{"id":78597,"date":"2018-06-21T15:26:13","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T22:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=78597"},"modified":"2018-06-21T15:26:13","modified_gmt":"2018-06-21T22:26:13","slug":"auschwitz-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/06\/21\/auschwitz-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Auschwitz"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

My heart cried
\nWhen my feet touched\u00a0Auschwitz
\nAlthough many years have passed
\nIt seems like yesterday<\/p>\n

I was brought here
\nAlong with my family
\nWe traveled three nights in a cattle train
\nFully packed and had no space to move<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

When my little sister asked for water
\nI gave my water bottle with a small loaf of bread
\nThen she slept on my lap
\nBut I was awake all the time<\/p>\n

When the train stopped
\nThe Doors were opened
\nThere were no welcome signs
\nThe SS men came with guns and dogs
\nSS-Totenkopfverb\u00e4nde greeted no one<\/p>\n

When I saw\u00a0Sonder- Commanders
\n<\/em>I could read their eyes
\nThey moved like living dead
\nGave no word or smile<\/p>\n

It was winter and I felt cold
\nI took a deep breath
\nMy inner mind whispered
\nYou have come to the land of death<\/p>\n

When the Commandant came
\nWe were separated
\nSome went to the labor camp
\nAnd the others to the gas chamber<\/p>\n

They gased my parents
\nAlong with my little sister
\nTheir ashes were scattered
\nAll over Auschwitz<\/p>\n

Countless nights
\nI lived with the memory of my family
\nI worked all day long
\nBut we were under fed<\/p>\n

Famine and cold
\nFear and beatings
\nHumiliations and torture
\nEvery single day
\nWe experienced death<\/p>\n

There was no hope
\nThere was no salvation
\nOnly option left was
\nThe electrified fence<\/p>\n

After many years
\nWe heard rumors
\nThe War is going to end
\nAnd the Red Army is moving towards Berlin<\/p>\n

In the final days of the War
\nThe Nazis were frantic
\nJoshua said
\nThey might terminate us all<\/p>\n

On the 27th<\/sup>\u00a0January 1945
\nThe Red Army came to\u00a0Auschwitz
\nMany of us were walking skeletons<\/p>\n

They gave us food
\nAnd said soon the War will be over
\nMany became astonished
\nBut my feelings were numbed<\/p>\n

On the day of the liberation
\nAuschwitz\u00a0 survivors were parted
\nMany went to their homes
\nBut I had no place to go
\nBecause my family was no more
\nWith Joshua I moved to Santa Barbara<\/p>\n

Many years after the war
\nAgain I came to\u00a0Auschwitz
\nNot as a prisoner this time
\nBut as a witness<\/p>\n

This is the place they eliminated my entire family
\nI recalled my parents and little sister
\nThey went through the gas chimney
\nWithout telling me good bye<\/p>\n

I tightly held Joshua\u2019s hand
\nWhen I saw the remnants of the gas chamber
\nI felt despair
\nI had no tears to cry<\/p>\n

I could hear many voices in this place
\nMillion and half
\nMen women and children
\nWho were murdered by the Nazis<\/p>\n

Then I clearly heard my little sister saying
\nSara thank you for coming to see me<\/p>\n

I closed my eyes
\nI wanted to be alone<\/p>\n

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

Why Why ?<\/p>\n

If I could speak to the whole world
\nI would say a few words
\nPlease do not let it happen
\nNever again
\nNever again<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by 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 gave my […]<\/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-78597","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\/78597","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=78597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78597\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}