I am taking American History II and today we learned about the Holocaust.
I went into it really excited because since this is a college level history class we go quite in depth on most of our topics of study so I assumed we'd do that for the Holocaust. So as I'm sitting in class and listening I'm making a silent tally of the incorrect/omitted things I hear.
We did not mention the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 that ultimately made the Holocaust a legal action, we did not note that there was a distinct difference between the workings of a concentration camp vs. a death camp, no mention was made of any of the heroic efforts some people made to rescue victims. We talked about it for thirty minutes and hardly touched the material.
Needless to say I was very disappointed and a little angered.
In my opinion, I think we need AT LEAST two days spent on the Holocaust as its own mini unit rather than a side note of World War ii. That way educators can hit all the highlights without feeling rushed to get through it so the material can be tested on. That two day unit should not include a test but rather hands on activities like hearing a Holocaust survivor or maybe doing something like the Trunk Project where students actually learn the material by working with it and putting it to use.
I totally get wanting to make sure students know about what happened in the Holocaust, but a big part that education is missing is the significance of the event and how it still affects us today in 2015. We've experienced genocides since 1945 and I believe that a large part of few people speaking out against these atrocities is a lacking education on genocides of the past. If you don't know about and learn from past mistakes how are you supposed to not make them again? This truly boggles my mind.
In a quote by Ronald Reagan that hangs in the museum he explained why remembrance and education of the future leaders of America was so important: "We who did not go their way owe them this. We must make sure that their deaths have posthumous meaning. We must make sure that from now until the end of days all humankind stares this evil in the face...and only then can we be sure it will never arise again."
We are the witnesses. It's our job to make sure that others are educated properly about these things and know when to recognize them in practice and then intervene. That's what we missed back in the 1930's and 1940's: we didn't know how to speak out and we were afraid to because of uncertainty. But I can tell you, doing nothing and regretting it is much worse of a feeling than speaking out and few listening. If we do nothing, then the perpetrators of crimes like genocide win and that's why I believe there is so much evil in the world today.
Showing posts with label What I Do. Show all posts
Showing posts with label What I Do. Show all posts
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Friday, April 10, 2015
The Scars Of USHMM Part Seven: Wounds That Time Can't Heal
I was just browsing on Thought Catalog, a website where writers write articles/listicles/peices about things important to them, when I came across an article about a girl who had written about a recent trip to Dachau in Munich. Her account was moving and as I read it, my own wounds surfaced again.
When you visit a somber place, it stays with you. I have images from USHMM that will be with me until I die. They prepare you for coming to the museum very thoroughly on their website, but what they don't do is tell you that while you can distract yourself with your day to day life that anything can trigger the memories. It's like PTSD without actually having gone through the Holocaust. You don't even feel a fraction of what the survivors feel and yet the feelings cripple you.
You grieve, then your wounds close up for a while, and when you least expect it they burst open and the vicious never ending cycle begins yet again. This is how a lot of Holocaust survivors live except their level of grief is incomprehensible to us living and growing up in this era.
People process different things differently. As you know, I went to the museum with my mom and I've wondered how she processed it. I was in tears for a good bit of time after we left but she wasn't so I wondered if she was processing differently (and perhaps more effectively) than I was while I just lost it.
This Sunday, we start the annual week the USHMM calls the Days of Remembrance due to Yom Ha'Shoah (Holocaust Memorial Day in the Jewish calendar) being observed Wednesday. The Museum has lots of events and programs during this time, including an online program where you can send a survivor volunteer at the museum a message to say you'll remember. I have done so, and I encourage you to do so too. It'd mean a lot to those who lost so much not so long ago.
This line of work is undoubtedly the most important thing I have done in my life. I knew I wanted to do more in 2015 than I had in the two years previous for the cause and I think I'm reaching that goal. It has been the hardest war I've ever fought but it's worth every time the memories come back because I know a whole generation of people who won't be here much longer need people like me to tell the stories when they can't.
On Wednesday I encourage you to do something to remember and even hashtag it #ISayNeverAgain and send me a picture or a message saying how you contributed!
When you visit a somber place, it stays with you. I have images from USHMM that will be with me until I die. They prepare you for coming to the museum very thoroughly on their website, but what they don't do is tell you that while you can distract yourself with your day to day life that anything can trigger the memories. It's like PTSD without actually having gone through the Holocaust. You don't even feel a fraction of what the survivors feel and yet the feelings cripple you.
You grieve, then your wounds close up for a while, and when you least expect it they burst open and the vicious never ending cycle begins yet again. This is how a lot of Holocaust survivors live except their level of grief is incomprehensible to us living and growing up in this era.
People process different things differently. As you know, I went to the museum with my mom and I've wondered how she processed it. I was in tears for a good bit of time after we left but she wasn't so I wondered if she was processing differently (and perhaps more effectively) than I was while I just lost it.
