INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

 Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

On January 27th, 1945, the Soviet Army liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly declared Jan 27 International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

I've told this story before, but it's been a long time and I think it's worth repeating. When my daughter, The Hurricane, was in middle school, we took her to Washington, D.C., for a Van Gogh exhibit. The line for the exhibit was long and when we were within six people of getting in, someone came out to announce that was it, no one else could enter the museum that day.*

The Hurricane asked if we could instead visit the Holocaust Memorial Museum, which had opened recently. I was reluctant because I was very much aware of the horrors of Hitler's attempt to rid Europe of Jews and other people he did not want––Roma, the disabled, political enemies, LGBTQ, and more.

But I agreed, and I was glad I did. It was a good learning experience, and the museum had been designed in a way that allowed those who did not want to see the most graphic photos to avoid them. I looked at them, and I told Hurricane what was depicted in them before she saw them, which she chose to do.

The staff members did not wear the garb of security guards as they do at other museums in D.C. They were dressed in dark clothing. 

When we entered a room that had "beds" from Auschwitz––the wood frames that in no way resembled beds––after a couple of minutes I noticed an older woman holding on to one of the frames and crying. A young woman on the staff sternly told her she must not touch the items on display from the camps.

She said through her tears, in heavily accented English, You don't understand. I slept in these. 

The worldwide Holocaust survivor population now stands at 196,000. That number is dwindling rapidly as many are older than 90. About half of them live in Israel. 

We can't allow them to be forgotten.

Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug

*We returned to the museum another day and arrived earlier. Only one small group was ahead of us in line. The Van Gogh exhibit was beautiful.