0:00:08 > 0:00:12Krakow, situated on the Vistula River,
0:00:12 > 0:00:14and dating back to the 7th century.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19This is Poland's second largest city.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23With its cosmopolitan bars and restaurants,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26it's become a magnet for tourists and day-trippers
0:00:26 > 0:00:29touring Eastern Europe.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32But it hasn't always been so inviting.
0:01:30 > 0:01:35Just 70km west of Krakow lies the small town of Oswiecim.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42At first glance, you'd never know its secrets.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45You'd never know that it played an imposed yet integral role
0:01:45 > 0:01:48during the worst chapter in human history.
0:01:50 > 0:01:54Over 1.1 million people perished here in the most notorious
0:01:54 > 0:01:56of Nazi death camps.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59Cattle cars carrying Europe's Jews arrived through the gates
0:01:59 > 0:02:04of Birkenau, only then to be ordered out and confronted with the
0:02:04 > 0:02:09nightmarish scenario of seeing their families separated then stripped
0:02:09 > 0:02:11and murdered in the gas chambers.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17This was Auschwitz.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21My name is Eva Kor.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23I am a survivor of Auschwitz.
0:02:23 > 0:02:30A survivor of medical experiments conducted by Dr Josef Mengele.
0:02:30 > 0:02:37And now that I am 82 years old, I am trying to survive old age.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40Along with her sister, Miriam,
0:02:40 > 0:02:45Eva was subjected to a relentless series of operations and experiments
0:02:45 > 0:02:47which often left them close to death.
0:02:48 > 0:02:53Against all odds, Eva and her sister survived.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58In December of 2015,
0:02:58 > 0:03:02Eva received an e-mail from Glaswegian songwriter Raymond Meade.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10He had been to Auschwitz and was so affected by what he'd encountered
0:03:10 > 0:03:13that he'd written some poetry that he wanted Eva to recite
0:03:13 > 0:03:17for inclusion in a collection of words and music he was writing
0:03:17 > 0:03:19to mark what he had seen.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22I had no intention of doing a project,
0:03:22 > 0:03:24I'd just always wanted to visit Auschwitz.
0:03:24 > 0:03:29It had such a big effect on me and I think it's a sensitive subject
0:03:29 > 0:03:31and the best way to approach it -
0:03:31 > 0:03:36it took me to come to the idea of an EP of a couple songs and spoken word
0:03:36 > 0:03:39stuff and some string arrangements that are now happening on it.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42It's going to be called The Railway People.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50The first trip I had been there, it was lashing rain, it was pouring.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55When we got to Birkenau, and there's a famous watchtower
0:03:55 > 0:03:58which stands and overlooks the whole camp.
0:03:58 > 0:03:59When I got to the top, it was...
0:04:01 > 0:04:04..one of the most frightening things I think I have ever experienced.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06There was no-one there, there was nothing.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10It just was almost sort of stuck in a moment in time,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13nothing had changed.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17The view over the camp, over the train line, everything,
0:04:17 > 0:04:20I had a flashback to what it must have been like
0:04:20 > 0:04:23to be stood there and the evil that happened in that room.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26It was sort of palpable, you could feel it.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32I came straight back down and I had the idea for the songs straight away
0:04:32 > 0:04:34and thought something was stirring.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37But I don't know where songs come from but there was definite moment
0:04:37 > 0:04:40of, "Get your notepad," and on the flight home
0:04:40 > 0:04:44I started to write it and within a day or something I had it.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46The basic sort of first version of it was ready.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50Is it too Oasis?
0:04:52 > 0:04:55It definitely is his chord.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07I don't know how a lot of things happened when I went to see it.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11It was just... How could this be, how could this happen?
0:05:11 > 0:05:16Pondering how people could be so cruel to each other.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19And, you know, this isn't 300 or 400 years ago.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21This is very, very recent.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24I don't know, that was the title of it.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26The song is called At The Top Of The Stairs.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28But the poem is How Could It Be?
