Nicole Mannarino

On January 12, 2015 my English class and I went to go visit the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach. When we first arrived at the site, we were met by this tour guide who talked about the statue at the beginning of the tour. It was a statue of a mother and her two children holding on to her in fear of what might happen. Behind the statue was a quote that Anne Frank wrote in her diary during the time of this tragic event. The quote read, "In spite of everything, I still believe that people are good at heart." After viewing the statue, the tour guide led us to a wall filled with pictures and captions of people and children. Some were lying dead on the floor in piles, while others were standing in line, and then some showed the faces of scared children. While analyzing these photos, I couldn't even imagine how horrible it must of been like for those people and what kind of person would do such a thing to others. As we walked down the path, we entered inside a dome. We stayed under there still for a while, and I heard the voices of children singing in a haunting and sleeping way. It was very sentimental, and as we walked down the narrow path that had the names of the concentration camps on the walls, we finally arrived to the inside where the huge hand was located. The first thing I saw was a little girl sitting on the floor reaching her hand out for help and I just felt so sorry for her because I could really see the fear in her eyes. Then we started walking around to see other statues of different people. Some of them were on the ground standing up, or lying on the floor dead, while most of the statues were up on the hand. I think that seeing the faces of these people really got to me emotionally, it was such a heartbreaking thing for me to look at. The thing that stood out the most was probably the hand; it symbolized the Jews reaching out for hope. I thought it was such a nice thing to see the walls surrounding the statues filled with the names of families that died. It gives so much respect for these people and for others to remember and take a moment of silence for the families that passed away. Finally reaching the end of the tour, we see the same statue of the mother holding her two children at the beginning of the tour, except to find all 3 dead and lying on the floor. This time though, Anne Frank's quote is different and it says, "Ideals, dreams, and cherished hopes rise within us only to meet the horrible truths and be shattered." The tour also included meeting a holocaust survivor named Allen Hall, as he told us his breathtaking true story of his experience and how he almost died. The scenery of the memorial is so peaceful and honors the ones who have fallen, and the tour was truly amazing.