Holocaust Memorial

Gina and I went to the Holocaust memorial before one of our field trips. I had seen pictures, but it took me back at first sight.

the view totally changes depending on where you were standing

the regulations of the memorial. I would've never spotted them if Gina hadn't found it. It is on the ground.

Walking in.

the aisles

It had rained earlier and after being in the memorial for 5 minutes, I noticed the drops on the cement.

In some shaded aisles, the drops looked like lights, even stars, endless.

It was like they were shining in glory.

I could've stayed for hours.

Not all were shining as individual lights though. Some were falling. It made the cement pillars seem like they were crying.

Every side of every pillar was different.

i had never seen anything like it before.

This is a panorama. the panorama doesn't go long enough to get the fourth aisle I was within

some of the cement was cracking.

some so much that they needed support. Still breaking, still bleeding, still grieving, still healing.

wounded

endless

After we walked through the memorial we went to the museum underneath the memorial. You walk in and start reading what is written on the walls. You are confronted with progression of the harsh facts about how 5.5-6 million jews died. Simple text on a while wall accompanied by pictures.

The next room has about 16 white rectangles on the ground. they each had postcards on them with their translations and the writes story. All victims of the holocaust. It was in this room where I was stifled by the stillness I hadn't realized until that moment. There was nothing anywhere that said you couldn't/shouldn't talk, it was just naturally adopted. I wan't expecting it to be loud, don't get me wrong, but you have to understand, there wasn't even any white noise. I have never seen that many people occupy one space with no noise yet be in motion. It became a sensory experience like the void in the jewish museum but very different because it isn't expected of anyone, the silence is just given respectfully by all. 

The next room was the family room. There were about 12 families pictured on different hanging pillars. A family picture, a map of their journey, information about the family and profile pictures of each family member coupled with a statement about where and how they had died or if they had survived. There was a map in the room showing where all the families had come from. To my surprise, the families were from all over Europe. No jewish european family was safe. 

The next room had one person's name projected on all four walls while it read their story aloud in english and in german. When it switched to the next person, their name would appear on all four walls. There were benches in the room to sit and listen. There was also a small section on one of the walls with informative text. I don't think i'll ever forget the last sentence. "To read all 6 million victims names and stories would take 6 years, 7 months and 27 days." It brings tears to my eyes. 

The final room was on the concentration camps. There were about 8 concentration camps they focused on and had pictures or sketches of. They also had telephone booth type things in this room. I sat down and had a hard time figuring out how to work the simple device and when I figured it out. I almost wish I hadn't. On the other line was the voice of a person telling their story about their experience in a concentration camp. Halfway into the first story, I found myself unable to move. I listened to all 8 stories. I will not recount any of them. 

Once I was done listening to the stories I felt like a zombie. After about 5 minutes I started questioning whether dying was worse than surviving from something like the holocaust. I've never thought negatively about living life, but I don't know how those who survived, survived life after the holocaust. I wonder what victims of the holocaust think about life and about death? 

If only i had enough discipline to pray for 6 years, 7 months and 27 days...

Abbey