Yad Vashem

"Yad Vashem" means "a memorial and a name", from Isaiah 56:5.  Entrance is free, but donations are greatly appreciated.  Photos are not allowed in the museums, exhibitions, or Children's Memorial.

Holocaust History Museum

The Holocaust History Museum was gigantic!  We entered around 9:15am and did not come out till 3:30pm!

Inside was a detailed description of the Jews in Europe from Hitler's rise to power all the way to the end of World War II, which claimed the lives of over 60 million people.

Photographs, artifacts, and testimonials gave evidence to the horrors that many concentration camp survivors had endured.  Some watched their entire families killed.  Others did not learn of their parents' and siblings' fates till years after the war.

There were videos of Holocaust survivors giving their testimonies.  Each was similar, yet unique in its own way.  Most of the survivors lost a lot and endured a lot.  In one story a man spoke of how he was made to sort the belongings of Jews who had been taken to the gas chambers--purses, watches, even gold teeth with the flesh still attached.  He was only thirteen years old.

At the end of the war most of the survivors were put into Displaced Persons' camps.  Each tried to find family members, relatives, friends, and learn of their fate.  Some searches ended in joyful reunions; others in great grief and disappointment.

Since photographs were not allowed inside the museum, I made sure to try my best to store every piece of information in my brain.  I love history, and wars--especially World War II--are my favorites to learn about.

View from the exit of the museum (outside)

The Righteous Among the Nations

There is a section of Yad Vashem dedicated to the many non-Jews who helped G-d's chosen people during World War II.  Well-known peoples such as Raoul Wallenberg, Corrie ten Boom, and Oscar Schindler are there, along with some not-so-well-known ones.

Entrance to the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations

See the signs by the trees?  On their are the names of the "Righteous Among the Nations" and the country where each individual came from.

Children's Memorial

The Children's Memorial is dedicated to the 1.5 million Jewish children who perished in the Holocaust.

Entrance to the memorial.

The memorial was filled with lit candles reflected in thousands of mirrors.  The names of each victim, their ages, and countries were read aloud over a speaker: two names in Hebrew, two names in another language [I don't recognize], two names in English, and rotated so on.

I hear the name of a five-year-old.  Two ten-year-olds.  A twelve-year-old, a thirteen-year-old.  A seventeen-year-old.  I think hard and try to imagine what life was like for them before the devastating war.  Did they have siblings?  Which school did they attend?  Did they go into hiding or did they report for deportation when they were called?  Did they die just a few days before liberation or years before the war would end?

There are so many things to think about, so many things to consider.  And even though we've exited the site, I know my heart is still there.