started doing research on survivors of the holocaust. I was interested in hearing their stories. I wanted to learn how survivors lives had turned out. I know I suffered my own hell with surviving ritual abuse and was able to come out the other side. I wanted to know how survivors of the holocaust came out the other side as well. I watched at least 100 videos pertaining to the holocaust. One of the videos I watched was Forgiving Dr. Mengele. It was the story of Eva going back to Auschwitz and publicly forgiving Dr. Mengele. I watched her story and cried. She had gone through so much. Lost most of her family. The only surviving relative her sister Miriam lived in Israel.She started the museum as a way to help educate the community where she lived. In 2003 a fire was started intentionally and burned the museum down. This didn't detour Eva by 2005 she had a brand new building up and running. The community outpouring to her and her museum was amazing. Her work on forgiveness is what struck me the most. The fact that she made the decision to forgive one of the worst perpetrator of atrocities, blew me away. It resonated with me. I too have realized in my life that if I didn't forgive I wouldn't move forward in my life. This prompted me to write her and tell her of my story and asked her if she would consider doing the forward to the book when it was finished. She wrote me back and said, "She would consider it." She explained that she was in the middle of writing two books and wasn't sure she'd have the time. I hadn't pursued it since fininshing my memoir and starting this blog.
When I knew I would be traveling this holiday season I specifically and purposely went to Indiana to see the museum and try to meet Eva in person. Entering the museum was very emotional. Walking through the museum and seeing the important work she is doing was breathtaking. She wasn't there when we got there but her husband Michael was. He was one of the most gracious people I have ever met.
My son is a musician and Michael was playing the piano in part of the museum. He went over to Michael and asked if he could record him playing the piano and Michael graciously allowed him to. It was very moving. My son said, "Mom this is important, this is history." I tried to upload the video but couldn't. I will fix the bug and put it on the blog. Being a part of something bigger then myself is always a wonderful thing.
Michael told us his story of the holocaust and allowed my son to video that as well. It is over an hour long. He took extra time with us to tell his story. It was moving, I cried and sat amazed at how resilient he was as a human being. He came to America because one of the American GI's that liberated the concentration camp he was at, took a real liking to him and helped him come to America. He is very proud of being an American and hearing his liberation story reminded me how lucky I am. How going through something terrible doesn't mean you can't have a good life. It reminded me of all of the people that God placed in my life to help me on my journey. What really struck me today is the importance of telling my story. Why letting people know what I have survived is very important. If we don't know our history we are doomed to repeat it. How much louder can I yell it from the roof tops: RITUAL ABUSE IS REAL!! How fortunate we are that many survivors of the holocaust have shared their stories. These stories are being preserved for people who aren't even born yet, so they will know the truth of what happened during WWII.
Bad, terrible, horrible, unthinkable, unimaginable things happen. Just because they are bad, terrible, horrible, unthinkable and unimaginable doesn't mean they didn't happen. I want people to stop saying that ritual abuse doesn't occur because it does. I'm going to continue to tell me story, over and over again. I will never shut up.
I am really luckily because after Michael was done sharing his story Eva came into the museum. I was fortunate to get to meet her and took a picture with her. It was a blessed day. Rosie
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