Henry Sperling's Journey

Henry Sperling (real name Hershel Sperling) is a Polish Jew that survived through eight concentration camps all before the age of eighteen. In his map I showcase the major moves of his life, in particular during the Holocaust. Sperling is the only surviving member of his family and had a very difficult time dealing with the Holocaust for the rest of his life. 
 
Sperling had an interesting journey from his first ghetto in his hometown of Czestochowa, Poland to his final days in Glasgow, Scotland. After the Holocaust Sperling he had a difficult time settling down and spent time in different countries. I found it interesting to see his difficulty in finding a place to live and a job to keep after the Holocaust. It is clear from the 20-page testimonial he wrote after his experiences in the camps and from his friends’ and family’s responses that he was never able to forget his experience and that it affected the rest of his life. He spent time in Europe post-1945 but was not able to keep a job and then moved from place to place until he finally settled in Glasgow, Scotland. 
What I found most remarkable about his story was the fact that due to the horror he experienced in the Holocaust he was not able live a "normal" life afterwards, mentally or geographically. Through this class we've learned each survivor deals with their trauma in their own unique way, and while it is logical, it is just upsetting to learn that his memories had so impacted his life. To know that the actions of strangers for three years can have such an impact on someone for more than forty years. He was left with nothing after the Holocaust, no family, no home, no money and it was difficult for him to make his new life. I think part of the reason he did not stay in Central Europe is the fact that his home was ruined and that he no longer had anyone keeping him there. His childhood was gone and his teenage years were tainted with horror. Only once he built a family did his "geographic life" become more stable.
By putting Henry Sperling's story on a map it allowed for me to see it in a different context. Seeing his overall story and the contrast between the volume of movement during 1942-1945 and from 1945-1989 was very interesting and helped me to visualize and better understand his journey. He covered many more miles after the Holocaust but went to many more places during the Holocaust. To actually see the movement he experienced during his teenage years and to imagine even the movement in my own life is difficult enough, let alone to think about the harrowing, traumatic experiences he went though. By seeing Sperling's story through a new medium it helped me to more completely understand his journey and some of the affects one may experience by being forcefully displaced and moved around so many times and at such a young age. 
Source: Treblinka Survior by: Mark S. Smith

No comments:

Post a Comment