Memorial de la Shoah

Elyse Saretsky

Memorial de la Shoah Blogpost

When faced with the question, “Why is the Holocaust central to the post World War II concern with Human Rights?,” I feel as though I have many answers. Most obviously, the Holocaust is a clear illustration of human rights violations during World War II. As we read and heard about from Mr. Michlin, as well as from other victims and historical and religious experts, millions of Jews were murdered by the Nazi’s during the Holocaust. The Holocaust represents a clear moment in history where human lives were sacrificed for no reason other than hate. According to the documents handed out in class, out of the 50,000,000 who perished during World War II, 6,000,000 were Jews. This is a very high number – almost 12% of people who died in the war were Jews. I have learned about the Holocaust for my whole life – both in my public school education and my Hebrew school education – however I find that I can always learn more about the topic, and this assignment proved that sentiment. Traveling to the Memorial de la Shoah was a very meaningful experience for me, and helps to visually solidify the atrocities of the Holocaust.

Before the entrance of the memorial, I was especially moved by the wall names listing the French victims of the Holocaust. Seeing the number of French Jews’ lives taken as a result of the Holocaust is truly saddening and also shocking. It is shocking that entire walls of stone can be dedicated to the names of the deceased. This made me think about how lucky I am that none of my grandparents were affected by the Holocaust. My grandparents immigrated to the United States from Russia and Poland before the Holocaust started.

Also in the memorial I was intrigued by the boxes full of identification cards, listing the names and descriptions of French jews’ who died during the Holocaust. I remember reading on one of the informational boards about how it wasn’t until the 1990s that the French government admitted their involvement and responsibility regarding the Holocaust. I found this to be particularly notable, because I would have expected the French government to recognize this long before. Michlin also spoke about the French government’s admittance in his memoir, and although I was not present for his lecture, this is one of the questions I submitted to ask him.

Because the Holocaust has such close ties to the human rights issue, I thought it may be interesting to take a look at the documents we were given in class and apply them to this situation. In 1948, after the Holocaust ended, the United Nations released the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The first line of this declaration states, “Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world…” To me, this statement means that every person on the earth should be treated with the same respect and dignity as any other person. I believe that after the Holocaust there was a great need for such a document.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this unit, and after studying in class I feel as though I have a better understanding of how the Holocaust is a prime example of a violation of human rights during the World War II.