Reflection by Martha A. Penzer, read during the march of remembrance and prayer in Otwock on August 19, 2019.
What do they say to us, those whose bodies molder here? Perhaps they register surprise at our remembrance, they that felt abandoned, swept by malevolence into this mass grave or extermination at Treblinka 77 years ago or on some village street.
May our memory of them empower us to transcend toxic ideology and effect a kinder world, a world where everyone may flourish.
I think these words are faithful to the vision and love with which our mother Stella Penzer z domu Sławin, daughter of Otwock, raised us, to the vision of her parents, Szaja and Ala Sławin.
We thank you all for your good heart, for your work of documentation and commemoration these many years. We thank you for attesting that what has always felt a personal grief— for family, for friends, for community— has been your grief, too. Never have we felt so welcomed home.