0:05:30 > 0:05:33Raymond is friends with viola player Annemarie McGowan,
0:05:33 > 0:05:36who leads the Cairn String Quartet.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40Like Raymond, Annemarie knew this was no ordinary project.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44She visited Auschwitz herself to get in the mind-set and to somehow
0:05:44 > 0:05:47musically reflect the ultimate horrors to be found there
0:05:47 > 0:05:50at the end of the Second World War.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53There's railway tracks the whole way up the right-hand side as you come
0:05:53 > 0:05:57in on the road and the footage they show you on the film,
0:05:57 > 0:06:01was all these people being shipped in and these trains.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04And all I could see was this railway track and this freight train
0:06:04 > 0:06:08just going so slowly up beside us and that was just vividly with me.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11And when we got through those gates,
0:06:11 > 0:06:13the first thing you see is the railway tracks on the ground.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16You just see where the trains could go right in.
0:06:18 > 0:06:21You are already a bit shocked from the video.
0:06:21 > 0:06:22It was a kind of sunny day,
0:06:22 > 0:06:25and everything was a little bit surreal about it.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27Massive groups of people shuffling in and out of here,
0:06:27 > 0:06:31there and everywhere. All these identical-looking houses.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34They are all red brick, I don't think I was expecting that.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37I think I thought it was going to be some kind of cement.
0:06:45 > 0:06:50You visit Auschwitz first and then Birkenau, the killing camp, basically.
0:06:50 > 0:06:55And that's really where, I think, that was what inspired Raymond.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58But it's definitely almost the most chilling part.
0:06:58 > 0:07:03They tell you that the worst part of the tour is much earlier on,
0:07:03 > 0:07:06it's the bit where you see the hair of 30,000 people that's kept.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09But it's the shoes, you see so many shoes.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14You think that that would be the worst bit but it's not,
0:07:14 > 0:07:18it's actually Birkenau. It's just such a chilling, chilling place.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24I sent a poem out to Eva Kor.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26To my surprise, she came back to me and said...
0:07:26 > 0:07:32Dear Raymond, first of all you are the first singer/musician to contact
0:07:32 > 0:07:38me for a unique project and I want to thank you for thinking about me.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42It could be a most uniquely inspiring project and I will
0:07:42 > 0:07:48cooperate with you to help you create a most meaningful song.
0:07:48 > 0:07:50I said, "Would you like to do voice-over in a song?"
0:07:50 > 0:07:52And she said, "Yeah, I'd like that."
0:07:52 > 0:07:54I sent the song to her, she liked that, too.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57We're going to meet in July at Auschwitz-Birkenau where she lost
0:07:57 > 0:08:00her family, to do a reading of this poem.
0:08:03 > 0:08:04After months of e-mails,
0:08:04 > 0:08:08the day has finally arrived for Raymond to meet the extraordinary
0:08:08 > 0:08:12Eva Mozes Kor and her son, Alex, in Krakow.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24- Hi, Eva.- Hello. - Nice to meet you at last.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27How are you feeling?
0:08:27 > 0:08:28I am feeling pretty good.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31- Sit down.- Nice to meet you. - I'm Alex.- Raymond. Nice to meet you.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33You all right? How are you doing?
0:08:33 > 0:08:34You're tall and young.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36Do you think so? I feel old.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39I was 34 on Friday so I'm getting old.
0:08:39 > 0:08:4034.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43I am more than twice your age.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45So when did you get here?
0:08:45 > 0:08:49We got here yesterday. Yesterday afternoon.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52I was in Spain, playing some music in Spain
0:08:52 > 0:08:54on Friday - Thursday and Friday.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56And I flew in yesterday so...
0:08:56 > 0:08:58You look very nice.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02- Thank you, so do you. - I won't check your tattoos out.
0:09:02 > 0:09:03Oh, no, I hide them.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05You hide them.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07That's terrible, I'll sit like that all night.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11How did you come up with the idea that you wanted to meet me
0:09:11 > 0:09:13and do a song about Auschwitz?
0:09:13 > 0:09:17I guess songwriting is how I've dealt with my life.
0:09:17 > 0:09:19It's how I tell people how I feel.
0:09:19 > 0:09:20I'm not very good at talking...
0:09:20 > 0:09:23What touched you about Auschwitz?
0:09:23 > 0:09:25When I got to Birkenau, it was...
