Dealing With the Past

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Going through my papers for this blog today, I found my mother’s birth certificate. Born in Cracow, Poland in 1941, her first years were in the heart of the greatest tragedy of the 20th century. Every time I see this I go through my own kind of “Vergangenheitsbewältigung”, dealing with the past. In the same search I found the ‘guide-book’ to Auschwitz/Oswiecim, that I visited in 1989.

Details here:

My mothers' birth certificate, Cracow, Poland, 1941
My mothers’ birth certificate, Cracow, Poland, 1941

As Paul Thomas Anderson rightly observed in the film Magnolia: “We may be through with the past, but the past ain’t through with us.”

1989 Guide to Auschwitz
1989 Guide to Auschwitz
Sean Ketchem Avatar

About the author

I’m Sean Ketchem, living in Berlin with two passports, two cats, and a fascination for history and culture.

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