Names of victims on the wall of the Budapest Holocaust Memorial |
As this experience comes to an end, I find that the Justice Studies program keeps packing the punches, down to the final seconds. Today marked the beginning of the end: our last field studies trip. A sad day in that of itself was concurrently on the day of one of our most emotional trips. Today, we visited the Budapest Holocaust Memorial Center. This memorial was an example of curatorial perfection. Whoever designed the museum went out of their way to highlight the most valuable information showing the (non-chronological) steps towards deprivation for the Hungarian Jewry. It was dark and the music matched the scenes well, the videos exceeded in providing emotional reaction, and the pictures on the walls were meaningful and complimented by concise descriptions.
One of the first things we saw in the museum... "march to deprivation" |
I’m going to be unconventional and start this blog with something that our amazing tour guide talked about at the end of the experience. She ended our tour by opening up the scope of her narrative. In learning about the Holocaust we must not limit ourselves to learning about the Holocaust itself. In looking at the grand scheme of things, we must see the danger in ideas. Granted, most ideas and ideologies are not so extreme, but there is always potential for these dangerous ideologies to spread. Looking back, it’s easy to say, “How did we let that happen?” But as humans we are prone to being herded like sheep towards certain beliefs. Even remaining neutral isn’t acceptable, it’s important to take a stand. (This is something I thought was relevant, especially considering the people standing up for their beliefs in regards to the Occupy [insert name of city here] for the past couple months.) Thinking about this, after moving through the museum and seeing how gradual and “organic” the deprivation of the rights of the Jews happened, I am not surprised that it was possible to instill such an ideology into people.
Many of the pictures in the Memorial came from the Auschwitz album - a series of pictures taken by SS officers and found by an Auschwitz survivor...More people should see these. |
Walking through the Holocaust Memorial brought all of our studies from this semester to a head. I recognize people and events from our Hungarian History and Hungarian Culture classes. This is something I’m proud to be able to do. Having been here, I’ve interacted with people who’ve clearly been impacted by the extremist regimes whose legacy lives on in Hungary. When you see all the visual evidence, their point of view is frighteningly legitimate. I will always be haunted by my visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau, which has since been a valuable experience for me to see how what I learned in Poland directly relates to the Hungarian experience. In this Holocaust memorial, I saw many of the same images and videos that I’ve previously seen, but there was one video that was truly, truly horrific. I think that more than anything, seeing the bodies of the victims—both alive and dead, and seeing the empty look in their eyes—will remain with me. It’s something that has become an extremely personal experience since I’ve been over here. It’s easy to separate yourself from things like this in America, because we are isolated and had not experienced this in first person.
Beautiful and restored synagogue |
This Holocaust memorial is not somewhere that really changed me, because I’ve seen so many Holocaust related things since I’ve been in Europe. But it is a place that people should have the opportunity to go to. To see an interpretation of the Holocaust through the eyes of a European nation is powerful, because there was no escaping World War II.
Powerful and depressing though…which is why it is always refreshing to come to the end of the tour where museums try to make sense of it all and end on a more positive note. Our tour took us into a synagogue that was completely restored after the war. Only one picture had remained of the interior, and this picture was used to restore the dignity of the interior to its original state. The results were beautiful. To me, it really symbolizes the fact that there is hope after destruction.
To bring this full circle, what an amazing last field studies trip. It was the kind that made me take a step back and think about my whole time here. I could not be more grateful for the opportunities, experiences, knowledge, and friends that I’ve been able to share the last couple months with. This experience studying abroad has been incredible, and I know that I’m a different person for it.
Above is a video that Sarah posted on her most recent blog post. It's pretty moving and does a really great job at summing up some of the things that I've seen.
Still,
Living and Learning.
Dear Mary,
ReplyDeleteI find it only appropriate that I comment on your blog for my last blog comment!
Really great post, I enjoy the pictures you put up, especially the one of "The Auschwitz Album". Until reading this post I had forgotten about that part of our tour yesterday. I found this album very interesting, and even more so that I had not heard about it until this museum. Do you remember if they discussed it when we went to Auschwitz-Birkenau? I feel like they didn't. What a crazy story of that girl finding it and seeing herself and her family members throughout the album.
I also really enjoy your discussion of the end of our tour when the tour guide was talking about how it is important to take more away from these types of museums, rather than just the Holocaust. That is something I will never forget and I think a good ending to all of our trips and experiences with the Holocaust and persecution of the Jews within Europe.
Overall Mar, Great post! Glad you enjoyed the video I found too.
love ya pickle sister! Have fun this weekend :)
Mary, let's chat.
ReplyDeleteFirst thing that I want to say and that brought me to your blog in the first place: you put a lot of effort and feeling into your blog posts, but even more than that--you put a great amount of effort and sincerity into your blog comments. Blog commenting is something that has become extremely repetitive and a bit of a nuisance, and I sometimes struggle with it. But girl, you got it. You make the connections, you write exceptionally well, and above all: you appreciate what the rest of us are writing. When I read blogs, I also look for your comments to read, because they always add something more. It's great, and you should be proud of the blog posts and comments you have tacked up here this semester.
In regards to this post: I agree with you when you say that this visit didn't really change you like it has changed some of us. The exposure to the Holocaust that we have received here is extensive, but I definitely think that this Memorial Center deserves a visit, and I am glad that you liked it so much as well. The layout was absolutely amazing and the multimedia that was used was impressive and impressionable.
2 thumbs up to us having a great semester and feeling great about our experiences here. I am also extremely grateful for our experiences here and the history that we have come to learn. We're lucky! And I am happy to see that you have gotten a lot of different things out of this semester.
Have a GREAT night and I will see you in the morning. XO