By: Whitney Conjeski
I have not yet figured out how to process everything I have seen so far on this trip. Meeting students that currently live in Starachowice-Wierzbnik and learning of their shock of Howard’s story made me realize their local history is censured.
Realizing that today, in the actual place of where Howard’s life (up until age 14) took place, only a plaque commemorates the town’s Jewish population is mind blowing. Today! With the Holocaust survivor himself pointing out houses and saying names that are no longer mentioned because their life was cut short – it’s crushing. How can humans do this to one another? How can it be hidden in their town square? Yes, the mayor attended the event to hear Howard’s story, but Howard is 88 years old and what took so long? The local high school students voluntarily researching about Howard and walking with us through their town shows that people care.
But there’s this lack of asking why. Why are there no Jews that live here? What was our town’s history during World War 2? It almost seems that the generation that experienced it succeeded in never speaking of it again. But I have faith that with the young people I have met today the names not mentioned in years will be spoken again. I had the privilege of meeting a 26-year-old who grew up in Howard’s town who just last week questioned the Jewish history of his town and consequently came across our tour. A week! The more people hear of stories like Howard’s, the more people can help never forget!
