"One death is a tragedy: a million deaths is a statistic," said Joseph Stalin. Unfortunately, this tends to be the truth. Numbers are a useful tool for measuring things that are too big for us to understand in any other way, e.g., how far it is from earth to the sun. But using numbers often blunts the reality of human tragedies. The Yad Vashem site tries to make the victims of the Holocaust something more than just statistics. Its database is an attempt to preserve a memory of as many individual victims as possible.
Browse through the database, and look through some of the individual pages of testimony. What do you find interesting/memorable in these pages?
Yad Vashem was a very moving and eye opening. I guess the statistics for having 6 million people that have died is false..because i swear there is at least a couple thousand people that come up with every search. I find it sad to see so many young people die that never had the chance to live their life. The holocaust should never be forgotten.
ReplyDeleteMegan Miller
The database seems to be a good idea but the names that dont have physical proof other than a persons testimony makes it difficult to tell the difference between truth and lies. That in mind I hope that no one would defile the memory of the people who suffered and lost their lives by submitting a false testimony. I plan on getting in contact with relatives who live in Europe and submitting my own ancestors who perished in the holocaust.
ReplyDeleteWell, I searched the name Sarah to see what I would get. I ended up with a girl named Sara Esformez: "Sara nee Esformes was born in Salonique in 1907 to Yaakov and Mazal. She was married. Prior to WWII she lived in Athenai, Greece. During the war she was in Athenai, Greece. Sara perished in Auschwitz, Camp. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 20-Dec-1956 by her sister-in-law."
ReplyDeleteThen, because I was curious. I searched for an family members. And I found this: Mazal Esformez was born in Thessaloniki. Prior to WWII she lived in Thessaloniki, Greece. Mazal perished in Auschwitz, Camp. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed on left) submitted on 08-May-2000 by her grandson."
It would be easy to think that Mazal is in fact Sara's mother. It would be even easier to consider that Sara's son could've made this post. I feel that this database is a pretty important one even still today. It is helpful not only in possibly finding family members but also in teaching people, such as myself, how and why this situation occurred.
-Haley Zerr
The Database is a great place to learn about the holocaust. Not only can you do the search but there are many other resources. Video, Photos, and articles are all parts of the website that make it a great place to learn about the holocaust. I think it is very interesting to learn about the differnet places that were taken over by germany because although it was a sad time it was a huge mixture of different cultures. It was a very sad to see that more than 6 million people perished during the holocaust it will be remembered as one of the worst travisty's to ever happen on this world.
ReplyDeleteSkyler Frederick
I found that Yad Veshem helped greatly in preserving the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Most of the victims that I researched were only in their early 20s, and most of them were just pupils. One victim that I found was only eleven years old. This is truly sad when you think about it. Reality hits you, and you wonder how individuals can be so cruel.
ReplyDeletejessica horn
I searched my family names and didn't get much. I got a few Heinz's and Preszlers. No Jennifer's. It would cool though to see where your family members were at, if you knew the names of them.
ReplyDeleteJennifer Kilber
It's a great site to find out about the Holocaust. It's sad that the only way the memories of the people that died can be remembered is either by a piece of paper saying they were there, or the last person to see them go before they died. It truly is hearbreaking to hear that most of these people died in the concentration camps instead of in their own homes in their sleep. 6 million people perished in this great tragedy, but all most people see is that number. Only the families that lost someone truly understand how big of impact this truly caused.
ReplyDeleteI think that the database is a good place to remember the Holocaust and all the lives that were lost. The site also gives you a chance to read differnt articles/stores and see many pictures. However, it's sad to think that many people that died were so young and didn't get a chance to experience life.
ReplyDeleteKelli Hart
This database is a great away to give the people who died a face. When you just hear/learn about the Holocaust, it's hard to fully understand everything because 6 million is such a large number. Thinking about one specific story changes the way you think about it.
ReplyDelete-Brianna Hamil
Being not necessarily fond of, but definitely intrigued, by the holocaust I found myself spending a good amount of time on this site.
ReplyDeleteI'm very interested in photography so I found myself drawn to the photo archive first. I scanned the pictures and grew a little sad seeing the victims of Hitler's hate. They looked so happy in their family portraits before the hate and it's certainly terrible that they got everything taken away so fast.
As far as the name database, I typed in my last name and actually got quite a few names. A few were doctors, which I found ironic seeing as "Dr. Mogen" is what my dad is called on a regular basis. Interesting and definitely eery.
-Becca Mogen
I am not Jewish but I searched with my own family name of Schaub with is very German and found this.
ReplyDeleteRecha Schaub nee Plessener was born in 1881. Prior to WWII she lived in Berlin, Germany. Recha perished in Majdanek, Camp. This information is based on a List of victims from Germany found in the Gedenkbuch - Opfer der Verfolgung der Juden unter der nationalsozialistischen Gewaltherrschaft in Deutschland 1933-1945, Bundesarchiv (German National Archives), Koblenz 1986.
This was very heart wrenching to me as in most likely hood she was not related to me, but it for some reason brought home the realization that these statistics are in fact people. Just everyday people you see. Watchmakers, bankers, salesperson, just regular people trying to live a normal life gone. It's a good web site to hit home the personal individual loses that everyone suffered.
-Michael Schaub