Lidice

Today we went on a day trip to the city of Lidice about a half hour away from Prague. This city was destroyed by the Nazis when they occupied the Czech Republic. When the city was destroyed the Nazis shot the men of the village, sent the women to concentration camps, and killed some children and chose to Germanize others. We walked around the ruins of the village, explored the village museum, and then we were fortunate enough to sit down and listen to a survivor of the incident tell her story. The entire time that I listened to this now old women speak I was amazed by the strength that she was forced to develop within herself at the age of 16 when she was taken from her village. I cannot begin to fathom the hardship that she went through in the concentration camps, and I found myself sitting listening to her story trying to wrap my mind around how humans could treat other humans as if they were dirt. Even after hearing stories of the Holocaust time and time again I never fail to be disgusted and horrified that humanity let such a thing happen to an entire population of people. Today is a day that will stick with me for a very long time and will remind me of the importance of human decency and strength.