After arriving at Yad Vashem we first took at look at all the trees planted for those who were deemed righteous gentiles. Righteous of the nations means they helped Jews escape from everywhere with risk of their lives with no personal gain in return. One of the most notable names was Oscar Schindler where his tree were spilt in a double tree.(They were not Jewish).
When you enter Yad Vashem it looks like it is a short museum, but that is where an optical illusion is played showing the light at the end of the tunnel is farther than expected. You also can’t skip any rooms as they are designed in a zig zag pattern to show the progression of the holocaust as each stage got worse.
To start off we saw all the propaganda that kicked off changing the opinions of the Jews in the public eye. When we got through more rooms they described how the ghettos and the concentration camps got worse and worse, whether it was a list with everyone who is Jewish to the highly detailed creation of the gas chambers. They also had survivors telling of how they were treated and the terror of that experience. The very last room before leaving was an archive of every name currently discovered of who died in the holocaust with 1.5 million names currently missing, with names being added every day.
After exiting the main building, we decided to pay a visit to the children’s memorial. When walking in they had a pictures of a few children on display. The room was very dark and when you walked throughout the memorial only 5 candles were lit while mirrors reflected 1.5 million candles to represent the children who died. They also had the names of the children, their age and the native country playing in several languages including English and Yiddish. It was a very sad experience to witness.
(no photos will be posted at the current moment) -Aaron Smith
Cantor Lichterman 