Thursday, April 19, 2012

Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today Israel and the Jewish People remember the six million Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust (The Shoah). Last year I wrote this post about trying to take a photo during the siren. This year I went out and took the photo.


The most moving and poignant part of the day is the memorial siren. At 10am for two minutes everything stops. The traffic on the busiest streets stands still with the drivers standing on the road next to their vehicles. The pedestrians in the street become statues. The lights change from green to red and back to green again but no one notices. There is an eerie silence. You feel the weight of remembering on your shoulders. You try to remember harder. Most of us today weren't even born then - but still we remember.


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17 comments:

  1. TrishApril 19, 2012 at 11:42 AM

    That must have been very moving - the same eerie silence we experience on Armistice Day.

    In Berlin we visited the Holocaust memorial and I found it very striking; yet it was also a happy place as young children ran in between the huge slabs of concrete which look a bit like lots of rows of dominoes.

    (I've enjoyed having a look at your blog today. Will come again x)

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    1. Rachel SelbyApril 19, 2012 at 12:34 PM

      Thanks for your comment Trish. I know what you mean about a happy place as I feel this a bit at the memorial sights in Israel. I'm not sure that German children (although they should be happy and I wish them no harm) playing on a Holocaust Memorial in Berlin would conjure up the same symbolism of the continuing generations though.

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    2. TrishApril 19, 2012 at 3:23 PM

      I see your point. I suspect I used the wrong words to describe it.

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  2. AnonymousApril 19, 2012 at 12:28 PM

    very nice photo - just outside my apt on rivka st yes? (michal)

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    1. Rachel SelbyApril 19, 2012 at 12:32 PM

      Yes, and i was tempted to take another photo of all thepeople standing in their windows and looking out but I felt uncomfortable enough already.

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  3. MumB / @mumboshApril 19, 2012 at 2:55 PM

    Thank you for sharing. We must all remember.

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  4. BavarianSojournApril 19, 2012 at 3:26 PM

    Very poignant... We must not forget indeed...

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  5. Older MumApril 20, 2012 at 2:39 PM

    Very moving and poignant. My fathers father witnessed the harrowing sight of seeing thousands of dead Jews when they went into the concentration camps when the war ended. This has to be remembered and never forgotten - a reminder of what the darker recesses of the huamn psyche is capabale of so that it is never repeated again, although it has.

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    1. Rachel SelbyApril 22, 2012 at 11:26 AM

      I have often heard what a shock it was for the liberators when they entered the camps. There are many stories of kindness from this time after all the years of cruelty during the war. A small gestures were remembered by survivors as very big deals.

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  6. Lins' lleisioApril 20, 2012 at 3:49 PM

    Made me shiver from the moment it started until the time it stopped. Also brought a definite lump to my throat. We must never, ever forget man's inhumanity to man.

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  7. Lakes Single MumApril 22, 2012 at 9:22 PM

    Such a moving way to remember

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    1. Rachel SelbyApril 22, 2012 at 9:59 PM

      I agree though it is just one of many very moving events that are programmed throughout the day - ceremonies, candle lightings, films, only sad songs on the radio, testimonies from survivors, etc...

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  8. helloitsgemmaApril 25, 2012 at 11:37 AM

    thanks for sharing this, it is so important to take time to remember.

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