Sebastian Flores

Mr. Reese English Honors I period 3 Holocaust Memorial Reflection Blog On my trip to the holocaust memorial with Mr. Reese's 3rd period class we first went to a small room in the back and heard a a live testimony from a holocaust survivor named Allan Hall. He explained his story of what he went through at the age of four and on how he felt blessed because of the so many times he was saved from life and death situations. He goes on to tell the story of the last time he saw his grandparents and how his father barely was able to buy him from a concentration camp.After the hearing our group was taken on a tour through the memorial. We started off on a statue of a woman trying to protect her children and quote by Anne Frank behind it saying "...Then in spite of everything, i still believe that people are really good at heart..." which shows a lot of optimism by her and hope. As we continued through the memorial we walked through tunnels which portray a variety of pictures and descriptions of many Jews being tortured and abused by Nazi SS soldiers. Then we get to a light of eternal fire which never goes out to represent eternity in all the fallen victims and surviving victims of the holocaust. We then passed through a tunnel which has inscribed on the walls the names of the most infamous concentration camps of the holocaust. Additionally the tunnel goes downward to represent the walk to the gas chambers the Jewish victims had to make, and along the walls are tiny folds of the outside world which was the kind of view the Jews had while on the train towards the concentration camps. At the end of this tunnel is a little girl reaching out and crying begging for you to help and as we passed her we see a giant hand with hundreds of people trying to climb up as a significance of last hope. On a wall surrounding the hand are the names of registered fallen victims of the holocaust. Lastly, on the way out is the woman again fro the beginning except this time she is lying on the floor with her two children dead and having no hope for a future. Another quote is behind them but this time it is not as optimistic as the first. It goes on to say "Ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us only to meet the horrible truths and be shattered." Overall i believe this experience can really have an impact in someones life as to remeber and honor those who have fallen victim to the tragic happenings in the holocaust.