Emotional But Powerful Day
Today was an emotionally draining day for many of us, visiting both Yad VaShem and Independence Hall in the same day.
"Never again" gets repeated often when referencing the Holocaust. The Holocaust is taught in some kind of abstraction in schools and while many of us have family members or know survivors, the horror and trauma can seem abstract. Yad VaShem provides a different lens for it though, offering so many testimonies, artifacts, and architectural elements to make this period in our history more tangible.
I found Yad VaShem's architecture to be particularly moving - I love museums and I love seeing how they use space to tell a story and convey information. This museum starts with a video montage of Jewish life before World War II, which is jarring in contrast to the rest of the museum. It then moves downward, representing the downward turn of Jewish life just before and during the war. It eventually moves up, into light and onto a terrace overlooking Jerusalem.
Personally, my academic research heavily explores the Holocaust, so I am a bit more desensitized to the details of the actual events, but the hall of names is emotionally heartbreaking. The shelves with books of names will never be full. We will always remember their loss but also remember their lives.
The Independence Hall was something else entirely; learning about the declaration of the state of Israel, the conflicts in creating it, and Israel's connection to the Holocaust gave us the impetus to remember the life and culture that the Nazis attempted to eliminate. Yad VaShem affected me especially, both as memorial to mark and educate the world about what happened, but also to demonstrate that life is still possible and if you will it so, it will go on. We can build countries, learn languages and customs, talk to the survivors we know, and take pride in our resilience.
