Monday Morning we went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Israel. Our days have been so packed since we arrived Saturday that I'm never really sure what day it is, or what is coming next, I'm really just following and observing, and immersing into this experience.
I think like many people I've taken particular interest in WWII and the holocaust. I personally have been able to experience many different parts of this. One of my favorite shows of all time is Band of Brothers, a WWII documentary that follows paratroopers through Europe from Normandy all the way to the concentration camps.
This lead me on a previous trip to visit Normandy in France, and another place in the history of the war, making those places real for me. In high school I had visited the holocaust museum in Washington D.C., and just 4 years ago I toured Auschwitz, the concentration camp in Poland.
As we study conflict in this land, its easy to find places that don't carry the day to day weight of that conflict. In west Jerusalem where we had dinner Sunday night, you feel as though you're in a mall area similar to one you would find in Southern California, with all the same stores as home. There are people walking around with their families, free from any visible chains or scars that you might assume shackle this place. In Yad Vashem, you are instantly met with the horrible realization where we are right now is a product of fear and hate.
Through everything I have ever learned about WWII, I was enlightened to know that Christians we're not allowed to have money changing jobs in Europe. That left job openings for Jews who eventually found an amount of wealth in those positions holding liens and collecting interest.
This plus Hitler's 20 years of radicalization created a new narrative for why the Jewish people were vilified
in the lead up to the war. There is so much to read, and watch and listen, even after all I've already studied and experienced. I generally feel that I can be desensitized after reading about history enough, but I'm always stirred by this, and rightfully so. The idea of a systematic system of oppressing a people because of fear, because of not understanding a people, because it is easier to assume you know their narrative than to look into someone's eyes and see their humanity before their stereotype should stir us, even after 70 years. It should do more than stir us.
If this wasn't enough, they have a beautiful memorial to the children who we're killed in the holocaust. I often thought about my own daughter, who is 2 1/2 years old. How would I behave, and how would I react as a father in that time, if I were a Jew....or If I were a German?
The Memorial broke my heart. As they read the names of over a million children, real children, that we're lost because of no decision they made. Children of parents who had no options. My eyes welled up as I let the reality sink in to that.
In grade school I learned that those who do not learn from History are doomed to repeat it. Though I may never rise to power and commit genocide, I hope that I do not turn my eyes from it. There are places so near to us that are seeing this history repeat itself. Places where it may not be one million children, but only 500. What is the number to start seeking justice? What changes our hearts enough to make a change not only in attitude but in action?
These are tough questions to wrestle with, but also tougher questions to begin to answer. Thankfully, we can begin on that quest with the knowledge of history because of places like Yad Vashem, if we only realize that history not only happened, it is happening.
-Christian Ankrum
I think like many people I've taken particular interest in WWII and the holocaust. I personally have been able to experience many different parts of this. One of my favorite shows of all time is Band of Brothers, a WWII documentary that follows paratroopers through Europe from Normandy all the way to the concentration camps.
This lead me on a previous trip to visit Normandy in France, and another place in the history of the war, making those places real for me. In high school I had visited the holocaust museum in Washington D.C., and just 4 years ago I toured Auschwitz, the concentration camp in Poland.
As we study conflict in this land, its easy to find places that don't carry the day to day weight of that conflict. In west Jerusalem where we had dinner Sunday night, you feel as though you're in a mall area similar to one you would find in Southern California, with all the same stores as home. There are people walking around with their families, free from any visible chains or scars that you might assume shackle this place. In Yad Vashem, you are instantly met with the horrible realization where we are right now is a product of fear and hate.
Through everything I have ever learned about WWII, I was enlightened to know that Christians we're not allowed to have money changing jobs in Europe. That left job openings for Jews who eventually found an amount of wealth in those positions holding liens and collecting interest.
This plus Hitler's 20 years of radicalization created a new narrative for why the Jewish people were vilified
in the lead up to the war. There is so much to read, and watch and listen, even after all I've already studied and experienced. I generally feel that I can be desensitized after reading about history enough, but I'm always stirred by this, and rightfully so. The idea of a systematic system of oppressing a people because of fear, because of not understanding a people, because it is easier to assume you know their narrative than to look into someone's eyes and see their humanity before their stereotype should stir us, even after 70 years. It should do more than stir us.
If this wasn't enough, they have a beautiful memorial to the children who we're killed in the holocaust. I often thought about my own daughter, who is 2 1/2 years old. How would I behave, and how would I react as a father in that time, if I were a Jew....or If I were a German?
The Memorial broke my heart. As they read the names of over a million children, real children, that we're lost because of no decision they made. Children of parents who had no options. My eyes welled up as I let the reality sink in to that.
In grade school I learned that those who do not learn from History are doomed to repeat it. Though I may never rise to power and commit genocide, I hope that I do not turn my eyes from it. There are places so near to us that are seeing this history repeat itself. Places where it may not be one million children, but only 500. What is the number to start seeking justice? What changes our hearts enough to make a change not only in attitude but in action?
These are tough questions to wrestle with, but also tougher questions to begin to answer. Thankfully, we can begin on that quest with the knowledge of history because of places like Yad Vashem, if we only realize that history not only happened, it is happening.
-Christian Ankrum
The Children's Memorial at Yad Vashem.
Candles and light in the darkness, with mirrors creating an endless view of tiny lights,
like stars in the sky.
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