This Sunday, we start the annual week the USHMM calls the Days of Remembrance due to Yom Ha'Shoah (Holocaust Memorial Day in the Jewish calendar) being observed Wednesday. The Museum has lots of events and programs during this time, including an online program where you can send a survivor volunteer at the museum a message to say you'll remember. I have done so, and I encourage you to do so too. It'd mean a lot to those who lost so much not so long ago.
This line of work is undoubtedly the most important thing I have done in my life. I knew I wanted to do more in 2015 than I had in the two years previous for the cause and I think I'm reaching that goal. It has been the hardest war I've ever fought but it's worth every time the memories come back because I know a whole generation of people who won't be here much longer need people like me to tell the stories when they can't.
On Wednesday I encourage you to do something to remember and even hashtag it #ISayNeverAgain and send me a picture or a message saying how you contributed!
Friday, March 27, 2015
The Scars of USHMM Part Six- Shoes
To lead into this sixth part of the blog series on my USHMM visit I want to tell a story about when I was a child.
When I was little and went to the pediatrician for yearly checkups, a visit which I loathed to the point of spitting on people (but that's irrelevant so we'll ignore that), there was this one doctor named Dr. Smith. He used to always come in to see me and then proceed take one or both of my shoes to mess with me. He'd tell me how good they'd look on him instead of me and at my young age I must not have understood his sarcasm because I would cry and beg him not to take my shoes.
On the second floor of the Permanent Exhibition at the USHMM there is a display of hundred of actual shoes taken from victims before they were gassed at Auschwitz. The shoes are one of the artifacts that a lot of people familiar with the USHMM say affected them the most. The shoes range in all styles and sizes, but they are all this gray color because time has taken a toll on their appearance.
If you can imagine the smell of old shoes than that's what he shoe display smells like. It's almost as disgusting as the circumstances of the shoes is and it's chilling.
While I looked at the shoes that story of Dr. Smith and my shoes came into my head and the comparison nearly was too much. I always got my shoes back from Dr. Smith but these shoes before me were never returned to their owners who were unknowingly walking to their deaths. Their shoes, suitcases, and clothes would never be returned to them. Instead they'd be confiscated and sent to Germany in most cases.
Be thankful for your shoes, people. Be thankful for your clothes, your glasses, your possessions because you never know when they won't be returned to you. It's a privilege to have what we have and we take that for granted way too often.
When I was little and went to the pediatrician for yearly checkups, a visit which I loathed to the point of spitting on people (but that's irrelevant so we'll ignore that), there was this one doctor named Dr. Smith. He used to always come in to see me and then proceed take one or both of my shoes to mess with me. He'd tell me how good they'd look on him instead of me and at my young age I must not have understood his sarcasm because I would cry and beg him not to take my shoes.
On the second floor of the Permanent Exhibition at the USHMM there is a display of hundred of actual shoes taken from victims before they were gassed at Auschwitz. The shoes are one of the artifacts that a lot of people familiar with the USHMM say affected them the most. The shoes range in all styles and sizes, but they are all this gray color because time has taken a toll on their appearance.
If you can imagine the smell of old shoes than that's what he shoe display smells like. It's almost as disgusting as the circumstances of the shoes is and it's chilling.
While I looked at the shoes that story of Dr. Smith and my shoes came into my head and the comparison nearly was too much. I always got my shoes back from Dr. Smith but these shoes before me were never returned to their owners who were unknowingly walking to their deaths. Their shoes, suitcases, and clothes would never be returned to them. Instead they'd be confiscated and sent to Germany in most cases.
Be thankful for your shoes, people. Be thankful for your clothes, your glasses, your possessions because you never know when they won't be returned to you. It's a privilege to have what we have and we take that for granted way too often.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
The Scars Of USHMM Part Five- The Vastness Of The Place And The Crime
Sorry this is late, I've been super busy with school things!
Anyway...
In part five of this series I'm going to cover the museum itself. It's a huge place, and an unsettling one. When you're in the main lobby/atrium you look up and the ceiling is caged like a barbed wire fence and you just know this place is unlike any other place you've been in your life.
The atrium itself seems like a never ending hall when you stand in it and even though I spent a good bit of time at the museum I did not see all of it, but I'd like to one day.
When I first stood in the atrium I knew this place was different. Something was wrong here, was my first thought. And it is but you can't put your finger on it right away unless you're an architect. The walls are mismatching, the ceiling lets light in yet you're caged. It's like an architectural paradox.
The exhibit is laid out in a similar fashion with the walls getting narrower and narrower as you move through to symbolize the walls closing in as the Nazis gained power over more people's fates. At one point on the first floor there is a blocked off section and to get to it you have to go this really complicated way around. I assume whomever designed the museum had these intentions to make you feel like you're walking along this path.
And it's horrifying.
I can see how clever they were when building the place because the architecture becomes part of the story and the feelings of unease stay with you after you leave. I know I will never forget looking up at the ceiling of the atrium and seeing the sunlight shine on me but never quite reaching me. The architecture, I think, is a huge part of what makes the museum such an unforgettable place. There you feel a small fraction of the pain the victims felt and that feeling stays with you forever.
