Memorial at Dachau Photo Credit Jennifer Boyer-Switala (2009) Recently, someone inquired about my seemingly morose obsession with the Holocaust. “It’s in the past!” they said, “Why drudge up such horrors?! Why upset yourself so much?!” All I could do was iterate the plea of all who lived and died in one of history’s most tragic events, “Never again…” I am somewhat philosophical (and, yes, obsessive) and this inquiry had planted a seed. I began to question myself. Why AM I so interested in something that ALWAYS makes me cry and NEVER has a happy ending? As a historian and former psychotherapist, I figured it best to go back to the beginning… Dachau Gate Photo Credit: The Switalas (2009) My fascination with the Holocaust began when I was ten years old. A neighbor loaned me Corrie Ten Boom’s autobiography, The Hiding Place . I was riveted and wanted to read more. Books like The Diary of Anne Frank and The Upstairs Room followed and my budding obsession grew.
history. photography. musings about life