Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Yad Vashem's Hall of Names is an archive with a mission: to give each victim of the Ho-
locaust the dignity of being remembered by name.
The Children's Memorial starts with a gallery of photos showing the faces of adorable
kids from many countries lost to the Holocaust. You learn that a quarter of Hitler's victims
were children. Then, stepping into a dark chamber, you'll see one small light reflected by
mirrors 1.5 million times to make a galaxy of flickering souls while a somber voice reads
their names in a steady roll call. Emerging back into the daylight, I found myself trying to
imagine how such a heritage would impact my outlook if I were Jewish.
Along the “Avenue of Righteous Gentiles,” trees are planted to honor non-Jews who
risked their lives to help the persecuted. The memorial honors 24,000 Europeans who
aided the Jews…while reminding us that another 160 million turned a blind eye. A recur-
ring theme at Yad Vashem is how humanity ignored the plight of the Jews in the 1930s and
1940s. The memorial reminds us that when Hitler was warned that his plan to exterminate
the Jewish race would damage his image, he responded, “Who remembers the Armenian
genocide?”
For a powerful finale, the Yad Vashem memorial finishes with a platform overlooking
the land Israelis have worked so hard to establish as the one nation on earth that is Jewish.