They say time heals all wounds, but I don't think these will ever heal.
Anyway...
In part five of this series I'm going to cover the museum itself. It's a huge place, and an unsettling one. When you're in the main lobby/atrium you look up and the ceiling is caged like a barbed wire fence and you just know this place is unlike any other place you've been in your life.
The atrium itself seems like a never ending hall when you stand in it and even though I spent a good bit of time at the museum I did not see all of it, but I'd like to one day.
When I first stood in the atrium I knew this place was different. Something was wrong here, was my first thought. And it is but you can't put your finger on it right away unless you're an architect. The walls are mismatching, the ceiling lets light in yet you're caged. It's like an architectural paradox.
The exhibit is laid out in a similar fashion with the walls getting narrower and narrower as you move through to symbolize the walls closing in as the Nazis gained power over more people's fates. At one point on the first floor there is a blocked off section and to get to it you have to go this really complicated way around. I assume whomever designed the museum had these intentions to make you feel like you're walking along this path.
And it's horrifying.
I can see how clever they were when building the place because the architecture becomes part of the story and the feelings of unease stay with you after you leave. I know I will never forget looking up at the ceiling of the atrium and seeing the sunlight shine on me but never quite reaching me. The architecture, I think, is a huge part of what makes the museum such an unforgettable place. There you feel a small fraction of the pain the victims felt and that feeling stays with you forever.
They say time heals all wounds, but I don't think these will ever heal.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
The Scars of USHMM Part Four- Silenced By The Night But You And I Are Going To Rise Again
My favorite song by the English band Keane has a line in it that goes, "We were silenced by the night/But you and I are going to rise again/Divided from the light/I want to love the way we used to then."
In part four of my series on the USHMM I'm going to be talking about what the museum might call the impact "beyond their walls"- what happens after you leave. In part two I wrote about grief and processing but this post is about how the museum changes the way you think about genocide, your behavior towards others, and even the world around you.
I'm very much a realist, so when I left the museum I knew I wouldn't or couldn't change the world. That said, I could however assist in a change by telling people about what I witnessed and speaking out against genocide and human rights violations. I am actually awaiting an email from the superintendent of Fulton County with regards to opening a fund for county schools to make educational trips down to the Breman or the Anne Frank exhibit. The museum taught me that there was no way I alone could change the way we view crimes like the slaughter of others different from you but I could help, and that's enough for me.
Right now, the museum is featuring stories of people around my age in Syria. I actually did some research on the conflict over there since I didn't really know what was going on. A common anecdote is that history is doomed to repeat if we do not learn from it and that is what's going on over there. These teens the museum features have dreams that someone like me would be free to pursue in America if I wanted, but over there they have had to put their survival in their war torn country before anything else they think about and grow up fast. These teens are living a life no one should have to live and my heart breaks for them.
Does that sound like it has happened before? It sounds a lot like 1930s Germany to me. Although Hitler wasn't as smart as Al-Assad is the two regimes look eerily similar in their use of terror to keep people in line and that, to me coming from a country borne out of the concept of liberties afforded to everyone through a Constitution, is not an ideal country to live in at all.
So why are we not doing more? We need to be doing more so that no group of people should ever be forced to hide themselves because they are afraid of the country they live in.
You might not change the world, but why not help change it if you can?
The museum made me realize how much we as Americans take for granted this country we live in and our natural rights. We, as the upcoming generation, need to help make sure history is preserved rather than repeated.
In part four of my series on the USHMM I'm going to be talking about what the museum might call the impact "beyond their walls"- what happens after you leave. In part two I wrote about grief and processing but this post is about how the museum changes the way you think about genocide, your behavior towards others, and even the world around you.
I'm very much a realist, so when I left the museum I knew I wouldn't or couldn't change the world. That said, I could however assist in a change by telling people about what I witnessed and speaking out against genocide and human rights violations. I am actually awaiting an email from the superintendent of Fulton County with regards to opening a fund for county schools to make educational trips down to the Breman or the Anne Frank exhibit. The museum taught me that there was no way I alone could change the way we view crimes like the slaughter of others different from you but I could help, and that's enough for me.
Right now, the museum is featuring stories of people around my age in Syria. I actually did some research on the conflict over there since I didn't really know what was going on. A common anecdote is that history is doomed to repeat if we do not learn from it and that is what's going on over there. These teens the museum features have dreams that someone like me would be free to pursue in America if I wanted, but over there they have had to put their survival in their war torn country before anything else they think about and grow up fast. These teens are living a life no one should have to live and my heart breaks for them.
Does that sound like it has happened before? It sounds a lot like 1930s Germany to me. Although Hitler wasn't as smart as Al-Assad is the two regimes look eerily similar in their use of terror to keep people in line and that, to me coming from a country borne out of the concept of liberties afforded to everyone through a Constitution, is not an ideal country to live in at all.
