In memoriam, to the victims of the Holocaust.

Sometimes I get to thinking: of those millions of concentration camp victims, whose fate is the saddest?

Those who were sent to the camps – assuming they survived the journey there to begin with – fall into three broad categories: those who were put to death immediately; those who died during imprisonment in the camps; and those who somehow survived. Whose fate is saddest? If anything, I say it\’s that of the survivors.

Not that is isn’t sad to think of those many who were killed right away. They never had the chance to fight for their survival. Their suffering, on the other hand, was brief.

Those who weren’t sent straight from the cattle cars to the gas chambers suffered horribly: starvation; overwork and exhaustion; dehydration; inadequate clothing; and generally brutal treatment.

But why do I think that the survivors’ lot is the hardest? Weren’t they fortunate to live through the horror?

It\’s easy to think that they were the lucky ones; but just think of the terrible memories they had to live with. I\’ve listened to a few videos of Holocaust survivors; they speak of still having nightmares about the camps.

Some survivors learned that everyone else in their large, extended families had perished; and we hear of them suffering from survivor guilt.

I\’m sure there\’s much, much more. The more I learn about concentration camps, in fact, the more amazed I am that there were any survivors at all. I hope that we can learn from those who are still with us.

The Central Europe Route can let you combine a bicycle tour with a visit to the former Auschwitz concentration camp; and if you go there, keep In Memoriam in mind.