In Spite of Darkness. A Spiritual Encounter with Auschwitz. Christiane: “My grandfather was with the Nazis. We called it “Schreibtischtäter” So they always said in the family, he only was sitting on …More
In Spite of Darkness. A Spiritual Encounter with Auschwitz.
Christiane: “My grandfather was with the Nazis. We called it “Schreibtischtäter” So they always said in the family, he only was sitting on a desk and writing. And it was a total taboo to talk about what he did.”
John: “My knowledge of Auschwitz is that it was probably the culmination of a lot of the programs to eliminate the Jews.”
Ohad : “The potential of dehumanizing the other is there. Since we are not so different, me and my German friends, I could be a Nazi.”
In 2006, a group of 50 retreatants gathered in Krakow, Poland in preparation for an interfaith retreat on the grounds of the death camps of Auschwitz/Birkenau.
How can people find peace and spirituality in a place of death and destruction? And yet here every November, people from different faiths and from various countries come together to spend 5 days in meditation, stillness, prayer and ritual.
Why would people come on such a retreat? What are their hopes, their expectations, their fears? How will this week change them? Or will it?
Bruce: “In the midst of this darkness to ... in different voices, and different languages begin to pray for those who had died, who had no one to say Kaddish for… Kaddish restores the ultimate dignity that a human has in the face of God; a dignity that no person can ever rob.”
John: “I thought I was going to Auschwitz but by opening my heart I think I let Auschwitz come to me.”
Christiane: “What did I really learn? Because if I really love myself and don't judge myself and I am in peace with myself, this is the only way how I can love the others and how I can pray or how I can be in contact with the place and with what happened.”
Ohad: “There's this holding of life and death and a commitment to serve it; to serve God through both. But I leave here with love.”
Bruce: “Have we learned anything from Auschwitz? Have we learned anything from Birkenau? Have we learned anything from the holocaust because still the most vulnerable in our society are the people being hurt right now?”
Loyola Productions Munich GmbH
Christiane: “My grandfather was with the Nazis. We called it “Schreibtischtäter” So they always said in the family, he only was sitting on a desk and writing. And it was a total taboo to talk about what he did.”
John: “My knowledge of Auschwitz is that it was probably the culmination of a lot of the programs to eliminate the Jews.”
Ohad : “The potential of dehumanizing the other is there. Since we are not so different, me and my German friends, I could be a Nazi.”
In 2006, a group of 50 retreatants gathered in Krakow, Poland in preparation for an interfaith retreat on the grounds of the death camps of Auschwitz/Birkenau.
How can people find peace and spirituality in a place of death and destruction? And yet here every November, people from different faiths and from various countries come together to spend 5 days in meditation, stillness, prayer and ritual.
Why would people come on such a retreat? What are their hopes, their expectations, their fears? How will this week change them? Or will it?
Bruce: “In the midst of this darkness to ... in different voices, and different languages begin to pray for those who had died, who had no one to say Kaddish for… Kaddish restores the ultimate dignity that a human has in the face of God; a dignity that no person can ever rob.”
John: “I thought I was going to Auschwitz but by opening my heart I think I let Auschwitz come to me.”
Christiane: “What did I really learn? Because if I really love myself and don't judge myself and I am in peace with myself, this is the only way how I can love the others and how I can pray or how I can be in contact with the place and with what happened.”
Ohad: “There's this holding of life and death and a commitment to serve it; to serve God through both. But I leave here with love.”
Bruce: “Have we learned anything from Auschwitz? Have we learned anything from Birkenau? Have we learned anything from the holocaust because still the most vulnerable in our society are the people being hurt right now?”
Loyola Productions Munich GmbH