So why are we not doing more? We need to be doing more so that no group of people should ever be forced to hide themselves because they are afraid of the country they live in.
You might not change the world, but why not help change it if you can?
The museum made me realize how much we as Americans take for granted this country we live in and our natural rights. We, as the upcoming generation, need to help make sure history is preserved rather than repeated.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
The Scars of USHMM Part Three- The Actual Tour
I could honestly take one long blog post to write about the USHMM but I have too many subtopics of my visit I want to cover so I'd rather just break it up and go piece by piece. In this third segment I'm going to talk about my actual tour experience.
I had done the research on planning the visit as soon as my mom gave the OK for us to go. I was looking at booking tickets, because from March to August you need timed tickets to do the permanent exhibition because of the volume of people who come, when I came across what they called the Guided Highlights Tour.
According to the museum's website, the tour is for blind and visitors of low vision (i.e. between 20/60 and 20/200 which is blindness) and their families or friends. The tour usually only is available for groups of four or less but apparently they can accommodate larger groups if planned in advance. The tour uses visual aids adapted to the needs of the tour goer. In my case Mrs. Sara, my guide, had black and white prints of the big murals we saw so I could see them more in detail. She also used a flashlight to light up the pictures or artifacts as most of the exhibit is dimly lit. We also used touchable reconstructions of things like a milk bottle that was excavated or a model of the museum.
Another great thing about this if you have low vision like me is that your tour guide will literally guide you if you need. For a good majority of the tour, Mrs. Sara held my left hand and made sure we got as close to the front to see as we could which was nice. It was also a good thing because like I mentioned most of the exhibit is lit dimly so I never got lost. It was actually kinda funny because Mrs. Sara was about a head shorter than me!
In between the floors of the exhibit there are rooms for you to rest your feet and just take a break because it is A LOT of walking and/or standing and looking at things. The rest stops on each floor are a great idea not only for that but also because some people get really sensitive to certain things they see and they might need time to process it.
Another good thing is the tour takes its time. Usually with timed passes you only get an hour and a half to go through all three floors and that seems kind of rushed to me. My mom and I were at the museum for four hours, three of which the tour covered. In truth, they probably ought to call the tour the Guided In Depth Tour, because we hit everything, not just highlights.
I have never in my life felt so appreciated because of my low visual perception skills, but USHMM sure made me feel that way.
I had done the research on planning the visit as soon as my mom gave the OK for us to go. I was looking at booking tickets, because from March to August you need timed tickets to do the permanent exhibition because of the volume of people who come, when I came across what they called the Guided Highlights Tour.
According to the museum's website, the tour is for blind and visitors of low vision (i.e. between 20/60 and 20/200 which is blindness) and their families or friends. The tour usually only is available for groups of four or less but apparently they can accommodate larger groups if planned in advance. The tour uses visual aids adapted to the needs of the tour goer. In my case Mrs. Sara, my guide, had black and white prints of the big murals we saw so I could see them more in detail. She also used a flashlight to light up the pictures or artifacts as most of the exhibit is dimly lit. We also used touchable reconstructions of things like a milk bottle that was excavated or a model of the museum.
Another great thing about this if you have low vision like me is that your tour guide will literally guide you if you need. For a good majority of the tour, Mrs. Sara held my left hand and made sure we got as close to the front to see as we could which was nice. It was also a good thing because like I mentioned most of the exhibit is lit dimly so I never got lost. It was actually kinda funny because Mrs. Sara was about a head shorter than me!
In between the floors of the exhibit there are rooms for you to rest your feet and just take a break because it is A LOT of walking and/or standing and looking at things. The rest stops on each floor are a great idea not only for that but also because some people get really sensitive to certain things they see and they might need time to process it.
Another good thing is the tour takes its time. Usually with timed passes you only get an hour and a half to go through all three floors and that seems kind of rushed to me. My mom and I were at the museum for four hours, three of which the tour covered. In truth, they probably ought to call the tour the Guided In Depth Tour, because we hit everything, not just highlights.
I have never in my life felt so appreciated because of my low visual perception skills, but USHMM sure made me feel that way.
Monday, March 16, 2015
The Scars of USHMM Part Two- Grieving
In this second part of a series on the USHMM and my experience I'm going to cover the topic of grief.
Firstly, grief is actually defined as "A multifaceted response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or something that has died, to which a bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, it also has physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, spiritual, and philosophical dimensions." That sounds like the grief we have all known at some point or another in our lives, right? It implies that we knew the person we are grieving for closely.
But what if that's not the case? What if you never knew them?
That's where the USHMM comes in. I have never in my life experienced such a level of grief for people I never met. I was used to grieve for people I had known personally like my Nan who passed last August. Anyway, you walk into the place and know you're about to see something horrible but you don't know when you'll start to feel the grief. You might even doubt you can because you most likely never knew these people.
