Today (Friday, June 30th) we went to Yad Vashem. This place is a memorial site to the victims of the Holocaust. This was a very eye opening and moving place. One of the first things you see are garden of trees which represent The Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations (people who helped the Jewish people). The trees were green and beautiful. Across the way, there was a sculpture that had multiple gray, rectangular stones that sat tall above a hill. These stones represented the numerous gravestones that were left unnamed during this dark time. After the sculpture, we walked through a memorial site for the children, the 1.5 MILLION CHILDREN murdered during the Holocaust. This site was specifically for the children who lost their lives in 1933-1945. This site was incredibly heart breaking. Our eyes saw the innocence that was snatched away from these children... we saw the precious faces of the healthy young; ambitious for life..we heard the names of the children who were murdered through the ridiculous beliefs...This site also had 7 candles lit up around a dark room that was filled with mirrors so it looked like there were millions of candles that lit the room. After remembering the loss of the children, we walked towards The Holocaust History Museum. The museum building itself was an art sculpture. The building was light gray and was shaped like a spike because it represented the open wound (the deaths) that will never be healed over Israel. The building has sky windows that naturally lit the building entirely. This is supposed to represent that the Holocaust was happening right in front of people. Walking through the building was very depressing. The building led you through the story of the Holocaust: the happy lives of the Jewish people, Hitler's rise to power, Anti-Semitic laws established, Concentration and Extermination camps established, Germany conquering neighboring countries, and the allied countries fighting back. Throughout the exhibits, there were names and short stories of the victims. This helped us really feel close to the victims and put ourselves in their shoes. There were also personal belongings from the victims to help you visualize their lives. At the end of the building, there was a big dome that was covered with numerous pictures of the lives that were lost during the Holocaust. It was so moving and heart breaking to look into the eyes of the people that were unjustly murdered.

- Abby Kohls

The Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations