Photos of those lost in the Holocaust in Yad Vashem’s Hall of Names
On our last visit to the Holy Land, we were fortunate to visit and film at Yad Vashem, the vast and haunting holocaust museum in Jerusalem. Pope St John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis all visited this memorial on their pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and I think it is something that everyone who goes to the Holy Land should do.
The Wall of Remembrance bas relief entitled “The Last March”, depicting the mass deportation of the Jews to the death camps, sculpted by Nathan Rapoport
Today is the 70th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz. Just the name, Auschwitz, brings tears to my eyes. Thinking about all of the people who suffered and died during that horrible time in our history. Thinking about all of the people who have suffered and died in similar ways since the words “Never again” were uttered after that horrible time in our history.
The Wall of Remembrance sculpture entitled “The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising”, sculpted by Nathan Rapoport
Will we ever learn?
If you get the chance–today or whenever–visit a Holocaust Museum when you can. There’s one in Houston, TX, and of course there’s a beautiful one in Washington, DC.
I visited our Holocaust Museum once, when I was living in Washington DC during law school. As I recall, I took a cab there, all by myself, to see this amazing memorial. When I walked in, they gave me a passport of someone who had been through the concentration camps. As you walked through the museum, you turned the pages, eventually learning of their fate at the end.
As it happened, I got the passport of a young girl who shared my birthday. My heart leapt at this coincidence! I hoped she’d live! She was beautiful and so young. As I walked, slowly through the exhibits, I felt this huge weight of sadness inside. I had to quicken my step at some parts, like when I had to walk through an actual train car in which the Jews were shuttled to the death camps like cattle. That was too much.
At the end of the passport, I learned that my birthday buddy died in Auschwitz. I still pray for her today. Although, in all honesty, it seems more apt that these souls would be praying for us now, praying that we really would stick to those words, “Never again.”
The odds of any of us sending someone to a concentration camp, or slaughtering someone with a machete, as in Rwanda, are slim. But how do we show, every day of our lives, in the little things in our lives, that every life matters? Do we treat everyone with love and kindness? Do we smile at strangers and the ones closest to us?
On a much smaller level, let’s let that be the lesson of Auschwitz today: let us treat every human being with love, because every human being matters.
Holy souls and saints of the Holocaust, pray for us.
The collection of names of those lost during the Holocaust in Yad Vashem’s Hall of Names
Here is a virtual tour of Yad Vashem, from the museum’s website. Visit that for more information on the Holocaust.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zte0vT8MaA[/youtube]