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Holocaust survivor Noémi Ban's 2006
return to Auschwitz
On July 1,
1944, after riding from Hungary for eight days in a train’s filthy cattle car,
Noémi Ban arrived at the Auschwitz - Birkenau death camp in Poland. The Nazi
doctor Josef Mengele sent four members of her family into a line to his left
and sent Noémi into a line to his right. Noémi turned and looked at her family for
the last time. She would never see them again.
On July 1, 2006, as rain fell softly, Noémi lead a
group of teachers, students, friends and family down a gravel road in Auschwitz,
near the same spot where she was separated from her loved ones. Some in the
group had tears in their eyes, some smiled sadly and all listened respectfully.
I am one
of the college students who had the honor of returning with my dear friend Noémi.
I
came so I could hear Noémi's memories, and record what I experienced through my
journal
entries,
photographs,
and voice
recordings.
From them I
have created
an article
and this Web
site, which I hope
others will
use to
understand some
of Noémi's
return.
Tyson Horner,
an 8th grade teacher from Monroe said, “There’s
no way to have the kids [his students] walk through
Auschwitz, holding hands with Noémi, and crying alongside of her. But I want
to
teach the Holocaust in terms of it happening to real people, to Noémi
Ban.”
That is my goal as well. Only a survivor
such as Noémi can comprehend what it was to survive Auschwitz- a place synonymous
with the horrors of the Nazi death camps. We must preserve and
honor
Noémi's memories and the memories of all survivors.
Introduction
Auschwitz I: A lesson in honoring
survivors' stories
Auschwitz II Birkenau: Noémi's return
Writing,
Web design and photos by Sean McGrorey
Copyright © 2006, Sean McGrorey
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