The downside of having such a knowledgeable guide is that they sometimes feel obligated to share as much of their knowledge as humanly possible. In my case, this meant that my guide spoke throughout the tour. The result was little time for personal reflection. As someone who has spent innumerable hours grasping with the issue of how to communicate messages related to genocide and mass atrocities, I think there are only two ways to properly experience a place such as Yad Vashem. Ideally, one would have an entire day so that they could really take the time to soak everything in that the museum has to offer. Some might say you need more than a day, and I wouldn't disagree with them. However, in reality most people and tour groups have a precious few hours to go through Yad Vashem. In our case we had about two and a half hours.
In a situation where you have limited time, I am an advocate of the "less is more" approach. The truth of the matter is that when you have such a high volume of information thrown at you in such a short time period, only so much, if any, is going to stick. At the end of the day, I don't think it's important that people know that in Germany Jews had to wear yellow stars to distinguish them because they looked like ordinary Germans, whereas in Poland there was no need for the yellow star because Jewish men had long beards and all dressed the same.
I think it's important for people to realize that being marked for death just because of who you are is one of the worst things in the world. People should come away understanding the sheer magnitude and evil of The Final Solution, and why it is the Holocaust left such a mark on it's survivors and their children. People should also have a grasp for how brutal and dehumanizing the methods of murder often were. In a sentence, people need to come out of Yad Vashem with a burning desire to "Never Forget" and that the words "Never Again" must not become a hollow saying (although you could argue "Never Again" has already lost it's meaning).
When you have no time for personal reflection, and when you focus too much on the macro at the expense of the micro, people won't come away with a deep understanding of these broad themes and ideas. People can't comprehend the enormity of the Holocaust when the focus is on large numbers, general discussions on the inner working of concentration camps, and other macro level concepts. Instead, people should be given a compelling individual story, and time to quietly reflect on that story.
Eight years later I still remember that braid of hair I saw at Auschwitz. In a display of thousands of pounds of human hair that was shaved off of Jewish inmates upon their arrival, I noticed a long braid of hair. I must have sat there looking at it for five minutes. What was her name? Her age? Did she have brothers and sisters? Did she ever have a first kiss? A first love? Did she get the chance to tell her parents she loved them? What was the last time she saw her best friend like? Was she sent straight to her death, or did she toil away labouring for months on end before meeting her fate? Maybe she was one of the lucky few who survived. If so, did she ever see any of her family or friends again, or were they all killed by the Nazi's?
I could go on but you get the point. When you go this deep on a person, and take the time to think about them as an individual, it becomes something entirely different. Once you understand the Holocaust or other genocides on a personal level, you can begin to understand it on the larger scale.
Now back to the topic of how to have the most meaningful Yad Vashem experience possible. In hindsight I kind of wish I went through on my own, or at least spent more time without my headphones on so I could reflect on what I was seeing. I think it is better to only see some of the exhibits and take time for quiet personal reflection than to go through every exhibit but have little or no time to reflect. Since I am already knowledgeable about the Holocaust I may have not benefitted as much from the colour commentary our guide was adding to the exhibits in front of us, but even for the uninitiated I encourage you to create your own time/space for personal reflection if your guide doesn't give it. When something strikes you, take off your headphones and spend a few minutes to really think about it. You can catch up with your group once you're done. Years later you will most likely remember those five minutes you sat reflecting on the courage of the leaders of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising more than anything else.
I totally agree. Well written
ReplyDeleteRhoda