“The Birds Don’t Sing Here”

A personal reflection on my visit to Birkenau

People often like to say that “the birds don’t sing” at Birkenau. On my first visit to the site I might have agreed. I think that it is easy to become so overwhelmed by the site that our senses dull to anything outside of the wind and our own footsteps. A year later, I was anxious to go back to Birkenau. It had so deeply affected me the last time I had visited, and to this day I’m still not completely sure of why. I was trying my best to picture the invisible, to see and feel those who once walked to pathways I was now walking. This was a painful journey, but one I will never forget.

This year, I tried to focus on my surroundings in a different way. I wasn’t exactly sure how that would manifest itself once I got there, but I knew I needed to try something new. When I arrived, I instantly noticed the songs of the birds. They had a lot to say, and they were everywhere. I became fixated on each feathered visitor I came across. Each one was different, and each one had its own personality. Perhaps they captured my attention because they could fly away when those who suffered here could not. The freedom these birds have to go where they please hit me in an intense way. Did birds visit those imprisoned here? Did the victims who suffered here find comfort in these visitors, or did they resent them for their ability to leave this horrid place?