Today, we went to the Reagan Library and saw the Auschwitz exhibition entitled Not Long Ago, Not Far Away, which has been hailed as “the most comprehensive exhibition on the history of Auschwitz in US history.” Nazi soldiers at this death camp murdered 92% of the Jews who arrived there, which numbered approximately 1,100,000.

The exhibit was powerful, poignant, and painful. I was moved to tears on several occasions, particularly because of photos and videos of survivors recounting the horror of their time in that terrible place. One of the railway cars which had been used to haul innocent Jewish families was situated outside the entrance. Seeing it there, made it much easier to visualize the misery of 150 people being forced into one of those cars with only one bucket filled with drinking water and another meant for human waste.

I learned more about the details of Auschwitz than I’d ever learned before and, though uncomfortable hearing such gruesome facts, I understood intuitively how vitally important this information is to know. If we don’t look at history with clear-sighted vision, we run a terrible risk of repeating evil acts. That seems especially relevant today with the uptick in anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic, and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments. Seeing this exhibition helped me to remember that we must stay ever-vigilant of leaders who encourage prejudice, hatred, and fear. A video at the end was of Holocaust survivors encouraging each person who attended the exhibition to live a life without hatred or bigotry, but rather with love and acceptance.

Below is a short video on the exhibit. If it should come to a city near you, I encourage you to go see it. It’s an important teaching tool for each of us so that we will never forget just how evil humans are capable of being to one another.