Yad Vashem: A Lasting Tribute

    

    I would like to start my exploration of this beautiful site off with a quote used on the home page of the Yad Vashem’s website:

    “And to them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name (a ΄yad vashem΄)... that shall not be cut off.″ (Isaiah, chapter 56, verse 5)

    The Yad Vashem, to start briefly, is the official memorial to all of those affected by the Holocaust. The purpose of the monument is to make sure that the victims of this atrocity do not get forgotten. Stories of the survivors and heroic acts are shared alongside stories of horror and significant loss. A memorial trying to capture an event such as the Holocaust is faced with a substantial challenge. The Holocaust is something where the main message now that needs to be delivered is that of stories—the accounts of those who survived and, in most cases, those who did not. 

    Established in 1953, eight years after the end of the Holocaust, the Israeli Parliament entrusted the Yad Vashem with the task of documenting and researching people all about the Holocaust. They have been highly successful in doing so through the years. According to their data, over one million people visit the Yad Vashem. They are constantly striving to progress and gather information every day. 

    The level of documentation done through the teams at the Yad Vashem is one I have never seen before. They house “the world's largest and most comprehensive repository of material on the Holocaust.” The Yad Vashem archives hold hundreds of millions of pages of documents. They collect anything they can find from photos, videos, audio, and written testimonies. All of these actions are in the name of remembrance. 

    The Yad Vashem is a fascinating site to me. Having been to places like Auschwitz and many other Polish death camps, I have become so infatuated with how these places document the Holocaust. In a camp like Auschwitz, you are surrounded by a grime aura from the second you walk through the gate. You are almost transported back in time. The level of torment and pain you can still feel is immense. However, on the other hand, there are sites like the Yad Vashem. For me, I never really felt the same grime atmosphere in the photos of the Yad Vashem. I think that they provide an environment that, unlike Auschwitz, almost makes the remembrance of the lost sweeter. In a death camp, you are by no means meant to feel decent. The purpose is for you to feel exactly the way that the Jews felt. However, the Yad Vashem wants to inform you of people's stories and not just an event.

Citation:

https://www.yadvashem.org/about/yad-vashem.html