Still, Treblinka

We jumped back into our car, shooing out flying insects that invaded our space, drove away, quiet with our thoughts, taking in what we had just experienced, the climax of our journey, how to process?  We visited this place.  This wasn’t a visit to a place.  We saw the surroundings.  This wasn’t to view the surroundings.  We viewed the monuments.  This wasn’t a viewing of monuments.  Treblinka.  To see this name on a sign pointing us in the direction of the space we experienced was hair raising.  Treblinka.  To keep saying this word without loosing the profoundness of its meaning, sacrosanct.  Treblinka.  A village nearby where this word is part of peoples’ addresses.  We breathed the air and choked on it.  We walked the rail lines and tripped on them.  Our feet walked the ground that theirs did.  We were there.  We were where they were.  We honor them with our hearts and souls.  It was the great honor of our lives, being there.  It was the great sorrow of our lives, being there.  Driving away, we said to each other words that came to our minds.  This was Treblinka.

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                  forest

thick green forest leaves shimmering wind

    forest forest forest insect flying                   cobblestones hurt

                                           like connecticut

stone path

.                             insects flying angry                      TRAIN TRACKS          TRAIN PLATform

.                     insects flying angry                        a time that humanity lost its way

.                                                         insects AGGRESSIVE flying angry

insects flying face body angry                   wasps and bees and horseflies and flies and and and 

.                      Humid Hot Flies Bites                           birds singing??????

                                    black pit          800,000 souls calling

17,000 STONES                   silence                            sound of wind                       comforting stones

.               solitude                horseflies BITING through clothes

.                          grief

.                                 sad                                               JUSTICE                     FEAR                  72 YEARS

.                                       loss                                                     1943     1943      1943      1943       1943      1943

.               assaulted by mosquitoes and bees and wasps and horseflies and gnats and thoughts and and and and

.                                                                                                                                            contempt

.                                                                                                                                      anger

.                                                                                                                        violation

.                                                                                                              cruelty

.                                                                                                   inhuman

.                                                                                           devils

.                                                                              deception

.                                                lies . . stench . . filth

.                            WATER . . EXCREMENT . . STARVATION . . . FEAR . . . HORROR . . . LIARS 

.                 INNOCENT          food        cold     JUDENHEIDEN     horror      terror       confusion      questions

why  why  WHY  why  why  WHY  WHY  WHY  WHY  

.                                                  CONFUSION     pain     suffering                        excruciating   bees

.                  flying insects

.                             HORROR       TORTURE

.                                                                  Succumb            GIVE UP

MOTHER     father    sister   AUNTS    brother  grandmother  cousins  Uncles

.                  FAMILY

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