Thursday, December 27, 2007

The old and the new

Prague was home to one of the largest Jewish populations in Europe. There is a large section of the city that is primarily Jewish. Today we went to this section and did a tour of the old and the new. We visited a museum of the Jewish history in Prague which is connected an old cemetery that dates back to the 13 century of the Jewish community(pictures below). There was also a sinology which was filled with some 80,000 names of the Jewish community of Prague which was shipped to Terezin or Auschwitz, both concentration camps during the second world war, and eradicated. It was beyond belief at the number of names on the wall. It was three whole rooms with names from top to bottom, it really was poignant seeing all people names. It put it in perspective, before I just looked at the holocaust as a horrific event where millions of people lost their life, but seeing all the names just made me realize that these are all humans that had stories, family, and lives that were taken.


Learn from the past and prevent in the future.

Ian






1 comment:

Cynthia said...

Ian, I talked with your mom at the Summit BB game last night, and she sent me to your blog site. It sounds like you are having an incredible experience in Europe. Oregon will never be the same! We've been to Brugge, and loved it. I heard you were there with your mom. Thanks for sharing. Geoffrey says "hi"! Cynthia