Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Eva Olsson a Holocaust Survior

Hate. That's how six million Innocent people got killed. Not one of them did anything wrong they were just hated by a few people for being alive. That's what happened in the Holocaust six million people were killed but many more went through the hardships of the Holocaust. Eva Olsson was one of the lucky ones to survive. But was she lucky? Is suffering for 2 years, watching your family get dragged away from you without being able to say goodbye feeling every last bit of hope leaving you. You may think she is lucky but I don't.



On Monday we heard her story. The story that made me realize how lucky I am. Apart from telling us her terrifying story of her and others experiences of the Holocaust she spoke of valuable Lessons for all of us. Never hate, you can dislike but hate is what caused the holocaust. A bully is who causes this but bystanders let it happen. Her story started when the Nazis took Jews from her country telling them that they would find a better life, money and work. Now its true that it was the Nazi bullies were the ones that got those Jews on that train and made sure they didn't find a better life when they got off but what about all those people lining the streets just watching. Did one of them even make one move to try and stop the bullies? NO. not even one. They were bystanders who proved that they were just as bad as the bullies. One of Eva Olsson's biggest regret was not being able to tell her mother that she loved her one last time when her mother was taken to the gas chamber and Eva was sent to the camp. Remember its never a bad time to tell someone you love them because tomorrow you might not have the chance. When the Holocaust ended Eva found her best friend in her husband however even after everything she lost it wasn't over. When her husband was 38 he died because of a drunk driver. That was her last message to us please don't drink and drive it takes innocent lives just like the Holocaust.



What amazes me most about Eva Olsson's terrible time at Auschwitz is how she got through it. How she found the courage to live every second of every minute of every day. No matter what happened to her she kept going. Could you find that in you? I'm not sure if I could. I think that Eva felt that if she couldn't keep going for herself she had to keep going for her younger sister who was with her. What matters most is that you have to be a truly spectacular person to find that hope and courage to get out of that horrible place.



After being silent for 50 years Eva has found even more courage to come and talk to millions of people about her horrible ordeal. What makes her do it? I think she wants everybody to know because of all the lessons that come from it but also that this must never happen again. Personally I don't understand how someone can do this to someone else. However it has already happened even if it wasn't to the same extreme. It has happened in Rwanda, and Croatia just to name a couple. To see her face when she told us about her family being sent left towards certain death was enough to stop anyone with an ounce of humanity from doing this. Her speech was definatly something I'll never forget and I hope I and others will be able to put her lessons into practice.





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