Entry Two

"the holocaust was not 6 million; it was one plus one plus one."

Today I went with my older sister and her boyfriend to the Houston Holocaust Museum. I had ggone once before with my cousins, about four years ago, and I had been wanting to visit it again, so this was the perfect opportunity!

Unfortunately, you cannot take pictures of the exhibits in the main floor, so I don't have any of the main holocaust exhibit, but I do have some pictures of the art exhibit upstairs, by Samuel Bak.

the first exhibit I saw was the UDHR exhibit, which was new to me.

One quote in particular struck me as soon as we walked in:

"... the inherent dignity... of the equal and unalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace." -from the preamble to the universal declaration of human rights, 1948.

there was also an exhibit dedicated to dairy writers who have lived through genocide, war, and other tragedies. It was a very powerful thing to see, all those young people recording their daily lives through immense pain and atrocities.  


Upstairs, there was a large atrium near a theater and Samuel Bak's art exhibit.

in front of these hanging butterflies, there was a word written in hebrew: zachor [remember]. it was so beautiful to me, and honestly, the first thing I thought was that I would love that as a tattoo. Maybe when I have a bit more money.


Samuel Bak was a holocaust survivor, and a prolific artist. His works were characterized, in my mind, by identifiable scenes twisted in unique ways, with beautiful colors and shapes.

Some of my favorites:

Inside the theater, they were playing survivors testimonies.

a few quotes of the speakers stood out to me.

"the love between us was great, because we suffered so much together." - a son, speaking of his father.

"sometimes we would laugh, because you had to develop your own support system within you."


Finally, we entered the actual holocaust exhibit, and I nearly cried throughout.
there were some questions on the walls, such as, "how did the nazi regime isolate and dehumanize Jews?"

They isolated them by emphasizing the slight differences between themselves and Jews, and increasing the importance of those differences. they used propaganda to blame their problems on people that they wished to destroy.

"I could have been 23 next july;

I gambled on what mattered most,

the dice were cast. I lost."

-Hannah Szenes, poet turned parachuter