It was the end of a long day. The sun was setting in the evening sky, its warmth making the red brick bell tower glow orange. It was undoubtedly a beautiful little church, its neatly trimmed lawns and pansy beds kept meticulously by the nuns from the adjoining convent. The old chestnut tree, broad and tall, had seen the faithful pass by to pray, day in and day out for many, many decades. And Christ hung from his cross above the doorway looking down onus as we peered through the locked gates. Christ and the chestnut tree had seen other things too.
Arek Hersh was only thirteen years old when he was brought to the little Polish Catholic church in Sieradz. Along with his mother, older sister and brother, aunties, uncles, cousins and members of the Jewish community, he was herded in amongst the pews to await his fate. Arek decided to leave the building to beg for water for his family. As he entered the courtyard, he was ordered to join a group selected to work elsewhere. From the moment he stepped out of the church, he never saw his family again. The next day they and all one thousand, four hundred Jews locked into the church were filed out of its doors, deported to Chelmno and murdered.
Arek’s story of survival combines the intensely tragic events of a family totally destroyed by the Nazis’ policy of mass murder and the intimate details of a community and of people needlessly wasted by these events. If the events he described were a mere detail of history to the Nazis, to the Jewish community and to all who care to stop and think, this remains one of the most challenging moments in the history of the world. Arek Hersh, in his understated and clearly written narrative, spells out just how tragic this was. From his description of life in his hometown Sieradz, to his long journey through the ghettos and camps, this little boy becomes a man who should never have grown up so quickly.
And yet as just a little boy, he makes decisions which save his life over and again. For those who look for survival in armed resistance, take a second look at this little boy and how at times, yes, fate was on his side; but also how often he instinctively manipulated the circumstance to his own advantage. In the end, as fate, chance and pure determination would have it, Arek survived. His family, his community and his civilisation did not.
Our little group huddled together outside the church in Sieradz, listening intently as Arek told his story, locked out of the gates that once locked him in. And the sun went down, the night was cold and the church was grey once more.
Dr. Stephen D. Smith