Holocaust Blog

What is the Significance of Acts of Remembrance? In remembering the Holocaust, we force ourselves to see how horrific it was and remind ourselves to never let it, or anything like it, ever happen again. We can see through the eyes of survivors by looking at the ways they remember through poetry, art music, etc. Without acts of remembrance, all but those who experienced it first hand would let the idea slip out of their minds, and where would that leave us? Most likely it would bring us right back where we started, with a lot of hate, and a lot of suffering. Especially for those of us who are outsiders looking in, it is helpful to have some soft of image in our mind of what truly happened during the Holocaust. A piece of art like “Ecce Homo” by Jan Komski shows the devastation of the concentration camps on a man that must surely be burned into this artist's mind forever. After witnessing something as horrible as this, it would be hard to forget. The man in the image is entirely skin and bones. You can see every one of his ribs, and his face is sunken in. He looks lifeless and completely without hope. These are the types of things no one should ever see or experience, ever again. Holocaust survivors express their memories in other ways as well, poems speak very well for those who were not heard during the holocaust. “The Dream” by Trish McAllister is a poem about someone, maybe herself, having a nightmare about the horrors that they went through in the concentration camps. She dreams about her children, likely killed, and how happy they were before the Holocaust then juxtaposes this next to a similar scenario, set in the concentration camps. At the end of the poem it is revealed to the reader that the whole thing was a nightmare, an unforgettable memory she wishes she could forget. Another reason these acts of remembrance are so important is so that those who do remember will not be alone, and even when they are gone, we can uphold their memory, and the memory of all those who did not survive. Finally, we have to remember the Holocaust because people do not deserve to suffer, and certainly do not deserve to die without cause or reason. Even after the Holocaust somehow people today still manage to be cruel enough to carry out genocide and kill massive amounts of innocent people. In Rwanda, this happened only twenty years ago. The conflict between two powers lead to this awful, mass killing of hundreds of thousands of innocent people. In 100 days 800,000 people died, most of them probably weren’t even involved in the conflict either, they were just killed for the sake of killing which is the same idea behind what happened in Nazi Germany. This is precisely why we have to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive, because without it history is sure to repeat itself, just as it already has. 

She prepares the table, the colors are so bright! Her daughter will be so surprised, delighted. This will be her first party. What fun! Six is a wonderful age.... I shiver in the cold, My stomach aches with hunger. I stare at my children as they sit lethargically. They used to play with such abandon. Now their eyes - so hollow. No more tears. She serves the cake, Laughs as her birthday girl Tries to blow out candles that won't extinguish. How carefree, and happy She never thinks of her freedom. It just is. My skin feels dry and clammy, all at once. Fear is my constant companion. How grateful I'd be, To give myself over to The Monsters, If only my little ones were spared. The children bang on the table Anxious for their piece. Anxious to move on to games and the clown! Precious and loved They are so cared for, spoiled, revered. The banging on the door - My heart stops. (Oh how I wish it would!) Are the camps as bad as they say?? They couldn't hurt the children!! She wakes up to the pounding. The dream of parties and running and laughing Is over. Her children cling to her, roughly pushed Toward the train, toward the end. I wake up with the sun It was just a nightmare. Now I have a party to prepare for But a tear falls - for her. I am her. She is me. Wake up. -Trish McAllister