This Picture was taken in the former Jewish Quarter in the village of Tykocin in May 2011, in the province of Bialystok, Poland.When we think of the Holocaust it is easy to forget the magnitude of what was lost. The only stories we have are those of the small handful of survivors, and we forget the stories of each of the millions upon millions of lives that were perished.
In the village of Tykocin there are virtually no survivors. In August of 1941, the Nazi Einsatsgroupen transported over 1400 Jews from the city to the nearby forest where three pits had been dug, and shot them one by one by one. There is now no Jewish community in Tykocin, just vestiges of the past and an emptiness which reminds you of all the lives that were lost. When you look at this picture, don't think about what you see; think about the people you are not seeing.