There's a part of the permanent exhibit called the Tower of Faces. It's a bridge you walk across and on the walls you see hundreds of photos of people smiling, living life. Then you hear what happened to them:
The town where the photos were taken was Eishyshock in Lithuania. German troops arrived in Eišiškės on June 23, 1941, and on September 21, 1941, an SS Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing unit) entered the town, accompanied by Lithuanian auxiliaries. More than four thousand Jews from Eishishok and its neighboring towns and villages were first imprisoned in three synagogues and then taken in groups of 250 to the old Jewish cemetery where SS men ordered them to undress and stand at the edge of open pits. There, Lithuanian auxiliary troops shot them to death. The old cemetery is now a site of remembrance with a memorial stone in three languages. The new cemetery was destroyed in 1953 and turned into the yard of a kindergarten.[8] Some of the private Jewish buildings survive and are protected as part of the urban heritage. One school is now a library, while another was demolished. There are no Jews living there today.
More than four thousand Jews killed in two days by shooting each one to death individually.
If that doesn't make you feel something, I don't know what can. But as I looked at all these happy faces of pre-war Jews who had all been killed I could barely tell my mom the story of the Tower I almost broke down. And looking back, I wish I would have.
Moving on is a necessary part of life, but before you do that you need to grieve what you lost. I am still doing that, even though I am still whole; I didn't lose anything. And yet, I'm shattered.
Firstly, grief is actually defined as "A multifaceted response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or something that has died, to which a bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, it also has physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, spiritual, and philosophical dimensions." That sounds like the grief we have all known at some point or another in our lives, right? It implies that we knew the person we are grieving for closely.
But what if that's not the case? What if you never knew them?
That's where the USHMM comes in. I have never in my life experienced such a level of grief for people I never met. I was used to grieve for people I had known personally like my Nan who passed last August. Anyway, you walk into the place and know you're about to see something horrible but you don't know when you'll start to feel the grief. You might even doubt you can because you most likely never knew these people.
There's a part of the permanent exhibit called the Tower of Faces. It's a bridge you walk across and on the walls you see hundreds of photos of people smiling, living life. Then you hear what happened to them:
The town where the photos were taken was Eishyshock in Lithuania. German troops arrived in Eišiškės on June 23, 1941, and on September 21, 1941, an SS Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing unit) entered the town, accompanied by Lithuanian auxiliaries. More than four thousand Jews from Eishishok and its neighboring towns and villages were first imprisoned in three synagogues and then taken in groups of 250 to the old Jewish cemetery where SS men ordered them to undress and stand at the edge of open pits. There, Lithuanian auxiliary troops shot them to death. The old cemetery is now a site of remembrance with a memorial stone in three languages. The new cemetery was destroyed in 1953 and turned into the yard of a kindergarten.[8] Some of the private Jewish buildings survive and are protected as part of the urban heritage. One school is now a library, while another was demolished. There are no Jews living there today.
More than four thousand Jews killed in two days by shooting each one to death individually.
If that doesn't make you feel something, I don't know what can. But as I looked at all these happy faces of pre-war Jews who had all been killed I could barely tell my mom the story of the Tower I almost broke down. And looking back, I wish I would have.
Moving on is a necessary part of life, but before you do that you need to grieve what you lost. I am still doing that, even though I am still whole; I didn't lose anything. And yet, I'm shattered.
Friday, March 13, 2015
The Scars of USHMM Part One- No Words Are Enough
As you guys know, I went to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday. It was one of the most horrifyingly amazing things I've ever done and it's very well worth a trip to DC to see if you have not. I could write a blog post with words about the trip (which I might when I'm done processing) but in this part of a series of blogs about the USHMM experience I want the pictures to speak.
They say a [picture is worth a thousand words, but these images have no words to describe them. We are the witnesses. Pass these images along if you can.
Never Again begins with us. What YOU do matters.
They say a [picture is worth a thousand words, but these images have no words to describe them. We are the witnesses. Pass these images along if you can.
Never Again begins with us. What YOU do matters.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
T Minus 20
I'm in love.
Not with someone, not even close, but with something.
I wrote an earlier post about finding my purpose in life at my very young age and as I get closer to one of the biggest milestones in my campaign I can't stop thinking. I am t-minus 20 days from one of the biggest days of my life, actually. I'm not one to believe in Fate or Destiny but somehow I feel like when I made the choice to do this with my life that this day would come sooner or later.
It kind of feels like a wedding day of sorts: I need everything to be planned, as close to perfect as it can be, and I'm even already planning my outfit, I have a location picked out, and I'll be with my mom for this important day.
Also like a wedding I'm sure I'll cry at some point during the day and that I'll need tons of cake after it's over. There won't be speeches about me, but silence to remember others and to reflect on what I'm going to do after I leave the museum because going will change my life.
Sounds just like a wedding to me.Why do we only have weddings for marriage? I think everyone has some sort of career wedding, and in that sense yes I'm marrying young. And I'm happy with my choice.
I talked to the head of Accessibility Services at the museum and she has pu in my request for the Highlight Tour! It's so cool to speak to the people at the museum because they are so helpful and I absolutely love them!
