the utter mystery and chaos.

It's the UK's Holocaust Memorial Day and there was a piece on buzzfeed where they interviewed a number of survivors who live in the UK. You can read it here.

The story that really threw me was a man who thought he had lost every member of his family only to find out nearly years later that he had two sisters who had managed to survive. Then fifteen years after the war ended he finds out his father is still alive. The last time they had seen each other, the man had been a boy. A boy! (it took another five years before they were able to see each other in person because of the restrictions that came with living the Soviet Union.) I thought of his father who had lost his wife, and all eight of his children, his community... his everything. And then suddenly to one day have some of his children come back to life. That made my heart fall apart. Most were never that lucky. But somehow these people were given this wonderful moment.
You can read about the man's story in greater detail here (it's truly staggering.)