0:09:25 > 0:09:27It took my breath away.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30I couldn't believe the organisation of it.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33The size of it. The silence of it.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35You know, I felt a presence.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39Normal people, so to speak, did that.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42Yeah. Exactly.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45It was more... It was a real human issue for me,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48I couldn't believe people could do that.
0:09:48 > 0:09:54Art brings to life, music more so than drawings.
0:09:54 > 0:10:01I can see children sometimes drawing Stars of David, swastikas,
0:10:01 > 0:10:02barbed wire.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07I guess that's a very primitive way of expressing themselves.
0:10:10 > 0:10:16I am not sure of what we want a piece of art to do.
0:10:18 > 0:10:20What kind of a response to we want?
0:10:20 > 0:10:28I would say I am definitely against any art that is very scary.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32Very correct in depicting deaths.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35Because I think that evokes anger.
0:10:36 > 0:10:41I can remember at the age of five or six,
0:10:41 > 0:10:46knowing that something bad happened to both my parents -
0:10:46 > 0:10:48my dad is also a survivor.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51And I just thought that was normal.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55And I didn't think any of her ideas were all that great cos I was
0:10:55 > 0:11:00a 14-year-old know-it-all, and so really until...
0:11:01 > 0:11:05..I was in my late 20s, I didn't think it was a big deal.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10Eva Kor has dedicated her life to educating the naysayers
0:11:10 > 0:11:14and youngsters about the evils of the Holocaust.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18Despite failing health, she undertakes lecture tours around the world,
0:11:18 > 0:11:21from schools to universities to synagogues.
0:11:21 > 0:11:26Eva describes her time in Auschwitz with her late twin sister, Miriam,
0:11:26 > 0:11:28mesmerising audiences,
0:11:28 > 0:11:31leaving them in disbelief at the human cruelty she witnessed.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36She also tells them about her own path that led her to controversially
0:11:36 > 0:11:40forgiving the perpetrators so she could move on with her life.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43Alex took her to one lecture in a school.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46Eighth graders don't have a great attention span,
0:11:46 > 0:11:50and there wasn't a sound for over an hour because they were just...
0:11:50 > 0:11:53Every word she said was just an amazing experience for them
0:11:53 > 0:11:56and I just couldn't believe it. So that's when I kind of realised
0:11:56 > 0:12:00that there was something special about the way...
0:12:00 > 0:12:02Her ability to capture a young audience,
0:12:02 > 0:12:05and I think because of that -
0:12:05 > 0:12:06and I've always been involved -
0:12:06 > 0:12:10but because of that I saw that this was something really special,
0:12:10 > 0:12:14and so from that point on for the last 26 years or so,
0:12:14 > 0:12:17I've been very involved.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19How do you start on forgiveness?
0:12:19 > 0:12:22You are tired of hurting.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24You are tired of being angry.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31And most people will get, eventually, tired of that.
0:12:31 > 0:12:32Take a piece of paper.
0:12:34 > 0:12:41Write a letter to the person or people who have hurt you.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45And you can say in this letter anything you want to.
0:12:45 > 0:12:52At the end, you must say, "I forgive you," and you must mean those words,
0:12:52 > 0:12:53otherwise it has no merit.
0:12:55 > 0:13:00This generation of maybe
0:13:00 > 0:13:0618-plus is very ignorant about World War II.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10And the best way, in my opinion, to reach them,
0:13:10 > 0:13:13is through music they can relate to.
0:13:13 > 0:13:19So I think it's very good, very powerful and very well written,
0:13:19 > 0:13:24it comes from the heart and any time something comes from the heart,
0:13:24 > 0:13:25and it's not...
0:13:27 > 0:13:33His words are not scary and the music I have heard
0:13:33 > 0:13:35in the trailer of...
0:13:37 > 0:13:42..People Of The Railroad, it was beautiful music.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47So I think it will hopefully... That the young...
0:13:49 > 0:13:55..people who need to be educated will listen to it
0:13:55 > 0:13:59and get enough involved to want to know more.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03I'm looking forward to visiting tomorrow with you.
