“The Lucky Ones”
Two of my eight grandchildren graduated from high school recently. They were both raised in loving homes with food security, ample creature comforts and myriad opportunities to excel at school and to explore their interests outside of school.
I watched them proudly accept their diplomas, surrounded by loyal friends, loving families and dedicated teachers.
They are “The Lucky Ones”.
My friend, Peggy Friedman, on her Facebook page, shares the following:
On the 14th of November, 1932, in the Polish city of Radom, a baby girl named Celina Gutman was born into the warm arms of her parents. (Her picture is above.)
Radom, located in central Poland, had a thriving Jewish population before World War II. For centuries, families like the Gutmans had lived and loved there, passing down stories, prayers, and melodies from generation to generation.
Celina was a bright, spirited child with a voice that filled every room she entered. From the earliest age, she was drawn to music.
She loved school, especially choir practice. Her teacher noticed early on that Celina had a pure, clear voice, a soprano tone that seemed to rise like sunlight through the classroom windows.
Celina’s family lived a modest life. Her father worked in a textile factory; her mother tended the home.
Celina’s joyful world did not last.
In September 1939, when Celina was six years old, Nazi Germany invaded Poland. The beautiful rhythms of her childhood were shattered by the thunder of war. German soldiers flooded into Radom, and, overnight, everything changed. Jews were forced to register, to wear armbands, to give up their businesses. Families were crammed into ghettos. Food became scarce. Freedom disappeared.
In 1942, the Nazis began to “liquidate” the ghettos as part of their plan to exterminate the Jews of Poland. On August 5, 1942, the Radom Ghetto was raided. Thousands were rounded up and deported to Treblinka, one of the most infamous Nazi death camps. Almost all those sent there were killed within hours of arrival.
Celina was just 10 years old.
We do not know exactly how or when she arrived in Treblinka. We do not know if she cried, if she clung to her mother’s hand, or if she tried to comfort a sibling on that final train.
And then she was gone. Murdered in a camp built to erase her, by men who saw her not as a child, not as a person, but as something unworthy of life. A little girl with a song in her heart—silenced forever.
I began learning about the Holocaust when my mom bought me a copy of The Diary of Anne Frank. Terror and horror claimed a permanent place in my heart. I simply couldn’t imagine a world where families were forced into hiding due to their religious beliefs. I couldn’t begin to grasp the horror of more than one million children under the age of 16 purposely ripped from their parents’ loving arms, forced into hideous death camps and burned in ovens.
And for a long time, the Holocaust remained a singular hideous and tragic event.
Then came more slaughters – the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, the Rwandan Genocide and the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia.
Celina’s tragic story became not so unique. Right now – right this minute – so many children worldwide are having their routines brutally disrupted, their lives shattered, their dreams broken, their lives abruptly ended.
When will it stop?
These are all children who had a favorite stuffed animal and a familiar bedtime ritual. They had dreams and talents and sparkle that are lost to the world forever. They should have grown up sheltered by their family’s love and protection. They should have had a chance to pursue their dreams, marry, pass on their family traditions to their own children. Their lives were stolen; their potential squashed.
When will the bigotry, hatred and carnage stop?
When will each and every child be one of “The Lucky Ones”?
Keep Preserving Your Bloom,
