By: Rachel Zylberman Gore
On our second day studying at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, we were given a tour of the Birkenau camp complex. Standing on one of the unloading ramps, our tour guide, the wonderful Tomasz Michaldo, told us the story of a man named Hugo Lowy. Mr. Lowy had been murdered by S.S. Men on the very same platform where we stood, after he refused to part with his Tallis, his prayer shawl.
The story impacted me and inspired me to look further and discover the ways that Jewish people in Auschwitz related to their religious traditions. I founded many testimonies that described the multitude of ways in which the Jewish people deported to Auschwitz upheld their religious traditions in any way they could, despite the dire circumstances they faced.
As a religious Jew myself, I found these stories to be incredibly inspiring. I am very glad to share my findings in my essay, “Jewish Religious Expression in Auschwitz”
