Walking into the Jewish Quarter of Lublin was absolutely beautiful, a true hidden gem. The beauty of this town quickly caught my eye, but my feelings instantly changed after visiting the Old Town Gradzka Theatre. Immediately after entering the theater I felt an extremely heavy sense of sorrow, yet nothing that could come close to the agony that the Jewish Poles that once thrived in this town had endured. While inside the theatre, I viewed the files, the documents, and all of the photos that lined the walls. These photos displayed the flourishing lives of the Jewish Poles, before they seemed to suddenly vanish from the regular daily life in the town. The pictures that wrapped the walls displayed so many beautiful families, smiling, celebrating, showing togetherness, and love. These photos were all so real, simply other humans just living life, enjoying the everyday freedoms, unexpecting of what evil was about to destroy all that they knew. The theater did an incredible job cultivating the memory of the Jewish people of Lublin, showing the realness of all of these human hearts. Ending the exhibit with the Righteous among the Nations gave me hope, hope that even though humans can be beyond malicious, there is still hope for us all, but we all need to make sure to not sit back and not stand up for our fellow neighbors. Religion, race, ethnicity, gender, etc, they all don’t matter. We are humans no matter what. Love and tolerance is the ultimate answer.
“Teach us love, compassion, and honor that we may heal the earth and heal each other…Ojibwa prayer