ir tiny apartment bolthole during the war, and was responsible for the safe keeping of Anne's famous diary.Fourteen years ago, I remember going to the Anne Frank Museum. At the time I was on holiday with a previous partner, which was a bit of a disaster,( I won't go into details), suffice to say this one day I was left to my own devices to do what I wanted.
The museum is tiny and has a tendency of being quite overcrowded with visitors, but I was lucky as I went in the early morning and during a snow storm, so the place was virtually deserted.I clambered up the steep wooden staircases and up into those bleak little back rooms almost alone, and for the briefest of moments,I could feel a huge sense of sadness at what had transpired within the Frank and Van Daan families. It was a sobering and unforgettable experience.
A year or so later I visited the concentration camp Theresienstadt in the Czech Republic and on a quiet sunny afternoon, I remember experiencing a similar feeling of awe and overwhelming sadness. I was following a Jewish family around the "show village" that made up the original camp, when quite suddenly the oldest member of the family, a small elderly man, burst into loud sobbing and wailing. He was slapping the door of a shop and shouting something in Yiddish, and the more distressed he became the more helpless and upset his family looked. It was an awful private moment to have witnessed, and one that brought out the reality of the holocaust to me, much more than any exhibition could ever have done.
I remember catching the eye of what I presumed to be this man's daughter and tried to flash her one of those sympathetic half smiles that is supposed to convey support and sympathy, she returned a thin lipped smile and nod and I hurried on eager to leave them in privacy
Reading about Miep Gies today, brought these memories flooding back
God rest her soul. I was on a trip to Africa once and had several hours layover in Amsterdam. The lot of us were going to visit the museum there, but we were told we wouldn't make it back in time for our flight. I later found out that another group I knew, traveling to Russia, I believe had less time than us and went. I regret that one.
ReplyDelete~Randy
when we visited Washington DC, I just couldn't bring myself to visit the Holocaust Museum. That reflects poorly on me, but that period is so emotionally moving for me. If I'd witnessed that poor man sobbing, I would have just melted.
ReplyDeletethat's so interesting, I didn't know that. Thanks for posting it.
ReplyDeleteGill in Canada
It is important that the Holocaust not be forgotten. Since most of the survivors and liberators have died it is most important that their story continue to be told. A horror on earth that should never happen again. May God hold Miep Gies in his hand. Rest in peace brave lady.
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