Jewish Memorials

*A note in advance: This is a heavy post. It weighs heavily on the emotions and contains subject matter from a very hard and sad time in European history. Read at your discretion.

I have had a chance to visit two Jewish memorials: one in Berlin and another in Budapest. The Holocaust is something that is rarely talked about in Europe, yet they don't ignore the fact that it happened. Memorials stand everywhere throughout Europe in memory of the innocent victims of this tragedy. 

The first memorial I went to was in Berlin. It has a name but no description, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The name of the architect that created it, Peter Eisenman. He gives no insight into what it means. He leaves that up to us.

This monument takes up an entire block in Berlin and is simply just large blocks of concrete arranged in rows and columns. Visitors are welcome to walk through and choose any path they would like. As I started my journey in, I could easily see where I was going and could make decisions as to what path I wanted to take. As I progressed deeper into the monument, the concrete blocks grew taller and taller.

They were easily twice as tall as me and before I knew it, I couldn't see much and it got much darker. Not only that, my two friends that I was with decided to take different paths and were not seen again until we exited the monument. Essentially, I could see in front of me and I could here the voices of others echoing through the corridors. 

For me, this was a representation of the Jews being taken to the gas chambers or other modes of execution. They were quickly separated from loved ones knowing their fate that awaited. It was shocking to experience even such a minuscule  part of that.

There is a museum that is at one end of the monument that tells the stories of some of the victims. Some survivors. Some taken by the events. The most difficult room to enter had several letters to family members or pages from journals/diaries describing the events. Their feelings they expressed we so tangible and real. Fear. Distress. Sadness. Hopelessness. Despair. Terror. 

The second memorial I went to was by accident. It is placed right along the Danube in Budapest and we just happened to stumble upon it. The memorial is titled Shoes on the Danube Promenade. 

This is one of the sites where the Jews from Budapest were taken, shot and then dumped into the river. This was the work of the Arrow Cross Militiamen. Shoes were first removed before execution because they were valuable possessions. The saddest part of this monument was seeing the different kinds of shoes from male to female and toddler to adult. The only criteria for execution was to have some kind of association with the Jewish faith.

The most important thing that these memorials do for me is to serve as a voice of warning. Nothing like this should ever happen. It's hard enough to think to myself "how could something as horrid as this even happen?" This is why we can not take anything for granted and we should always fight for the things in this world that are good and uplifting. The fact is, something like this could happen again. It is a disgusting and revolting thought but I believe that there is enough good in this world that would never allow this kind of evil to happen again.