0:14:03 > 0:14:05I think it will be really special.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07Do you feel different when you go back? Is it the same
0:14:07 > 0:14:09every time when you go?
0:14:10 > 0:14:16To me, when I remember somebody, I remember the last time I saw them.
0:14:16 > 0:14:21That is an image that is very deeply ingrained in my soul.
0:14:23 > 0:14:28And when I think about my parents, particularly in Auschwitz,
0:14:28 > 0:14:32and my two older sisters, that is the last place I saw them
0:14:32 > 0:14:36on that selection platform and they just disappeared from
0:14:36 > 0:14:38the face of this earth.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42So when I go back, I always relive the moment.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46They are very clear to me as I am standing there.
0:14:46 > 0:14:51And that was the reason that three years ago, I wrote,
0:14:51 > 0:14:55that I was saying in my lecture I never got to say goodbye
0:14:55 > 0:14:58to my mother nor my father, who disappeared before my mother.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04And so I wrote a letter of goodbye and forgiveness to both of them
0:15:04 > 0:15:08that I read right there on the selection platform.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12- And it felt very good.- Yeah.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18- That's really moving. - Every year, we have something else.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22Yes, that's a poem tomorrow, I guess.
0:15:24 > 0:15:29I'm looking forward to it. I can't thank you enough for doing it.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31- You're welcome. - It's a real honour to meet you.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49- Did you sleep good?- No.
0:15:49 > 0:15:54- What's your problem?- To be honest, my problem is we have a pub crawl.
0:15:54 > 0:16:00- What?- It's called a pub crawl and it's when a group of, usually,
0:16:00 > 0:16:01British tourists...
0:16:03 > 0:16:07..go to every single bar in our street until 5am.
0:16:07 > 0:16:08Why?
0:16:08 > 0:16:11I don't know why. I don't understand it.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14They were having a good time but we didn't sleep.
0:16:14 > 0:16:20I have good times without going high on any alcohol.
0:16:20 > 0:16:21I am just high on life.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30All good?
0:16:30 > 0:16:31As good as that will get.
0:16:35 > 0:16:40Did you say last night this was your 18th time to go back today, is it?
0:16:40 > 0:16:43Yes, this is the 18th time since I was liberated.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49How many times have you visited Auschwitz now?
0:16:49 > 0:16:50This is the fifth.
0:16:50 > 0:16:51- The fifth?- Yeah.
0:16:51 > 0:16:56What is that, the yearly pilgrimage to Auschwitz?
0:16:56 > 0:17:01Not quite. I was just interested in it, I felt...
0:17:01 > 0:17:05You can read the books and you can only do so much, but I think going...
0:17:05 > 0:17:07So you want more and more details?
0:17:07 > 0:17:09Yeah, I wanted more and more details.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14But that's in one year.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17- In less than one year?- Yeah.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19So on the weekend, you say, "OK, let's go to Auschwitz."
0:17:19 > 0:17:23Yeah. My wife doesn't think it's a good time, you know...
0:17:23 > 0:17:25Yes, and what did she think?
0:17:25 > 0:17:27She couldn't believe it. She was the same.
0:17:27 > 0:17:29She thought it was just unbelievable.
0:17:31 > 0:17:36What is unbelievable is that anybody survived and remained sane.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44Whenever Eva visits Auschwitz, she's always recognised,
0:17:44 > 0:17:48and people want to hear her story first-hand.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50This visit was no exception.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52The crowds soon gathered.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58We got down from the cattle car and I think, as you can see,
0:17:58 > 0:18:01this little car, 100 people in it.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05For four days.
0:18:05 > 0:18:06No water.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09And then the doors opened,
0:18:09 > 0:18:15my mother grabbed my twin sister Miriam and me by the hand,
0:18:15 > 0:18:19I think she thought that as long as she could hold on to us,
0:18:19 > 0:18:22that somehow she could protect us.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26It was thousands of people all around us,
0:18:26 > 0:18:28pushing, yelling, shoving.
0:18:28 > 0:18:34I looked around and tried to figure out what on earth is this place?
0:18:35 > 0:18:39And I realised that my father and two older sisters -
0:18:39 > 0:18:44I had two older sisters, Edit and Aliz - disappeared in the crowd.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47Never ever did I see them again.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50So it was you, your parents, your twin sister and two older sisters?