Not with someone, not even close, but with something.
I wrote an earlier post about finding my purpose in life at my very young age and as I get closer to one of the biggest milestones in my campaign I can't stop thinking. I am t-minus 20 days from one of the biggest days of my life, actually. I'm not one to believe in Fate or Destiny but somehow I feel like when I made the choice to do this with my life that this day would come sooner or later.
It kind of feels like a wedding day of sorts: I need everything to be planned, as close to perfect as it can be, and I'm even already planning my outfit, I have a location picked out, and I'll be with my mom for this important day.
Also like a wedding I'm sure I'll cry at some point during the day and that I'll need tons of cake after it's over. There won't be speeches about me, but silence to remember others and to reflect on what I'm going to do after I leave the museum because going will change my life.
Sounds just like a wedding to me.Why do we only have weddings for marriage? I think everyone has some sort of career wedding, and in that sense yes I'm marrying young. And I'm happy with my choice.
I talked to the head of Accessibility Services at the museum and she has pu in my request for the Highlight Tour! It's so cool to speak to the people at the museum because they are so helpful and I absolutely love them!
Sunday, February 15, 2015
A Dream Three Years in the Making
Guys, in two weeks one of my long term dreams is going to come true.
I am finally going to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum after three years of wishing I could go! My mom and I are going to go over my spring break and I'm super excited. I've been preparing for this for three years and trips to other Holocaust museums, but this is the big one. This is the biggest Holocaust memorial in the country.
We are going to go on what's called the Highlight Tour. It's for low-vision visitors like me and they have things enlarged to see better and the tour also has aspects that aim to focus on other senses since some blind people take this option of a tour. For low vision people they use flashlights and give you magnifying glasses to help you out.
I chose to do this option because with the low vision tour the crowds most likely will be more manageable. I think if I wanted I could do the normal tour just fine but I want to make sure I have enough room to actually walk around and see things. This tour option, I think, will give me the best experience possible.
We are also going to celebrate my mom's birthday while we're in DC so that should be fun too. It's been ten years since we've been and I am super excited to spend a fun two days with my momma. I love taking trips where it's just me and my mom, they're so much fun!
Here are some pictures from my previous visits to other museums!
I am finally going to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum after three years of wishing I could go! My mom and I are going to go over my spring break and I'm super excited. I've been preparing for this for three years and trips to other Holocaust museums, but this is the big one. This is the biggest Holocaust memorial in the country.
We are going to go on what's called the Highlight Tour. It's for low-vision visitors like me and they have things enlarged to see better and the tour also has aspects that aim to focus on other senses since some blind people take this option of a tour. For low vision people they use flashlights and give you magnifying glasses to help you out.
I chose to do this option because with the low vision tour the crowds most likely will be more manageable. I think if I wanted I could do the normal tour just fine but I want to make sure I have enough room to actually walk around and see things. This tour option, I think, will give me the best experience possible.
We are also going to celebrate my mom's birthday while we're in DC so that should be fun too. It's been ten years since we've been and I am super excited to spend a fun two days with my momma. I love taking trips where it's just me and my mom, they're so much fun!
Here are some pictures from my previous visits to other museums!
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Knowing What I Want To Do So Young?
Some people get married young, some enter the workforce young, some people know what they want to do with the rest of their lives young. All three of these are somehow looked down upon by society in a way. Why would such a young person know they've found the One? Why would someone not go to college and get a job out of high school? What do eighteen/nineteen year olds know about themselves, right?
I fall into the third category. Since my junior year I knew I wanted to preserve the history of the Holocaust and teach it to others. I'm not a schoolteacher-type person but that doesn't mean I can't teach others if I'm not in a teacher's position. I do not want to be a teacher, but I know I have a passion and sense of importance surrounding what I do.
This March I'm having an article on the Holocaust education resources we have in Georgia published by an Atlanta bimonthly paper called the Jewish Georgian. I am so lucky for this opportunity to assert myself in this field while I'm still young. Some people might think that I'm just experimenting with different career options at my age but somehow I know I'm on the right path with my life. I might end up doing something else as a main career, but I'm certain the underlying reason why I make a career choice in the future will be because I have an opportunity to continue educating.
So I guess in a way I'm kind of lucky to know what I want. I'm the type of person who knows her own mind and I really like that.
I fall into the third category. Since my junior year I knew I wanted to preserve the history of the Holocaust and teach it to others. I'm not a schoolteacher-type person but that doesn't mean I can't teach others if I'm not in a teacher's position. I do not want to be a teacher, but I know I have a passion and sense of importance surrounding what I do.
This March I'm having an article on the Holocaust education resources we have in Georgia published by an Atlanta bimonthly paper called the Jewish Georgian. I am so lucky for this opportunity to assert myself in this field while I'm still young. Some people might think that I'm just experimenting with different career options at my age but somehow I know I'm on the right path with my life. I might end up doing something else as a main career, but I'm certain the underlying reason why I make a career choice in the future will be because I have an opportunity to continue educating.
