Stations of the Cross at the Site of Remembrance - report
Last Saturday, 23 March, for the first time in the history of our Museum took place a special event of a spiritual, religious and educational character. Its participants are living in Wrocław, but come from such different countries as: Mexico, Brazil, Spain, the United States, Italy, France, Nigeria, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, Croatia, Argentina, Peru, Tanzania and Portugal. There were also the Kurds, who have been suffering in the course of their history, and of course Poles.
The highlight of the event was the Way of the Cross, which was preceded by a meeting at the Museum building in Łambinowice, where the guests watched the film about the history of the memorial site and were acquainted with the most important facts about the history of the camps from 1870 until the soon after the Second World War time, by Dr. Violetta Rezler-Wasielewska, director of the CMJW.
The Way itself was led in English by the group's custodian, Father Marcin Buntow, a priest and rector of the Pastoral Centre for English-speakers operating as part of the Parish of St. Charles Borromeo in Wrocław, while stopping at each station to say prayers was accompanied by the reading of successive accounts and reflections of the prisoners-of-war who passed through the Lamsdorf camps. Not all of them managed to survive. The devotion was held on the site of the 'Place with a Scar' exhibition, what showed on this occasion that the space of it corresponds well with the organisation of the Way of the Cross and its spiritual dimension. It was emphasised by one of the participants, Lilia Tinco from Peru, who said: "It was a time for some Easter reflections. I realised in what appalling conditions the prisoners were kept, and still managed to survive. I was comparing this with the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ".
Thank you very much to Ms Monika Kwiatosz, Honorary Consul of the Italian Republic in Wrocław, who initiated the organisation of this beautiful event!
Photo E. Góra/CMJW