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Majdanek

“Let it be a memory for all generations that man cannot be to man a butcher, but should be his brother” said Pope John Paul II about Majdanek.

Majdanek is a monument that has been created on the territory of the former Hitler’s concentration camp. I must say that it is the place where the joy of life disappears and you realize that anyone, and just from his own desire, can condemn you to death.

I have visited Majdanek twice. Wooden huts, neatly lined paths, a building which contains personal belongings of the prisoners – all these are the only part of the museum now. But more than half a century ago, it was the way of life for millions of innocent people who had no time for love, had no time for life, they simply did not survive. A barrack with shoes of killed people made on me very depressing impression, standing in front of it you begin to understand the scale of the tragedy of the XX century. You come inside and understand the awful situation of those people. Desire to get out quickly of that place did not leave me all the time. The specific smell, ragged walls here and there do not make good impression and do not give any hope for better future. There are no words to describe feelings that I experienced in the barrack with the “special effects”. I felt the entire horror when I heard prayers before death in different languages from the speakers. I sensed something even stronger than fear when I heard how children had been killed only because they were not suitable for work, and how their mothers begged German soldiers to shoot them as well. I was shocked to know that the “office” of the camp was located in the building of the crematorium, where bodies of prisoners had been burned. The territory with barbed wires makes the sense of imminent death.  That was part of life of people who had been brought here. You may really feel it…no hope, no future, no life.

Many films were shot on the territory of the museum. Those are such films as “Soldiers of Freedom” directed by Yuri Ozerov, “The secret Enigma” by Roman Voncheka and many other documentaries. In March 1980 the team from Odessa television made the documentary that was based on the memories of Paul Dombka, who was partisan and the prisoner of the camp at Majdanek. This was the first collaboration of Ukrainians and Polish moviemakers. That was not the only cooperation. Polish directors made a film “Pastor of Majdanek,” which tells the story of Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest Omelian Kovch who was burned in the crematorium of Majdanek on the 25th March 1944. Father Omelyan confessed and gave communion to the prisoners in the concentration camp to the last day of his life. He was elevated to the ranks of blessed by Pope John Paul II on the 27thJune 2001.

It became a tradition to have annual prayer, which is called Cross Way on the Majdanek. It does not matter what weather it is the believers of different confessions gather together to have prayers and to think about the sufferings of Christ here … and it is not in vain…

You can visit the museum every day except Monday from 9:00 to 18:00. It is also possible to have a guided tour, which you can arrange in advance by calling the phone number: (+48) 81 710 28 33.

Iryna Ilyashevych