Remembering the unthinkable: Yad Vashem

 

Israel is a land rich in history. From temples, to ruins, to scenic vistas, there are plenty of life affirming, breathtaking, and wondrous spectacles to behold. But, the history of the Jewish people is also one of struggle and opposition. One of resilience and faith in the face of despair.

Yad Vashem is where Israelis go to make sense of the senseless. To remember a chapter in history many would prefer to forget. It's where they go to face the memory of the Holocaust.

Yad Vashem in Jerusalem is a museum and a memorial of the Holocaust. Dedicated to the memory of the six million Jews, and millions of other "undesirables” who were murdered in a systematic act of genocide perpetrated by the Nazis. 

With exhibits including photographs of Jewish families from before, during and after the Holocaust, firsthand victims’ accounts, and artwork dedicated to the memory of the persecuted, Yad Vashem offers a vivid look into the absolute pitch-black evil of the Holocaust. It is one of the most moving and important museums in the world. While the subject matter may be grim, it is something you should see with your own eyes if you ever travel to Israel.

Of it's many noble goals, one of the most interesting is Yad Vashem's commitment to honoring non-Jews who risked their lives or liberty to assist the Jewish people during the Holocaust. The brave few who stepped forward during Germany's tyrannical and brutal oppression of the Jews to show compassion, humanity, and kindness to the persecuted.

The stakes involved in such actions cannot be overstated. In Eastern Europe, the punishment for sheltering a Jew was not just imprisonment or death. Instead, the Nazis would kill you and your entire family. The compassionate were made examples of in Hitler's brutal regime, grim warnings used to intimidate anyone who would dare to assist the Jews and stand up to the state. 

Yet even in the face of such perils, some made the supreme ethical and moral choice to shelter, hide, feed, and spirit away Jews caught under the heel of the Holocaust. This includes conscientious German citizens who helped individual Jews stay hidden from the Gestapo, to historic figures such as Irena Sendler, a Polish nun who saved 2,500 Jews during the Holocaust and was arrested and tortured by the Nazis for her actions. Or Père Marie-Benoît, a French priest who helped smuggle 4,000 Jews to safety at great personal risk. Members of the courageous Belgium Resistance who held up a convoy train bound for Auschwitz, directly saving the lives of 250 people held captive on those cattle cars, on their way to certain doom.

The names and stories of these heroes are commemorated in Yad Vashem's "Garden of the Righteous Among the Nations” a powerful exhibition of the strength of the human spirit in the face of evil. A concrete example of the power of individuals to stand up for what is right.