Poland Prep

             Wow this turned out to be a lot longer than I thought this post would be.

3/21

In preparation for Poland, we have been having many prep sessions for what we will be doing and seeing and possibly feeling.

I guess I’ve never really felt a strong “personal” connection to the Holocaust seeing as I didn’t have a grandparent who was in Europe at that time and until very recently, I wasn’t sure if I had had any family at all who had been in the Holocaust. But at the same time, I have always had a sort of fascination for the events of this time period, of wanting to know what happened to all these millions of people, and not just on a mass scale, but the stories of individuals and families a well. When I see pictures and videos, I get upset, and a little angry even. You have to stop and think, who were these people, what were their names? What was their favorite food or subject in school? What was their life like? And what did they do to deserve such a terrible fate?

Today we visited Yad Vashem. If you don’t know what that is, it is a Holocaust memorial site. As we were waiting for our guides to come, we sat on some steps overlooking an amazing view of the Judean hills. Just sitting there made me realize that that view, of those hills, in the state of Israel is a site that 6 million Jews never got to see. Once out guides were ready. We split into our bus groups and headed towards the museum. Before my group went in, we stopped at a very important site to learn something. I’ve only been to Yad Vashem once before so I was unaware that each tree planted there had a plaque with a name on it. These plaques name The Righteous of the Nations. These were people who were non-Jews, just everyday people living in Europe at the time who risked their lives to save Jews. Some saved maybe one person, others saved thousands.

Once in the museum there were a few things that stood out to me, the same things that I had remembered from my first visit:

The pile of shoes and the circular room with the binders of victims names and the well which reflects the pictures.

I believe those things stood out to me because I had remembered seeing them but there were also things that I did not remember. For example, the shape of the museum and its possible meanings. If you have been there before, you might remember that it is a triangular tunnel in which the walls move in wards as you walk towards the middle and widen again as you reach the end. This shape helps emphasize the dark parts of the war and the light which is now Israel. The video at the end also struck me. It was horrible to watch but needed to help realize that this was real, its not just a movie.

We came back, had lunch, did a little Poland history program/ itinerary. Our Oneg Shabbat tonight was watching The Pianist. I’d never seen it before, actually I’ve never really seen any Holocaust movie before so it was a little hard to watch at parts.