The Beauty of Yad Vashem
Inside of Yad Vashem- https://www.yadvashem.org/museum.html
Before researching for my site for this week, I did not understand the significance that Yad Vashem has for Jerusalem. Yad Vashem was founded in 1953 by the Knesset, or Israeli Parliament. Its entire purpose as a structure is to help the millions of Jews that died in the Holocaust be remembered. Pictures of their faces, their names, their origin stories, and every piece of information that Yad Vashem's research team can find are put on this site. Because of Yad Vashem's existence, these victims will be remembered for years to come, and their lives will be celebrated and not forgotten from the gruesome atrocities.
The beautiful aspect of Yad Vashem is that it is continuously growing. In 1968, there was only a "Names Room," which was first established with the original Pages of Testimony stored in alphabetical order. Then, in 1977, the Hall of Names building was opened at Yad Vashem. As the years went on and even today, more data is being collected, gathered, and stored to help continue the legacy of this building.
We looked at many different readings in the class about Jerusalem as a city, but one that I recall reading was the poem Tourists by Yehuda Amichai. After researching Yad Vashem, I realized that this site was included in the poem by the author. Amichai speaks about how tourists come and says, "Visits of condolence are all we get from them. They squat at the Holocaust Memorial" (Amichai). This writing is used as a critique of the tourists, expressing how Amichai believes that tourists should act more genuine with their feelings and not pretend as they visit different sites in Jerusalem. And although I can see the perspective that he was coming from, I do not truly agree with or understand what exactly the poet meant.
By doing research on Yad Vashem, I am now able to grasp a better idea of the feelings that Amichai was trying to express in his poem. Although it is important to be respectful, the different sites in Israel make up history and should not include only feelings of mourning. Emotions such as respect, remembrance, and a little bit of pride should be included as well. The site is a beautiful art piece, and as Amy Sodaro explains in her book Exhibiting Atrocity, “In Israel, memory of the Holocaust has a special meaning, as the state itself was born from the ashes of the Holocaust.”
The atrocities of the Holocaust will never be forgotten in Israel, because, as Sodaro explained, the state rose from those many deaths. But buildings such as Yad Vashem empower the state as well. When tourists visit the Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, they should not put on a face to pretend to be sorry. They should be themselves and feel empowered, since the city was able to rise from the ashes and continue on from the past.
Nice post about Yad Vashem. I like how you brought the Amichai poem and an article into the conversation. Remember to use high resolution images and for the sources you should include the bibliographic information if it's a published article.
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