A Memorial and a Name

I don't even know how to approach this topic: The Holocaust. I've been avoiding it for a few days now, but I could not fail to reflect and share my experience at Yad Vashem, the world's leading Holocaust museum. For the purposes of my blog, I plan to simply share some of the special things I learned, and highlight two of the rooms that particularly touched me.

Our tour guide Hazey was PHENOMINAL and really taught us the history and helped us sort through our emotions of the Holocaust. She customized her comments toward us as students, and read our faces and body language to guide her own presentation of the museum. I appreciated that was not afraid to share with us the magnitude of the suffering that affected so many, but never went too far. I took 4 pages of single spaced notes as I walked through the concrete, triangular building, learning of the horrors that lead to the death of 7-8 million Jews.

"Yad Vashem" has its origin in Isaiah 56:5 "And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name (Yad Vashem) that shall not be cut off." The purpose/goals of this museum are to:

Educate They provide educational courses for educators in Israel and worldwide. They create age-appropriate curriculum for schools all around the world. They take on the responsibility to teach the general public about the Holocaust and hold public exhibitions.

Document Yad Vashem collects the names, photos and documents of Holocaust victims. They also document audio, video and written testimonies of survivors.

Commemorate They preserve the name and attempt to preserve the memory of the Jews so sickly murdered during the Holocaust, and the communities destroyed. Yad Vashem holds ceremonies of commemoration and remembrance.

Research They conduct, support and and encourage research regarding the Holocaust. They publish research and make it available to the general public.

Recognize the Righteous Among Nations They honor non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. Since the 1960s the title of "Righteous Among the Nations" has been awarded to more than 22,000 people.

The Hall of Remembrance:

As we entered this incredible room, Hazey invited us to focus in on one picture. It is through remembering individual people that we can in essence, bring them back to life. I spent a solid 5 minutes internalizing the image of one young girl. Some adjectives I recorded to help me remember my thoughts and feelings are:
Honest
Sweet
Charitable
Virtuous
Faithful
Obedient
Committed
I saw these traits in her eyes. In her soft face. In her peaceful smile.

Jews were targeted, mocked, tortured, singled out and even hacked to pieces. Not only were they stripped of their names, families, clothes, and homes, but stripped of their aspirations. Stripped of their dreams. Their shoes trashed, birth certificates burnt, and children abused. The Nazi's kept the Jews alive in self-disrespect.

A people accustomed to never exposing more than an elbow became the subject of mockery and ultimate disrespect. Perhaps they made Jews an anonymous naked mass to demean them and strip them of all self-respect. Or perhaps the Nazi's stripped them into a naked mass to make murdering easier. I met a Nazi at a piano concert in December, and gained some insights based on his background and perspective on the Holocaust. Granted, our talk was only about 5 minutes long, but this young man (now about 80 years old) did not want to kill people. He didn't ask to be a Nazi. I'm sure every case is different, but this idea is just something to think about. The idea that if you live according to moral values you are finished. Nazis killing Jews is one example. It was meet that mothers steal food for their children to survive. People had to lie themselves out of situations in order to live. Is it appropriate, and if so, when is it appropriate to sacrifice (give something up for the sake of something better) your moral code?

Jews were literally treated as rodents. I clearly remember my experience with my family at a concentration camp in Germany. Bryan, Noelle and I wedged ourselves into one broken, wooden bunk. We crouched in through a low door to see the "showers" where deceived Jews went to be gassed. We beheld the walls where hope-filled mothers threw their newborns, praying that just one of the "righteous among nations" would cradle and raise their precious child.

The most emotional part of the museum was the Children's memorial. All the horror and sadness exposed in the museum felt incomprehensible. But the personal nature of this memorial helped me put things in perspective and understand the holocaust on a more personal level. I walked in through a pitch black hallway to a room filled with twinkling lights. A room filled with mystery, hope and awe. As I turned through the room, I listened to the confident voice reading names, ages and birthplaces of individual, victimized children. My eyes fill with tears as I reflect on those precious lives lost, and rejoice in the Plan of Salvation which brings such incredible light and truth into my life.

HOW I WILL CHANGE FROM MY EXPERIENCE AT YAD VASHEM:

I will not make assumptions or judge others so harshly. Some Jews committed suicide to free themselves of the self-disrespect, torture, and eminent death inflicted by the Nazis. How will Heavenly Father judge them? Will the surviving Jews pained daily by the memories and psychological damage be judged according to their thoughts and deeds? Heavenly Father is the only one qualified to judge.

I will treat children in my life with more love, dignity, and mutual respect. Children are not little adults. As a mother, a school volunteer, and a member of the church, I will promote the idea of letting kids be kids. They need love, and it is my job to treat them with dignity.

"A country is not just what it does- it is also what it tolerates." -- Kurt Tucholsky I will be a better citizen and person by taking a stand against things I know are wrong. This quote drives my mind to think of the many (smaller scale, or less dramatic) Holocausts that are going on in the world today. I will give more of my time to reading the news so that I can stay informed on current issues. I will set aside money so that people in Africa can have clean water. I will sit by a lonely friend at lunch. I will not tolerate letting the people around me feel lonely or unimportant.

Nothing short of the atonement can make the sadness and the horror alright. I believe that it is only through Christ's perfect atonement that we can be healed of whatever anxieties, fears, sadness, anger and heartache we face.

Picture Credit:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yad_Vashem
2. http://www.jerusalemshots.com