So I guess in a way I'm kind of lucky to know what I want. I'm the type of person who knows her own mind and I really like that.
Monday, February 2, 2015
Do Holocaust Scholars Ever Get Overwhelmed?
I've been doing a lot of thinking about what I do lately since this week had International Holocaust Remembrance Day, so that's the reason for all these notes. If you enjoy them, then great. If you don't that's okay too. Anyway, last weekend my friends went home to see their families and I stayed at school to help a friend work on a Holocaust themed legal paper. Since I had the room to myself for two nights I decided to watch Schindler's List since I can only really do that when I'm truly alone but I'll get to that in a second.
I watched the film over two nights because it's such a long one. The first night I was okay, but then again I had saved the real part that gets me to break down for the next night so there's that. The second night I had spent the day helping my friend with her paper for the chunk of the day before watching it. If you've seen the movie you know the end and if you haven't you need to watch it. So after I finished the movie I called my friend Amanda who was home from college. She and I talked about her mom forgetting to upload some pictures for a minute and she started laughing and so did I. And then out of the blue I started sobbing, like full on sobbing.
Schindler's List is the only movie I have ever sobbed over. Sure in eighth grade Twilight got a few tears out of me as did the last two Harry Potter movies, but never had a movie hit me like Schindler's List and I doubt none ever will again. the thing about it is, you have the reaction the first time you finish the movie and then are left to process it and that reaction is why most people only watch it once in heir lifetime and I don't blame them. If you watch it a second time you think you'll be prepared.
Wrong.
I've seen the full movie about five times and have a worse reaction each time. It's not because I don't know what's coming, but because I'm fully aware of it. And it's one of those movies that doesn't leave you after you turn it off. It becomes a part of you.
So what does watching Schindler's List have to do with Holocaust studies other than the obvious?
To me, I think it reinforces why I do what I'm doing. It reminds me why I need to help Holocaust education reach people in the present times. It reminds me that one person can make a difference. And it also reminds me that when you work in this area like I do, you break down. It may not be often, but you do because the reality of the history consumes you whe you physically see it. I think that only a selected few people are chosen to work in Holocaust studies because of that and because we keep the memory alive we can piece ourselves back together after we break down and continue on with our work.
I'm very pleased and passionate about what I do.
I watched the film over two nights because it's such a long one. The first night I was okay, but then again I had saved the real part that gets me to break down for the next night so there's that. The second night I had spent the day helping my friend with her paper for the chunk of the day before watching it. If you've seen the movie you know the end and if you haven't you need to watch it. So after I finished the movie I called my friend Amanda who was home from college. She and I talked about her mom forgetting to upload some pictures for a minute and she started laughing and so did I. And then out of the blue I started sobbing, like full on sobbing.
Schindler's List is the only movie I have ever sobbed over. Sure in eighth grade Twilight got a few tears out of me as did the last two Harry Potter movies, but never had a movie hit me like Schindler's List and I doubt none ever will again. the thing about it is, you have the reaction the first time you finish the movie and then are left to process it and that reaction is why most people only watch it once in heir lifetime and I don't blame them. If you watch it a second time you think you'll be prepared.
Wrong.
I've seen the full movie about five times and have a worse reaction each time. It's not because I don't know what's coming, but because I'm fully aware of it. And it's one of those movies that doesn't leave you after you turn it off. It becomes a part of you.
So what does watching Schindler's List have to do with Holocaust studies other than the obvious?
To me, I think it reinforces why I do what I'm doing. It reminds me why I need to help Holocaust education reach people in the present times. It reminds me that one person can make a difference. And it also reminds me that when you work in this area like I do, you break down. It may not be often, but you do because the reality of the history consumes you whe you physically see it. I think that only a selected few people are chosen to work in Holocaust studies because of that and because we keep the memory alive we can piece ourselves back together after we break down and continue on with our work.
I'm very pleased and passionate about what I do.
After Auschwitz 70
Yesterday was hard for me, I won't lie and say it wasn't.
Why, you ask? When a person chooses to undertake the preservation of one of the darkest chapters of human history it can be overwhelming to the point of devastation. Yesterday I said little with the exception of talking in class or to my suite mates because I wanted the day to be completely about reflection and that is what I got. I got a day to converse with myself and dig deeper into why I might have been chosen to keep this message alive.
I streamed the ceremonies at Auschwitz live on the website so I got a chance to watch history. I got the chance to see what might be the last "milestone" anniversary of liberation that survivors en masse will make it to. As I watched, there were things that moved me to tears. Survivor Roman Kent said in his speech, "If I could make an eleventh commandment it would be that no one is allowed to be a bystander." This is the crux of Never Again in my mind. Especially with the anti-Semetic and other attacks rooted in prejudice that have been going on recently this statement is a cry to the world. It's 2015, so why does it look almost like 1933? We cannot let this go on.
