WhatsappWhat every parent fears
Europe, World War Two. Jewish families were rounded up into ghettos. Many families were forced into small rooms. Food was scarce. Disease was rampant. Death was all too common. And forced transports to concentration camps were beginning.
The impossible choice
First of all, as a family was being sent away to the concentration camp, there were many unknown factors. Likewise, some things were clear: The Nazis forced the Jews into cattle cars for many days with little food and no room. Many would die from the journey. The Nazis killed millions in their concentration camps. Nazis and their collaborators would kill Jews at the concentration camps. People who could work might live. Yet Nazis would kill children and the disabled, elderly, and weak. Finally, the parents realized that if they wanted their daughter to live, they had to do something. As a result, it would mean losing their daughter. Should they?
So what do do with their baby daughter? Stay as a family and take her with them? Or hand her off to random strangers, who may or may not raise her, who may or may not tell her the truth about her parents, who may or may not keep her alive. This is an horrible choice that no mother or father should ever have to make. And yet these parents, along with many others, made a decision, and the mother wrote her daughter a letter from the Holocaust. A letter that she could read when she was older, if she survived. And if the letter survived. A letter of love. And a letter explaining why she gave her up.
A letter from the Holocaust
Hopefully this young girl will survive. Her parents were filled with tearful emotion, the most difficult time in their life. Will the girl ever read the letter? Or, will she understand why her parents had to send her away? Will she love her parents? Above all, will she understand their choice? What a frightening position for any parent to be in. Certainly, far too many have been in this position in the Holocaust. The Nazis were incredibly cruel. Seems like something no one should have to do. So watch the video and see what happened.
