A Sobering Experience

 

 Yad Veshem. 

Ophir, our Judaism Professor, took us to the Holocaust Museum here in Jerusalem for our field trip. History is my favorite subject and I greatly anticipated this day but little did I know what I would see. I walked through the museum desperately trying to grasp a hold of all of the information yet I was emotionally drained viewing the tragedy endured by millions of people. 

I will never fully understand.

Sobering.

Thoughts that touched me:

"I do not know what a Jew is, we only know what human beings are." -Pastor Troeme

"Remember only that I was innocent and, just like you, mortal on that day, I, too, had a face marked by rage, by pity and joy, quite simply, a human face." 

-Benjamin Fondane (Murdered at Auschwitz in 1944)

5-6 Million Jews were killed.

1.5 Million Jewish Children were killed in the Holocaust.

The numbers are so unfathomable, I will never comprehend the pain and extreme horror experienced by these people. However, it was the personal testimonies that touched me to my core.  To see the survivors reliving this nightmare, letters sent to loved ones, and journal entries gave me a greater insight of what this hellish nightmare must have been like.

"My only child was taken away for work yesterday. I don't know where they took him....Only God knows what I am going through."

-Salas Letter

"It is indeed a wonder how the world exists after so much screaming. Yet now, innocent children, pure angels, even the greatest, holy Jews, are murdered and butchered just because they are Jews..and the world does not turn back into water? It remains standing steadfast."

-Plaseszner Rebbe

Poland had 3,325,00 Jews as the rise of the Nazis in 1933.  Poland was DEEPLY effected. I could not help but think of Carson, my best friend serving in Poland and all that he tells me about the people today. The effects are still prevalent. 

This really happened. 

People are still recovering.

 "When I grow up and get to be twenty 

I'll travel and see this world of plenty

In a bird with an engine I will sit myself down.

Take off and fly into space, for above the ground.

I'll fly, I'll cruise and soar up high

above a world so lovely, into the sky."

-Abrarnek Koplowicz (Murdered at age 14)

The Power of One

Most importantly, I gained a greater understanding of who these people are that surround me on a daily basis. 

Unreal.

 

  "Righteous of the Nations"

Trees were planted to commemorate those who saved thousands of Jews. 

(Notorious Example:Oscar Schindler saved 1,200 Jews)

After 8 hours of wandering through the Museum, consuming large amounts of information about one of the most horrific events that EVER took place in the history of the Universe, and visiting Mt. Herzl, we departed back to the center, emotionally exhausted. 

The thing I love about this place...I learn large amounts of information each day.