A True Survivor

Earlier tonight, I  attended a lecture presented by SMU Meadows School of the Arts called "Death As A Text: The Rhetoric of Genocide." The speaker was an absolutely amazing woman by the name of Agi Geva, a Holocaust survivor. 

Originally from Hungary, she suffered through the most difficult year of her life at the young age of thirteen. At the onset of the German occupation in Hungary, her father passed away, so along with her sister, only a year older than she, and her mother, the three women found themselves on a crowded train car, to where...they did not know. Their destination ended up being the infamous concentration camp of Auschwitz, and she has the tattoo of an "A" followed by various numbers on her forearm as a reminder of the tragedy. I sat in absolute awe as she detailed her experience; her trips from Auschwitz, to another, even more unbearable and inhumane concentration camp, and back to Auschwitz once more. 

Last year I was able to take Dr. Donald Niewyk's class on the Holocaust at SMU, and hearing Agi speak brought my perception of understanding to an entirely new level. Reading about the event which will undoubtedly have its far-reaching effects extend to generations to come is one thing, but to be able to listen to an individual who experienced the Holocaust brings an entirely new meaning to it. I have been to the Holocaust museum in Los Angeles, which is an experience in itself, but actualizing, and being able to empathize with this direct account of human suffering and strength was unreal. The experience further enforced the fact that we, as a country, as well as globally, need to revisit the events that have shaped how we perceive the world today, especially those that need to never, ever, be repeated.

We can assume that nothing in proportion to the Holocaust will ever happen again, but at closer inspection, human tragedy, genocide, basic human rights violations, and atrocities are happening all over the world today. Agi stressed the fact that many Holocaust survivors are not able to recount the details of their experience, for fear of reliving the past that they so desperately want to forget, which is by all means understandable. It is so important that people like Agi Geva are able to so strongly and defiantly tell their stories of such magnitude, for want of awareness about something so unimaginable to be given a human face. That Agi was able to laugh about the little things that gave her hope during her time at Auschwitz, that she told of her encounter with Josef Mengele, feared Nazi SS guard, whom she told "No" when ordered to be separated from her family, was truly inspiring. I will never forget it! Here's her website if you'd like to check it out: Agi Geva