Auschwitz, in Oswiecim Poland, 収容者を運んだ線路

August 15 was Independence day of India and Anniversary of end of world war two in Japan. On August 15 last year, I visited Auschwitz in Poland. It was raining when I reached nearest station of Auschwitz. I asked employee of the station how to get to Auschwitz but I could not understand which bus I should take. A guy told me we just had to take a walk to straight. Then I started to take a walk under the rain with a Japanese boy who was also going to the same destination. I still remember the smell of that place clearly. It was stench of death. 66 years has passed since world war two so you may think it is impossible to feel it but I could feel the atmosphere of death in that place under the rain.

ユダヤ人たちが収容されていた小屋

小屋の内部

An American friend who has also been there said Japanese think the end of world war two is August 15 but people think November 10, 1989, the wall of Berlin was broken, was exactly the end of war for European. I noticed that we tend to see the worst time from only our own side. A lot of people were separated because of that wall even after August 15, 1945. August 15 is also the day that Korea were freed from Japan. Any war and conflict become a struggle time for both of countries which was fighting each other.
“No war” is necessary for peace but it is not enough. My country has kept no war after world war two in Japan but we have a lot of challenges nowadays. Especially, after 3.11, we noticed we have to care another element for peace. Anniversary of the end of tragedy in our history makes us see the past and remind us we should not repeat the same thing again but we also should need to make sure what we should take care of to make our world better.