Don’t go on living in denial

The story I am about to tell you is about a small German family of five. It is extremely sad yet very much true. The names have been changed to protect the family in this story for even though concentration camps are no longer in existence and Adolf Hitler no longer walks this Earth the decedents of Lukas and Heidi Gottlieb are still living with the fear that the Nazis may find them. This story proves that we cannot live our lives in denial.

Lukas and Heidi Gottlieb were both born and raised in a small town just outside of Frankfurt, Germany. Lukas and Heidi were married when Lukas was 20 years old and Heidi was 16 years old. Once married they were blessed with three beautiful daughters named Lili, Monika, and Sofia. Raising their girls throughout the holocaust the Gottlieb family lived a hard life. During this time in history the girls were in their teens. The town that they lived in was full of Jewish families; in fact they were one of the few German families that lived in the entire town. One cold, dark, terrible day the town was raided by the Nazis. When the Nazis came through they took everyone in the town the Gottlieb family was one of the many that were taken.

Lili Gottlieb kept a small journal about life in the camp. She wrote about being shuffled around to different camps, being German inside the camps, and life inside the camps. A journal entry from Lili states:

“Life in Auschwitz is hard. Not being able to relate with many of the others here is what makes life in this place difficult. I’m German and Catholic not German and Jewish. The only thing that these people and I really have in common is that we are all locked here in this place people on the outside call Auschwitz; we refer to it as hell. I am German, I should not be here. I need to be free like the rest of the Germans from school and church. Father said that the man who runs this place came and spoke to him today and said we will be getting out of here soon and that we will have a visit from Adolf Hitler himself. I am not sure how much I actually believe the Nazis.”

While this entry gives an extravagant amount of information it is not the entire story. Another entry taken from an entry in Lilli’s journal “THE MAN THAT SPOKE TO MY FATHER WAS BEING TRUTHFUL! ADOLF HITLER HIMSELF CAME AND APOLOGIZED TO MY FAMILY FOR MISTAKING US AS JEWS! WE ARE BEING RELEASED TOMORROW! I AM SO HAPPY TO BE GOING BACK TO OUR HOME AND OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY!”

The Gottlieb family was freed the next day as promised. A week went by before they got a knock on the door; it was another man and Hitler. When Heidi answered the door the other officer asked if they could speak with Lukas. Heidi welcomed the men into their home and directed them to the den where Lukas was hard at work. Lukas stood to greet the men and asked Heidi to make some tea. The three men spoke for several hours. When they were finished Lukas emerged out of the office first. Lukas asked Heidi to gather the girls and to make sure that Lilli looked her absolute best. When Lilli entered the room a smile came to Hitler’s face, he got down on one knee, and asked Lilli to marry him. Lilli politely declined claiming she was far too young to marry. Hitler did not like being rejected he ordered the man in the uniform to take them back to Auschwitz where they were to remain until they died.

“I have days where I wished I had said yes to him. Every day when I awake I live with the guilt that we are back here in Auschwitz because I refused to say yes. Even if it were another man I still would have said no. I am far too young to have children and a husband. I apologize to my mother and sisters everyday for what I have caused. I wish I could apologize to father too but since we have been here we have not seen or heard from him. We are all starting to worry that something terrible may have happened to him.”

Weeks passed before any sort of news got to any member of the Gottlieb family about what was going on in the outside world, little did they know they were about to be liberated. When they were liberated neither Heidi nor Lukas knew if the other was alive. Heidi knew that her three daughters were still alive but as for Lukas they feared the worst.

Fortunately, the entire Gottlieb family survived the Holocaust and the wrath of Adolf Hitler. They all passed away several years later. Lukas passed away from Lock-Jaw caused by a rusty nail. Heidi passed away from a broken hip. Monika and Sofia both passed away from a heart-attack. Lilli passed away nine years ago due to old age.

Millions of Jewish people and non-Jewish people alike were murdered during this time in history. The story that I just told you is one of many. We cannot live our lives in denial when we know something has happened. Whether it is a death in the family, a terminal illness diagnosis, or even something as big as the Holocaust; they all happened as much as we try to hide the truth it is never really hidden. I have given you proof from journal entries and stories that have been passed down from generation to generation. I know for a fact that this event in history did happen. People may try and convince me otherwise but I will never believe them; and believe me plenty of people have tried. The Holocaust has happened; there is no denying that yet people still do. Please don’t be one of those people who claim that something that happened didn’t happen at all. I beg you to not live in denial and if you are living in denial I challenge you to come out from that rock you are hiding under and see life without the denial.