EXTRA CREDIT: A Legacy of Survival -- Abigale Bell

Krystyna Zywulska was a survivor. This statement made at the close of the lecture An Alphabet of Soldiers, encapsulates Zywulska's experience as a prisoner of war at Auschwitz in 1945. Even through the harshness and cruelty of the camp, she was able to maintain hope for the future. Poetry grounded Zywulska as she struggled to hold on to her identity as person rather than a prisoner. 

As a prisoner, Zywulska was expected to work in the camp. She was given the job of sorting and documenting confiscated belongings of the prisoners. Each item was a part of a person's identity that had been stripped away. In Auschwitz, prisoners were not people, they were simply numbers. In her poetry, Zywulska was a person. She was genuine and vulnerable. Her words set to music in Farewell, Auschwitz express a deep longing for hope in the everyday life of a prisoner. 

Poetry is a form of expression that is unique to the author, yet, it can reach others in a meaninful way. These words are no longer the means of survival, they are now memories of a past survived. While I have never experienced life in a death camp, I can feel a small fraction of the emotion that Zywulska felt and has expressed through her words. Zywulska's poetry is a legacy of survival. 

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