THE AUSCHWITZ camps in Oswiecim, Poland are a constant painful reminder of the unforgivable evil which war brings. Auschwitz I and II were the largest of the Nazi Germany?s concentration camps and extermination camps, operational during World War II. Survivors of the holocaust called the camps the ?death factories? and millions of foreigners have been tortured to death by various means in the camps. Ninety percent of those savagely murdered were Jews.

As one enters the main gate of the Auschwitz I, one somehow gets transported back in 1940-1945 and catches glimpses of millions of Jews from all over German-occupied Europe herded past the gate in daily convoys.

The prisoners were separated into two main groups: those marked for immediate extermination and those to be registered as prisoners and work in the factories or coal mines. Majority of the prisoners were classified to the first group, and were sent to the gas chambers within a few hours. This included almost all children, pregnant women, all the elderly and all those who appeared on cursory inspection by a Nazi doctor not to be fully fit.

Camp personnel deceived the victims that they were to take a shower and undergo delousing. They were asked to enter the gas chamber, which was disguised as a shower facility, with dummy shower heads. After they entered, the doors were shut, and German soldiers dumped the cyanide pellets into the packed chamber through the holes in the roof or windows on the side. An hour or so later, the dead bodies were packed into incinerators in the adjoining room, wherein 20,000 victims daily had been cremated.

In the prewar era, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in Europe, and served as the center for Jewish culture. Close to a million Jews resided in Poland then. After the war, more than 95 percent of the Jewish survivors moved to other parts of Europe and the rest of the world. At present only a few thousand Jews reside in Poland, with a little over a hundred actual survivors of the genocidal nightmare they were exposed to.

These survivors, many of whom are already in their late 80s or 90s, have learned the difficult act of forgiveness of an unforgivable dastardly act. They have healed emotionally, spiritually and physically too; and that could likely be one of the major components of their formula to a long, healthy and happy life.

A gift

Forgiveness is a gift one gives the offender, but psychotherapists say that it is more a gift to the one who gives it than to the one it is given to. Unforgiving bitterness only results to more serious negative impact, not only on the mental health of the one who harbors it but even on their physical health. A more depressed immune system has been observed in these individuals making them more prone to cancers, infectious and other diseases.

It?s easier said than done, but forgiveness can be so liberating to the soul. It does not mean that sins or vicious crimes should be forgiven and forgotten. The offender(s) should still be made to pay for their offenses. The aggrieved persons should however make the decision to move forward, and let go of the hurting feelings and emotions.

Forgiveness releases all the negative emotions associated with not forgiving. When one does not forgive and continues to hold onto the pain of an injustice done, one allows the past injustice to continue to hurt him or her.

We should never forget Auschwitz. Daily, all over the world, a mini version of Auschwitz repeats itself, with every incident of police brutality and torture, or salvaging. So as we forgive, we should not necessarily forget, lest history repeats itself.