Remember The 6 Million...

The other day was Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day.  Commemorated all over the world, it is the day in which people all over the world remember the six million lives lost during the Holocaust, and pray for peace and hope in the future.  It only seemed fitting that we spent Monday in class discussing the Holocaust and how it is portrayed in American society today.

I actually found it quite interesting to compare the five different Holocaust museums and memorials.  The only one of those that I had been to was the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, so it was really interesting to see how they all were similar and yet also quite different.  It was cool to see how different locations embrace the Holocaust in different ways.  For instance, in Los Angeles, they really just focus on the Holocaust when it happened and nothing before or after.  On the other hand, in New York, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, it does not focus so much on the Holocaust but rather emphasizes on the idea of differentiating between the past, the present and the future.  There is a huge emphasis on Jewish renewal and maintaining Jewish values and ideals after the Holocaust, something I really liked learning about.

I am not related to anyone in the Holocaust, but I know people who were in it and just hearing their stories makes me feel a connection to them.  Like discussed in class, you do not have to be personally connected to the Holocaust to feel a connection.  The Holocaust helped the Jewish people as a whole, and it is important for Jews from all over to understand that they will always have a connection to the Holocaust.