0:18:50 > 0:18:53Older sisters. We arrived together.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57And then we were holding on to mother and the Nazi was running
0:18:57 > 0:19:01right in the middle, yelling in German, "Zwillinge, Zwillinge."
0:19:01 > 0:19:03"Twins, twins."
0:19:03 > 0:19:10And he noticed us and demanded to my mother, asked, "Are they twins?"
0:19:10 > 0:19:14And she didn't know what to say. She said, "Is that good?"
0:19:14 > 0:19:17He said, "Yes," and my mother said, "Yes."
0:19:17 > 0:19:23I remember seeing her arms stretched out in despair, she was pulled away.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28And I always remembered that I never even said goodbye to her.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32I didn't understand...
0:19:33 > 0:19:36..that this would be the last time we would see her and it only took
0:19:36 > 0:19:4130 minutes from the time we get down from the cattle car to the time
0:19:41 > 0:19:44that the whole family was gone.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51Eva's parents and older sisters, Edit and Aliz,
0:19:51 > 0:19:55were killed on arrival at Auschwitz Camp II-Birkenau.
0:19:56 > 0:20:0390% of the 1,100,000 victims during the camp's five years of operation
0:20:03 > 0:20:05were Jewish, like Eva's family.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10This custom-built killing camp was created by the Nazis to make
0:20:10 > 0:20:15the mass killing of Jews, Poles, gypsies, prisoners of war,
0:20:15 > 0:20:19homosexuals and other ethnic groups more efficient.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24When the horrors were revealed in January 1945,
0:20:24 > 0:20:26the first day of liberation at Auschwitz,
0:20:26 > 0:20:33the Russian Red Army found 600 corpses, plus 7,500 alive,
0:20:33 > 0:20:36awaiting the final solution.
0:20:37 > 0:20:42Eva and sister Miriam were among those survivors waiting,
0:20:42 > 0:20:46after ten months of being used as guinea pigs by Dr Josef Mengele
0:20:46 > 0:20:49as part of his twin children medical experiments programme.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55The commitment, bravery and strength of Eva Kor's survival
0:20:55 > 0:20:59under the harshest conditions still drives her today.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06I need to go. I don't know...
0:21:06 > 0:21:08Where are you? Am I talking?
0:21:08 > 0:21:11You started talking and then they videotaped it.
0:21:11 > 0:21:17So you just work to make the world better, do something in your life,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20when you see something wrong, stand up against it.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24You are not guilty for anything that happened
0:21:24 > 0:21:29but you will bear responsibility if you let other bad things happen.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31And the world is in big trouble.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40- OK.- You guys ready?
0:21:40 > 0:21:42- Whenever you're ready.- I am. - Yeah, OK.- OK.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45"How could it be?
0:21:46 > 0:21:51"Read brick walls, uninviting yet familiar.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54"A labyrinth of screams and stolen youth.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58"And stolen ageing and stolen life.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02"Blue and white shrouds consuming memories.
0:22:02 > 0:22:07"For all who cry, for the taken of the Shoah."
0:22:07 > 0:22:09We are going to take a selfie with you.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14OK, you stand here.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16Let's see what we can see.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19You can stay in the background, that's fine.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21Yeah.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23OK, smile back there.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28No, you want here, here...
0:22:28 > 0:22:32With the poem recorded, it's time to go.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35But Eva has one more thing she wants to show Raymond.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41Where is Raymond? Come on, Raymond.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46This is where the gas chambers were.
0:22:46 > 0:22:51So people probably would be walked around into the forest and then...
0:22:53 > 0:22:55- OK?- And then...
0:22:57 > 0:22:59..people would be walked down there.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02It was divided in two.
0:23:02 > 0:23:07The first part was where they took off their clothes and that part
0:23:07 > 0:23:11right here was the gas chamber.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15And then the bodies were taken to the crematorium...
0:23:17 > 0:23:20..lifted and taken to be burned.
0:23:21 > 0:23:23After showing Raymond the gas chamber
0:23:23 > 0:23:27in which her family were killed, it was time to delineate the philosophy
0:23:27 > 0:23:29behind forgiving Dr Mengele.
