Sunday Edition: Hannah Kozak

PHOTOSNACK #413

Every Sunday, I contact photographers previously featured on PHOTOSNACK and ask them to send me their spontaneous thoughts, observations, reflections, or advice.

Today, I am sharing the message I received from Hannah Kozak.

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Hannah Kozak

My father, a Holocaust survivor, asked me to tell his story towards the end of his life. I took this as a task as well as a love letter to him. As a 2nd generation survivor, perhaps this is part of the reason for my existence. In order to flesh out my project fully, I traveled to 19 camps in Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic for many years. I retraced my father's footsteps during his stay in eight Nazi-forced labor camps in Nazi-occupied Poland from 1942 until his liberation on May 8, 1945.

I have traveled to Poland and Germany numerous times to the killing centers where his family was murdered while tracing his steps to all of the camps he was forced into. Dernau, in particular, quieted me while awakening every sense. I saw the barbed wire fence that kept him prisoner as he was close to death. I heard crickets and the ever-present singing of birds that seem to sing differently in Poland than in the U.S. I wondered if he could have heard the running water from the creek surrounding the camp. Could he see the tall, sinewy trees? Making it out alive was a combination of his will, intuition, luck, and a miracle.

My father raised the bar on survival for me. Nothing in my life will ever compare to what he has seen so I am sharing part of him in this project. Giving shape to something painful and sharing it, helps us to process our grief and to decrease the burden of what we carry. I find that sharing is healing, instead of covering up secrets.

I am fascinated by the remains of the war, as a cloud of darkness from my father’s past has haunted me since I was ten years old when I started to read about the Holocaust. I grapple to understand man's inhumanity to man. I understand now that I will never truly comprehend what happened to my father's family, but my continued sojourns to Poland helped me to see answers to my questions in person.

The ultimate goal is to publish this project in my second photography book. My first book, my mother's story of abuse by her second husband, He Threw the Last Punch Too Hard, was published in 2020.

Hannah Kozak was featured in PHOTOSNACK #380.

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Sunday Editions connect you with photographers whose work you previously explored through PHOTOSNACK.

I want to reveal some authentic parts of the people behind the cameras.

I don't ask them any specific questions. I ask them to share whatever comes to mind when they think about YOU, the newsletter readers.

It makes their responses genuine and personal.

I hope you enjoyed today's Sunday Edition.

Until next time,
Tomasz