Yesterday we drove to the Museum district of Houston and visited the Holocaust Museum there. Amid the large but somber groups of high school students, obviously there on a field trip, we slowly made our way around the exhibits. No stranger to World War II history, I knew what to expect and I knew that I would get emotional so I came prepared with tissues. We read the information boards about the Nazi Party's rise to power, Mein Kampf, the Nuremberg Laws, Kristallnacht and the Final Solution as we viewed various artifacts like the Star of David arm band, prison uniforms and denied emigration requests. We went inside one of the train cars that the Jewish people and other "non-desireables" were packed into in order to ship them to the concentration camps and read devastating but inspiring stories of loss and survival.
As though taking a cue from the atmosphere in the building, Russell remained relatively silent the whole time. He was so good and I actually held it together pretty well emotionally until we watched a film where Holocaust survivors who had relocated to Houston after the war told their stories. Most of them ended in "and that was the last time I saw him/her/them/ my baby/my my children/my husband" etc... It was incredibly heart breaking. I looked at Russell and imagined what I would do if someone ripped him away from me. I looked at Ken and imagined what it might feel like to be separated from him for so long and not even know if he was alive. Well, there was no way to hold back the tears after that.
It was a melancholy and solemn experience but definitely one worth having to be reminded of one of the darkest moments in human history in order to appreciate the blessings in my life.
J
P.S. I would have taken more pictures but we weren't allowed cameras inside the museum.
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