0:23:30 > 0:23:32It started with a letter.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37I went home, closed the bedroom door, picked up a dictionary,
0:23:37 > 0:23:40looked for nasty words.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45I made a whole list of them and then I read them out clear and loud.
0:23:45 > 0:23:48And I said, in spite of all that, "I forgive you."
0:23:48 > 0:23:52It made me feel very good that I, the little victim,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55had the power even over the Angel of Death.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01So if I have the power over the Angel of Death and I wasn't
0:24:01 > 0:24:05hurting anybody, it was an interesting thought that he,
0:24:05 > 0:24:10Mengele, could never change my forgiving him.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12- No, couldn't affect it. - No.- Your decision.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14I am in charge of it.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16Yeah. It must've been really powerful for you.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19It was a very powerful feeling. It was a very powerful feeling.
0:24:19 > 0:24:24Now if I forgive Mengele, I decided to forgive everybody who has ever hurt me.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28So that is a way, the forgiveness idea again.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35See, if every brick here could speak...
0:24:37 > 0:24:41..of what they witnessed, what a story they could tell.
0:24:44 > 0:24:50I didn't get closure from the point of view that I could forgive
0:24:50 > 0:24:55and heal myself and look back at Auschwitz and what happened here...
0:24:57 > 0:25:02..not as a tragedy but as a victory.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05Because I am no longer hunted...
0:25:07 > 0:25:09..or hurt...
0:25:09 > 0:25:14emotionally, for the rest of my life, for what happened here,
0:25:14 > 0:25:18and realising that I cannot change the past, no-one can.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23But the way I can deal with it as a...
0:25:24 > 0:25:27Telling myself as a point of strength,
0:25:27 > 0:25:29if I've survived Auschwitz,
0:25:29 > 0:25:33if I survived being almost dead
0:25:33 > 0:25:37in the barrack of the living dead and crawling on the barrack floor,
0:25:37 > 0:25:41and on top of that, I can forgive them...
0:25:43 > 0:25:46..then I can heal myself and go on.
0:25:46 > 0:25:51And I believe that I do deserve that right to live free...
0:25:52 > 0:25:57..as I claim it for every human being should have that right.
0:25:59 > 0:26:05Young people who never, ever thought about listening to a song
0:26:05 > 0:26:09about Auschwitz, but because it is a popular song
0:26:09 > 0:26:14created by a young artist, they will listen to it
0:26:14 > 0:26:19and touch them and they want to go beyond it.
0:26:19 > 0:26:27The whole idea why this song is written is to reach young people.
0:26:27 > 0:26:34And then both Raymond, me, have accomplished an important project.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40# All the people, all the broken hearted
0:26:40 > 0:26:45# All the people with their faith departed
0:26:45 > 0:26:49# For the parents that never fade from memory... #
0:27:29 > 0:27:33"Red brick walls, uninviting yet familiar.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37"A labyrinth of screams and stolen youth.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41"And stolen ageing and stolen life.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45"And stolen happiness and stolen intimacies.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49"Things I take for granted.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51"A warm summer night.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54"There is victim in all of us.
0:27:54 > 0:28:00"We should always be blue and white shrouds consuming memories.
0:28:00 > 0:28:05"For all who cry, for the taken of the Shoah.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09"For all who see numbers in the dark
0:28:09 > 0:28:13"and teach themselves the wrongs of the past.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16"To determine future failings
0:28:16 > 0:28:20"all reconciled by human solutions,
0:28:20 > 0:28:23"human compassion and reason,
0:28:23 > 0:28:25"never selection.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27"And sympathy and goodness
0:28:27 > 0:28:30"and wanting for life
0:28:30 > 0:28:35"and moments afforded to us by breathing.
0:28:35 > 0:28:39"A wreath atop a train line is silent,
0:28:39 > 0:28:42"but for the wind, whispering,
0:28:42 > 0:28:48"all it's ever seen, it cries for the lost,
0:28:48 > 0:28:51"it tells you if you listen,
0:28:51 > 0:28:54"How could it be otherwise?"