Lionel, a brave and beautiful piece. But I would ask you to extend your understanding to the people of Poland, as well. I grew up in suburban Detroit, surrounded by Polish Catholic immigrants. When I was a child, one neighbor woman would grab me up in her arms, sobbing and crying, “convinced” I was the child she lost in wartime Poland. Just remembering how my parents had to pry me from her arms, it fills me with horror and sorrow. I can’t imagine her suffering. These people, many of whom were my distant relatives, were utterly destroyed by their WWII experiences, internment in concentration camps, medical experiments, wounded while fighting in the Home Army, or “just” the experiences of being starved or raped or utterly dehumanized in a civilized world turned upside-down.
