. Tonight marks the beginning of Holocaust Remembrance Day here in Israel. All places of entertainment will close, radios will broadcast only soft, quiet music, and the whole of Israel will embark on a day of quiet contemplation, remembering all those lost to the evil and the madness, among them most of my father's extended family, all the relatives he never got to know, the cousins he didn't get to grow up with, because his grandparents, aunts, and uncles, and their families, friends and neighbors, were murdered by the butchers in a world that had gone insane.
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Tomorrow morning at 10:00 a siren will sound, and for two minutes all of the country will come to a standstill. Cars on the highway will stop driving. Meetings will cease. Shopkeepers will stand silently at their tills. Pedestrians will stand quietly where they are. No music will play, conversations will halt, and all classes will stop, as we remember the six million and those who fought to save them, and vow "Never Again".
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When the siren again falls silent activity will resume, but at a quieter, softer pace, at least for a while.
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Never forget.
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Never again.
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11 comments:
So you're a survivor family? We need to talk. I need help.
This is a powerful post. i wish all the world joined in this remembrance.
We're not directly Susan. My grandparents came to America a few years before the war. When an invitation came to my grandmother's sister's wedding they were afraid if they went they wouldn't be able to get out again and did not go, the right decision but one my grandmother never forgave herself for - nearly all the family they left behind were murdered. I'm not sure how much help I could be but I'll do whatever I can.
I wish I was there tomorrow to experience that moment. Chilling!
I have no words to write. You said it: "a world gone mad."
I am not a Jew, and I wasn't yet born, but I remember a Time/Life book my grandmother had of photos from the liberation of the camps. They seared my soul.
hello Robin, may they already rest in peace. I know they already are! I have read a few books about the holocaust and it really is 'madness' which affects you even when you are just a reader...sigh! What else can i say. Peace be with you too, and your family...
On this day it is best to be in Israel.
A special day indeed. One can only hope it serves as a reminder to those too young to really remember.
Since the successful execution required the complicity of many, it would be a true memorial if the sirens marked the occasion world wide.
If we can do a world wide moment for (fill in the blank for some popular cause), surely we can do a world wide moment to mourn the tragedy. Not only were vibrant lives cut short, but the potential scientists, artists, computer experts, musicians, rabbis, dancers, lawyers, doctors, teachers ... there is no profession or calling that has not suffered this loss.
And in its complicity, the world also lost a bit of its own self-respect and dignity.
Yes, would that it was a world-wide moment.
Thank you Robin for posting this reminder that when good people do nothing against evil, we are a little less good and a little less people...
Amen...and may we all remember...especially in light of the most recent world news.
I was in Israel on this day in 1995. It was just as you describe, even for an outsider like me.
To quote Elie Wiesel...11th Commandment-Thou Shalt Not Stand Idly By
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