Today I had the privilege of listening to Estelle Laughlin, a Holocaust survivor, speak in convocation (if you click on the link and read to the end of the article, there’s a little surprise). Ms. Laughlin amazed me at how she was able to speak about hope and faith after the things she has experienced. This isn’t the first time a Holocaust survivor has spoken at King, but it is the first time I’ve listened.
One of the more random events that happened this Fall, was when my friend Jennifer and I visited Budapest. We wanted to see the second largest Jewish synagogue in the world and the museum. By the time we got there in the early afternoon, it was pooring down wet sloshy snow and getting dark. We had a hard time finding the museum and once we did, it was closed. As we stood there in the sloshy and cold snow complaining that we had come all this way and now the museum was closed, Peter, a Hungarian man started talking to Jennifer.
He started telling us about the tree located in the courtyard and offered to show us around the Jewish ghetto area. I was a little hesitant to accept his offer, but Jennifer, who is a good judge of character, seemed ok with it, so I followed along. Peter was an architect, and his grandson had been born that day.
For about two hours we followed Peter around looking at different buildings while he explained the architecture of the buildings. I spent most of the time wondering when our tour would be over and what this man really hoped to gain from two American tourists. But, one building really stood out to me. We walked through a long courtyard area where Peter explained that Jews were brought there before they were taken by train to one of the labor camps.
As Ms. Laughlin gave her talk on Monday, one of the stories she told was about being taken to an Umschlagplatz for deportation. As she spoke, I had the picture of what I had seen in Budapest in my head.
Those two hours on a cold, snowy afternoon following a stranger around Budapest listening to stories about what used to be changed my frame of reference and gave me a way to connect to a story about the best and worst humanity has to offer.
