. Yet, on the morning of what was supposed to be his first day of school, all of his parents hopes vanished in a heart beat as he was killed by Nazi troops. While other seven year old boys and girls (and their families) were allowed to hope for a better future, those who were Jewish were not.
I don’t know what you hope for our future. I hope that we will always remember that children should never be deprived of the opportunity to hope. If our children – meaning ALL children, regardless of race, religion, color, culture, etc – cannot hope, how can we remain hopeful for a better future? I also hope that we will always remember what happened to this boy and all other children who felt hopeless during WWII to prevent further crimes against humanity.