When you go as deeply into the Holocaust as I have, many wonder if you can come out. The truth is that you can't. Things resonate and stay with you, you cry for people you did not know, and you gain a new perspective on what hate can do. It's harrowing and it can sometimes drown you completely. I've found that a lot of the times I have to take a step away from it to reconnect with life around me. As a historian, my mind dwells a lot in the past and I'm thankful that I can come back to the present when the past is too much.
Last night as a long and hard day closed with me lying in bed. I said kaddish, a Jewish prayer for the dead that I Googled. After, I made a pact with myself. If I can, I will go to another Auschwitz milestone in the future on behalf of the diminishing survivors and I will lead the campaign for my generation and generations after to not forget.
The support of all of you is wonderful, but one comment really stuck with me. My friend Sam thanked me for my work in this field. I had never been thanked so genuinely for doing something I'm passionate about and that comment made my day as did the countless other messages of support.
Thank you.
Why, you ask? When a person chooses to undertake the preservation of one of the darkest chapters of human history it can be overwhelming to the point of devastation. Yesterday I said little with the exception of talking in class or to my suite mates because I wanted the day to be completely about reflection and that is what I got. I got a day to converse with myself and dig deeper into why I might have been chosen to keep this message alive.
I streamed the ceremonies at Auschwitz live on the website so I got a chance to watch history. I got the chance to see what might be the last "milestone" anniversary of liberation that survivors en masse will make it to. As I watched, there were things that moved me to tears. Survivor Roman Kent said in his speech, "If I could make an eleventh commandment it would be that no one is allowed to be a bystander." This is the crux of Never Again in my mind. Especially with the anti-Semetic and other attacks rooted in prejudice that have been going on recently this statement is a cry to the world. It's 2015, so why does it look almost like 1933? We cannot let this go on.
When you go as deeply into the Holocaust as I have, many wonder if you can come out. The truth is that you can't. Things resonate and stay with you, you cry for people you did not know, and you gain a new perspective on what hate can do. It's harrowing and it can sometimes drown you completely. I've found that a lot of the times I have to take a step away from it to reconnect with life around me. As a historian, my mind dwells a lot in the past and I'm thankful that I can come back to the present when the past is too much.
Last night as a long and hard day closed with me lying in bed. I said kaddish, a Jewish prayer for the dead that I Googled. After, I made a pact with myself. If I can, I will go to another Auschwitz milestone in the future on behalf of the diminishing survivors and I will lead the campaign for my generation and generations after to not forget.
The support of all of you is wonderful, but one comment really stuck with me. My friend Sam thanked me for my work in this field. I had never been thanked so genuinely for doing something I'm passionate about and that comment made my day as did the countless other messages of support.
Thank you.
Auschwitz 70 Commemorative Letter
To all my Facebook friends,
Tomorrow (or tonight) I urge each one of you to take a little bit of time out of your very fulfilling life and remember what this day is all about. January 27th is a very important day to us as a people because we cannot forget that atrocity is all around us, especially in the times we live. January 27th is a day for reflection and to remember the lives lost, not just in the Holocaust, but in any genocide whether it's the Native American genocide or the recent genocides in Rwanda or Cambodia. Genocide is one of the world's saddest concepts and it's such a big concept that we can barely begin to understand it and if we try it crushes us.
I am an ameuter Holocaust historian as you all well know. Some ask why I like this period of time, and honestly that isn't the right word to use and it almost comes off as inappropriate. I don't like this time period at all. I think the acts committed by the Nazis during this period were so unspeakable that no word can sum them up properly. I study this time period because I think the past holds a key to the future. If we repeat the past then we won't have a better future; and like children we won't learn from the mistakes we made in the past and we keep making them. Some people ask me if the Holocaust has affected me directly and the answer is actually yes and it continues to affect me to this day. I am disabled, and the Nazis killed people like me. The Holocaust is wrongly believed by many to be solely part of Jewish history, but it's really a part of world history because countless other groups like Poles, disabled people, homosexuals, political enemies, etc were also targeted in the Nazis' program to purify Europe as they saw fit. I am not Jewish but my best friend is and I can't imagine anyone hurting her or her family. The world needs to realize that the Holocaust holds importance to every person and not just the Jews. If gentiles don't help our Jewish friends with the campaign to remember we will have come nowhere from where we were in the war when most looked the other way.
That is unacceptable.
So why is Auschwitz 70 so significant? We still have survivors with us today but it saddens me that they are slowly diminishing. There will come a time soon when no survivors will be able to gather at Auschwitz like they are doing tomorrow. When that time comes it will be up to us to go on their behalf. It will be up to us to say, "I will not forget. I stand with the victims and survivors to remember." So I ask each one of you to take a minute out of your day to reflect, light a candle, or even just spread the word about why January 27th is so important. I know a whole generation of people that your acknowledgment of tomorrow's significance will mean the world to.
I will say Never Forget and Never Again not just tomorrow but every day. I hope you will as well too.
Thank you for your time.
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