Day 6 - Yad Vashem Holocaust museum

Today is the seventh day of our trip. We have spent a few days in Jerusalem. Today we visited Yad Vashem. This was the museum and memorial of the Holocaust. The museum was built with slanting walls to symbolize the trapped feeling of the Jews during World War II. Our tour guide began our journey at the begining telling and showing us photos of the Jews before the terrible events. As the trip through the museum continues we followed the sequence of the events. There is no way to leave once you have entered the museum untill you have seen all of the displays. As we neared the middel of the museum we heard a story of Janusz Korczak, who refused leaving the group of orphan children he educated in the Ghetto; The singing children were led onto a train where they then rode to their deaths. At this point in the museum I felt as though I could hear no more, it was so sad hearing about children so I left that room, as I looked to the floor there was a display of shoes under a glass on the ground. I was overcome with emotion. The museum was very effective, many people hear the stories and pretend that they are only stories. This museum made it impossible not to becme part of the story. As we saw the different documentaries and heard the voices and saw the pictures it became so real for us. Many of us were very sad and many of us felt as though these were our families. At the end of the museum you walk outside, you see a beautiful view of Jerusalem. This is what we have now. We have succeeded in forming a Jewish state, away from the horrors of the past. However, this museum helps us keep the past with us as a memory in order to prevent it from happening again. It is important to not forget history, history is our stories and helps bring us to who we are today. One of the stories we heard towards the end of our visit was of a mother. She had made vegetable soup for her son, and when it was finished an older women came to the door and asked if she could have some. The woman's son said "This is our soup!" As the woman watched her two year old son turn down an elder, she realized how much Hitler had effected him. She wanted to make sure her son grew up to be a mensch, she invited the woman to join. This was a very powerful story. Instead of letting the events rule our lives, we must use the events as an example of how not to act. In this way we use the events as a lesson of who to be.

Yours,
Miklayla Astor