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?
