Somber, memorable, and impactful are the three words that best describe our recent visit to the Auschwitz exhibit at the Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City.
Upon arrival, we were immediately confronted with the cattle car that stood outside of the museum. That very cattle car was used to transport thousands of the Jews to their deaths, making multiple runs between ghettos and the extermination camp. During the horrific time on the train, Jews were forced to endure three or more days travel without food or water. There was no room to sit and the toilet consisted of a pail in the center of the car which had to be used by everyone in a public and degrading fashion. The cattle car was a powerful reminder of the terrible experiences that victims of the Holocaust were subjected to.
Inside the museum, one saw pictures of Jews being rounded up and forced into ghettos from which they later would be taken to concentration camps. Video testimonies from Holocaust survivors were interspersed throughout the exhibit.
We were joined on this trip by Rabbi Dr. Zev Isseroff, whose mother, along with mine, survived the horrors of Auschwitz.
One tear-evoking moment occurred when we saw the excerpt of his mother’s interview played on the screen. In her particular segment, she spoke about the time that she worked in the part of Auschwitz that was responsible for sorting out the clothes and possessions of the victims. The Nazis referred to that part of the camp as “Canada,” which to them symbolized wealth and affluence.
During one part of the interview, she tearfully talked about sorting through clothing and recognizing her baby brother’s little sweater. She understood at that moment that he had been murdered and was never to be seen again.
This emotional torment was but one part of the suffering of those who survived.
The exhibit also poignantly painted a picture of the events leading up to the Holocaust. German posters and their anti-Jewish propaganda were displayed and presented to the viewer. Germany’s step-by-step approach to marginalizing the Jews, the propaganda, and anti-Semitism, fueled by peer pressure, naturally resulted in the Holocaust, and helped turn “ordinary men” into rabid murderers.
We plan to take all of our students to the exhibit and urge other schools and shuls to do the same.
Our group left the museum greatly impacted and with a small sense of what our people endured not that long ago.
By Rabbi Zev Meir Friedman,
Rosh Mesivta of Rambam Mesivta