{"id":41069,"date":"2015-01-30T21:57:16","date_gmt":"2015-01-31T03:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=41069"},"modified":"2015-01-30T14:50:42","modified_gmt":"2015-01-30T21:50:42","slug":"auschwitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/01\/30\/auschwitz\/","title":{"rendered":"Auschwitz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

My heart cried<\/p>\n

When my feet touched\u00a0Auschwitz<\/p>\n

Although many years have passed<\/p>\n

It seems like yesterday<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I was brought here<\/p>\n

Along with my family<\/p>\n

We traveled three nights in a cattle train<\/p>\n

Fully packed and had no space to move<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When my little sister asked for water<\/p>\n

I gave my water bottle with a small loaf of bread<\/p>\n

Then she slept on my lap<\/p>\n

But I was awake all the time<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the train stopped<\/p>\n

The Doors were opened<\/p>\n

There were no welcome signs<\/p>\n

The SS men came with guns and dogs<\/p>\n

SS-Totenkopfverb\u00e4nde greeted no one<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I saw\u00a0Sonder- Commanders<\/em><\/p>\n

I could read their eyes<\/p>\n

They moved like living dead<\/p>\n

Gave no word or smile<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was winter and I felt cold<\/p>\n

I took a deep breath<\/p>\n

My inner mind whispered<\/p>\n

You have come to the land of death<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the Commandant came<\/p>\n

We were separated<\/p>\n

Some went to the labor camp<\/p>\n

And the others to the gas chamber<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They gased my parents<\/p>\n

Along with my little sister<\/p>\n

Their ashes were scattered<\/p>\n

All over Auschwitz<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Countless nights<\/p>\n

I lived with the memory of my family<\/p>\n

I worked all day long<\/p>\n

But we were under fed<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Famine and cold<\/p>\n

Fear and beatings<\/p>\n

Humiliations and torture<\/p>\n

Every single day<\/p>\n

We experienced death<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There was no hope<\/p>\n

There was no salvation<\/p>\n

Only option left was<\/p>\n

The electrified fence<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After many years<\/p>\n

We heard rumors<\/p>\n

The War is going to end<\/p>\n

And the Red Army is moving towards Berlin<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the final days of the War<\/p>\n

The Nazis were frantic<\/p>\n

Joshua said<\/p>\n

They might terminate us all<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the 27th<\/sup>\u00a0January 1945<\/p>\n

The Red Army came to\u00a0Auschwitz<\/p>\n

Many of us were walking skeletons<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They gave us food<\/p>\n

And said soon the War will be over<\/p>\n

Many became astonished<\/p>\n

But my feelings were numbed<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the day of the liberation<\/p>\n

Auschwitz\u00a0 survivors were parted<\/p>\n

Many went to their homes<\/p>\n

But I had no place to go<\/p>\n

Because my family was no more<\/p>\n

With Joshua I moved to Santa Barbara<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Many years after the war<\/p>\n

Again I came to\u00a0Auschwitz<\/p>\n

Not as a prisoner this time<\/p>\n

But as a witness<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is the place they eliminated my entire family<\/p>\n

I recalled my parents and little sister<\/p>\n

They went through the gas chimney<\/p>\n

Without telling me good bye<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I tightly held Joshua\u2019s hand<\/p>\n

When I saw the remnants of the gas chamber<\/p>\n

I felt despair<\/p>\n

I had no tears to cry<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I could hear many voices in this place<\/p>\n

Million and half<\/p>\n

Men women and children<\/p>\n

Who were murdered by the Nazis<\/p>\n

Then I clearly heard my little sister saying<\/p>\n

Sara thank you for coming to see me<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I closed my eyes<\/p>\n

I wanted to be alone<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why did they do this to us?<\/p>\n

Why Why ?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If I could speak to the whole world<\/p>\n

I would say a few words<\/p>\n

Please do not let it happen<\/p>\n

Never again<\/p>\n

Never again<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge\u00a0   My heart cried When my feet touched\u00a0Auschwitz Although many years have passed It seems like yesterday   I was brought here Along with my family We traveled three nights in a cattle train Fully packed and had no space to move   When my little sister asked for water I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-ruwan-m-jayatunge-m-d"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41069\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}