Friday, September 25, 2015

Sobibor

I am currently reading a book called "Escape from Sobibor" by Richard Rashke.  I was doing some googling and came across it.  I read it today during my down time during popcorn harvest.  It is a really good read about World War II and the holocaust.  When I was a senior at Purdue I was involved in a Study Abroad program.  I spent the spring semester of 1996 in Godollo, Hungary, not far from Budapest.  It was one of the best trips of my life except for Hawaii with my wife.  For Spring break during my study abroad program we went to Poland for a couple days.  There we visited Auschwitz one morning.  I will never forget it.  We saw rooms of suitcases and eyeglasses.  I had a sick feeling in my stomach.  It was kind of a blur but we watched a movie saw the rooms of the Jews belongings, went to the execution wall.  We went to the gas chamber.  I was only 21 years old then and did not know a whole lot.  I wish I could go back with the knowledge I have now.  It is something I will never forget.  I did not know about the concentration camp of Sobibor and I am enjoying reading the book by Richard Rashke and learning new information about the holocaust and the World War II time.  It seems that Sobibor is as close to hell on earth as you will ever get.  It is sickening to read about it but educational to see what can happen when a government goes corrupt.  6 million people, mostly Jews, died like animals.  One part of the book tells about 2 German boys going into the ghetto in Poland and just shooting Jews at random.  In the book a liason for the Poland government who was in hiding in the west vomited when he was snuck into a concentration camp to see firsthand of what was happening was for real.  War is horrible and like hell on Earth(though the real hell, fiery brimstone, will be unmatched).  The Allied forces really did not do enough I believe since they new the concentration camps were happening.  The weird thing is that the world is still against the Jews.  They have their own country now called Israel however their allies are few and every nation wants them to give up pieces of their land.  What have we learned from history?  Not to much.  I believe when the leader of Iran says he wants to wipe off Israel from the map that someday they will try to do it.  May God continue to protect Israel.  I could not find my own personal pictures of Auschwitz however I have attached a few from the internet.  Today I am thinking the closest things to concentration camps would be in North Korea.  The people there live horribly.  We have a lot to be thankful for here.  May we be thankful, watchful, and alway be aware we could lose our freedoms anytime.