Their Unknowing Last Letters

• Lauren B
• 0
• on Sep 26, 2022

When reading the holocaust letters and listening the discussion in class it really struck me how so many of the writers were trying to reassure their loved ones that they were okay, that they would see each other again when in reality this wasn’t the case. What makes this circumstance so heartbreaking is that the writers of the letters wouldn’t know it was the last letter they would ever send out before getting killed. When thinking about the level of perseverance and hope those people had, the topics can veer off in different directions, perseverance leaning more towards their belief in god, and hope becoming either false/forced optimism or true. When the world seemed all too bleak and promised dire circumstances to any Jewish person this could push people to rely more on their faith and a form of escapism as well as motivation. Within faith after experiencing extreme hardship or similar events as the Jewish people were experiencing, more of them were turning to it as an outlet for their emotions due to what was going on  and to have a place where they could retain a part of their identity. This leads to perseverance by providing a higher power for them to rely on and have trust in because it meant that there was a higher power looking out for them. As for the emotional side, religion served as a place where they could let go of what happened and possibly lay that feeling to rest, sometimes you can’t look back if you want to persevere for the future no matter how important the past may be. As mentioned previously, contrasting perseverance is this forced sense of optimism. People often told their loved ones that eventually they would be reunited, that everything was going to be okay. But were they doing this out of a true belief for the sentiment or instead in an effort to protect their family from extreme heartbreak when they were already miserable due to the general circumstances at the time? Either is likely, it’s not exactly uncommon during wartime for the theme of protection to become highly prevalent but as explored previously it’s obvious that the Jews had a great sense of resolve to survive so their hope could be truly warranted. For the Jewish people it’s mostly situational whether or not the optimism is forced or not but regardless of that all of them would do whatever it took to protect their family which could mean lying to them even though you yourself have no faith that you’ll survive.