Status Updates From Vyhnanie Gerty Schnirch

An apology does not imply a self-indictment, but responsibility for the coexistence, today and in the future, of persons from the most diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. It offers the hope that as long as we cultivate an awareness of the unacceptability of the aforementioned crimes and are able to assume an open and honest attitude toward them rather than making them taboo, no such thing will ever be repeated.

suffering is suffering, no matter who is the perpetrator and whenever it takes place.

...They drank like only men can drink, and they placed bets. During the night, someone would always go missing, and the next morning, it was better not to ask questions. Sometimes they woke people up and made them watch. Sometimes they went to sleep without even cleaning up the mess after themselves. So with some of the men, we knew what happened to them. Then there were others about whom we never found out.”

“What would make you lose your mind?” asked Gerta.
“Random chance. Just like that, no rules whatsoever. The ones who were on night-watch duty and couldn’t have women drank, naturally. They drank like animals. And they placed bets. Why call them animals?” he said, more to himself. “You’d never see something like that in nature. In the natural world, logic and order prevail—you kill to eat and to survive...

“What does it matter to me, whether I’m taking care of people or of animals? You know what it boiled down to? Survival. During all those years after the war, the one thing that mattered was to survive. And after a while, not just physically, but also on the inside. Not to die inside and to find something to grab on to. I grabbed on to this here... You see, I found something here that I could hold on to.