i still won't do it justice.
a small group of us watched schindler's list on tuesday night before going to yad vashem holocaust memorial and museum the next morning. this was my first viewing of the movie.....and it definitely ripped my heart in some places.......but in many ways, it was still a movie.
yad vashem was different.
at yad vashem we spent an (inadequate) three hours walking through the rise of nazi germany.....the immigration of jews.......the movement to ghettos......models of death camps.....etc.....etc......etc...... we saw propaganda posters, flags, and christian documents advocating for the extinction of the "inferior" races. we saw artwork and poetry and even board games created by jewish prisoners in the ghettos. we listened to testimony after testimony of a handful of survivors about the horrible conditions and brutality they experienced. there were lists of names, piles of shoes, mounds of personal items and momentos that were torn from families as they were taken away.....like cattle.....
behind one particular glass case was an advertizement for "cheap paper" that read something like: "inexpensive paper, one side has ink that can be easily washed and reused." also behind the glass were cut-outs of this "cheap paper" that were shaped like shoe inserts
......it was a torah scroll....
another section of the museum displayed 5 concrete fenceposts brought directly from auschwitz and the "welcome" gate that reads "work sets you free" in german. not only are the posts extremely tall, but they curve inward......even without barbed wire, it's a hopelessly suffocating experience...
the museum ended with media samples from liberation.......and then the memorials begin
.......the hall of names.....photograph after photograph after photograph of victims of the holocaust........and floor to ceiling rows of binders collecting names and many other forms of documentation related to each of the six million fatalities.
.......the children's memorial.......an underground dark room full of mirrors and small lights positioned in such a way that the light is multiplied infinitely.........like stars in deep space.......a recording reads the name, age, and nationality of each murdered child......
i can't adequately describe all the emotions/feelings that occur after an experience like this. especially not on a public blog.....sorry.....i'm humbled, angered, saddened, frustrated........
it was such carefully calculated and measured abuse of people......and it was just one event that received global attention! how many more incidents of genocide, torture, and prejudice occur each day in other ignored areas of the world?! even in our own cities......
and we ignore it.......some even claim it never happened.......it's easier to be ignorant....doesn't hurt as much.
when will the excuses stop......and something will be done to change the mess?
7 comments:
Wow cousin...wow...
sigh...doesn't it make your heart just break?
that people let something like this happen?
that God did?
and that it still goes in today...
I've been to the Holocaust memorial / Museum of Tolerance in LA. I can't imagine how that experience would be multiplied in the Holy Land. I don't know whether to say, "Thank you for sharing" ... or ... "I'm so sorry that you're going through the pain of all this." Maybe going back to not feeling it would be like taking the cop-out pill in the Matrix... but still. Anytime you want to talk about this, I'd be happy - not the right word, but you understand - to do so with you.
I love you.
It's been 31 year since I walked through the Yad Vashem. As I read your reflections, my heart grew heavy as it came back all too clearly. It will stay with you the rest of your life.
we went to the jewish museum in berlin... it was even more real being there with someone who lost family in the holocaust. probably one of the most interesting experiences of my life. months later i'm still not sure how to sum it up. one thing i loved about the museum in berlin - it covered all of jewish history. it helped to see that while the holocaust was huge, catastrophic, horrible, it is just part of their history. they've been a part of so much more than just the holocaust, yet i feel we reduce jews to just the holocaust at times.
good blog, friend. :)
Well for one you are not to take photos INSIDE the museum so you are totally disrespectful. Second the way the jewish people discriminate against non-whites in the airport conflicts with their Yad vashem memorial of how jews were treated
anonymous--
i apologize for not adequately citing my source for the picture. i agree with you that photos inside the museum are disrespectful and thus took no pictures of my own. the photo you see was found using a google image search.
thank you for bringing discrimination to my attention as well, friend. i do not know nearly enough about jewish history (or any other culture's history for that matter) in order to make value judgments like, "they have always been victims," or "they are always oppressors." i do not mean to turn a blind eye to the brutality that goes on at the hands of israel's military, or the injustice that occurs here in my own backyard. i am constantly recognizing my own ignorance and simply trying to seek understanding.
thank you for your post. i apologize if i unjustly offended you. but i am glad to have caused a pause in your routine to ponder these things.
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