Day 162: Yad Vashem, Cleaning Success, and MEXICAN FOOD! FINALLY!

9/2/10

Yay for surviving Yad Vashem without crying! Step one in the "survive Poland" plan is finished. =D Of course, that's probably because we didn't go into the actual museum, but I can hope that it also means I'm getting better at dealing with the Holocaust. As a group who'd already been to Yad Vashem once, we were taken to a learning center where we sat with one of the Yad Vashem historians and discussed a variety of open-ended questions like "Why didn't the Allies bomb the camps?", "Could the Shoa have happened without Hitler?", "Are there limits on art and the Holocaust and how it can/should be depicted/taught?". Before each discussion, we listened to professional opinions from a variety of people, including Israeli historians, American historians, Rabbis, and Holocaust survivors. Afterwards, we shared our own opinions and entered into several debates. It was fascinating to hear how many of us were of similar opinion on certain issues, but then were ready to slaughter each other over others. Especially over the Art question and how the Shoa should be taught/when it should be taught, there was a lot of tension raised between us. I personally think that depictions of the Holocaust should not be limited by what people think is socially acceptable, but that the artist (director, painter, etc) has a moral obligation to fully understand the subject before expressing his/her opinion. In terms of film, particularly, I think the artists need to be moving, but very carefully factual. Certain situations can be fictionalized, but the mind sets, emotions, and actions of every character should be heavily based in fact. Looking at a film like "Life is Beautiful" for instance (a comedic interpretation of the Shoa) is almost offensive and sugarcoats the tragedy to a point where there's no point in using it as an introduction to the Shoa for children because it minimizes the reality. I don't think you should show a five-year-old "Schindler's List", but I do think they have the right to parts of the truth. There's a difference between introducing parts of the truth as a child grows older, but always being honest, and sugarcoating the entire thing from the start. A child can be told things like "bad people didn't like the Jews, and they wanted to hurt them". They can be shown the "Jude" star. They can listen to the stories of people who were their age during this time. It's an insult to shield a child from his/her history at any age, especially as time goes on and Holocaust survivors pass on. When there are no more survivors to hear the real stories from, who's to say that sugarcoated shit won't become "the truth". There are many history teachers who don't teach the Holocaust because they don't know how. If parents won't pass on the truth, kids may never learn, may forget, and that's the biggest fear of the post-Shoa era, is it not?

After our long discussion, we went to listen to a survivor's story. While saddened by his words, I was surprised to find myself disagreeing with some of his opinions. When asked how he felt about the Germans today, he emphasized "never forgive" in addition to "never forget". I'm completely in agreement with "never forget", but I can't agree with "never forgive". Why should I blame German people who weren't even alive during the Shoa for crimes that others committed? My mom is German and not Jewish, does that mean I'm a "bad Jew" for loving her? ABSOLUTELY NOT! I understand how for someone who went through the horrors of the Shoa, it would be hard to forgive, but (and this sounds horrible), I think that blaming the entire German people for what the Nazis did is almost as bad as the Nazis hating us simply for being Jewish.

On a lighter note, OUR APARTMENT IS FINALLY CLEAN!!!! Hopefully, our new cleaning system should work and the rest of the month will be great!

Dinner was blisssssssss. I finally got my Mexican food! We made quesadillas, salsa, guacamole, beans, and rice. Happinesssss is cheesiness splendor... (sing to the Happiness tune from YAGMCB).

All my Love,
Rachel