Swimming in Auschwitz
Content warning: this article contains mentions of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust.
How do I begin to talk about watching a documentary like this? Six women who survived Auschwitz and the Holocaust, telling their stories and sharing their experiences. Honestly, I don’t think there is a lot I can say.
I won’t give a general idea of the narrative of the film, because it’s as straight forward as these women telling their stories from the Holocaust in a linear fashion, and I’m sure you can imagine the gist of what they might be talking about. What I will say is that listening to these women’s stories has been a life-changing experience for me. Not only did they experience the atrocities of the Nazi regime first hand, all the while afraid that they might be at the end of the gun, but they survived. And not only did they survive, they are openly discussing their stories on film, willing to tell about what they went through.
It’s impossible for me to understand this. I’ve never been through (and very likely will never go through) anything even close to what these women experienced in 1944 to 1945. Sometimes I feel as though just watching a documentary is more than I can handle. I know family members and friends who have visited the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, and others who have been to the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Even these experiences try the emotional capacity of many. So how can these women sit in front of a camera and smile and laugh while talking about this?
I think that’s what makes these women so amazing. They are survivors in the most glowing sense of the word. I wish I could survive the way they have, though of course I am immeasurably lucky to not have suffered what they have. They spent over a year, some of them longer, not knowing if they would live at all. And so they live to the fullest, every day afterwards.
Watching this documentary wasn’t easy. There are a lot of very confronting photos, videos and stories to take in, and a strong stomach would serve you well if you’re thinking about watching it. And while it was difficult, I do recommend that you watch it, or possibly seek out something similar that tells the first-hand stories of Holocaust survivors. Maybe a podcast or online article if the visuals will bother you too much. Because this is something we have no business forgetting, and I think one of the best ways to continue to remember is through reliving the horror of the actions of Hitler’s Nazi regime. Listening to these women’s stories has been horrifying, inspiring and incredible. Watch it if you can.
Swimming in Auschwitz is available to stream on Amazon Prime in Australia and, as far as I can tell, also in the UK and the US.
