The final day of our tour included a stop at Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, and as indicated previously, I was unable to post due to exceeding the space on one of my platforms, but I have now resolved that issue. Thus, I want to take you back to one of the most mentally and emotionally demanding sites in Israel. However, it is a “must see” in order to begin to understand the magnitude of the atrocities leading up to and including the Holocaust.

Every detail of the museum’s design was carefully thought out and is very purposeful. The exterior is an elongated, triangular building, almost hidden by the trees. It doesn’t appear to be much until you enter. Once inside, the first thing visitors see is a video on the triangular wall, depicting normal Jewish life in Europe. However, as one turns to walk through the exhibits, the floor tilts slightly downward, giving the illusion of going deeper and deeper into despair. Exhibit rooms are on the sides of the pyramid, thus visitors cross from side-to-side, each time getting further and further from normal Jewish life.

Video is allowed in the museum, so I will allow the brief videos to tell the story with only a little commentary for clarity.

(Click on photos to see full size.)

In the video above, you see the length of the triangular museum, and the floor slanting downward into the depths. You also see doorways into side exhibit halls filled with artifacts, testimonial videos, photos and other evidence of atrocity. We begin with the rise of Nazi Germany, the growing antisemitic propaganda, and the deterioration of Jewish life.

Extreme poverty and oppression followed.

Ultimately, Jews were rounded up and taken first to ghettos, where Jewish families lived together, attempting to preserve life. Later, many were jammed in rail cars like sardines and taken to concentration camps or death camps.

The horrors reached levels we likely can never fathom. Ultimately over 6 million Jews were systematically killed in gruesome ways. None worse than the death camps in which all were brought in, forced to strip naked (a severe humiliation to Jewish standards of modesty), packed into a ventless “shower room” where gas, not water, spewed from the faucets and there was no air to breath. From there, their bodies were removed and incinerated in large ovens, thus cremated (also against Jewish tradition and custom). The trains came jammed full of people and left empty, yet no one seemed to question where all those people went.

Finally, British and Russian soldiers were able to defeat Nazi Germany and begin to liberate the Jews. Tattered, torn, and many more on the brink of death, finally a new chance at life…and they took it!

I believe God knew full well what the Jewish people would endure and He gave them a supernatural zeal for life. It seems impossible to keep them down. In fact, they determined to regrow their families, intending for each new birth to be a poke in the eye of those who tried to destroy them!

From the depths, they arose, and the museum is built to reflect that. Following the exhibit on liberation, the floor begins to slant upward, rising from the ash heap!

The room below is the Hall of Names where every known Holocaust victim has a file of life’s details, pictures, and anything else providing information about that person. The term “Yad Vashem” means “hand” or “memorial,” and “name.” In Isaiah 56:5, God promises to give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. The mission of Yad Vashem is to give those victims a name and a memorial so they are never forgotten. We see that in the Hall of Names.

Finally, as a tribute to the zeal for life, the museum is designed so that guests are not left in the depths of despair, but are shown life as they exit the doors. There, they find the tip of the triangle spread, and the balcony overlooking the beautiful hillsides of Jerusalem. There is light and there is life! God’s promises to them are everlasting, and His faithfulness is depicted in the museum’s exit.

This complex is far more than just the museum. There are other features and exhibits throughout the property including a train car which actually carried Jews to slaughter, a village of contemplation, Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations (trees planted in honor of non-Jews, such as Corrie ten Boom, Osker Schindler, and the family who sheltered Anne Frank, who risked their lives to save Jewish people), an education center and large archive, and a gut-wrenching children’s memorial (to the 1.5 million Jewish children who perished).

While at Yad Vashem, we also met with a Holocaust survivor. I have met Rena Quint before,, and her story is absolutely astounding. Her entire family was killed in the Holocaust, so “mothers” took her in. She was only 3 when the Nazi’s came for her family. They lived for a while in the ghetto before being summoned to board a train to a death camp. Someone persuaded her mother to leave the child there. Rena was known by many names, as she wasn’t old enough to know her own name or her birthday. Thus, she was taken in by a “mother” who later perished, and then by another and another. Finally, she was taken to the US on a fake passport, grew up, eventually married and made Aliyah to Israel. Today, you will not find a happier, more grateful person than Rena! “I’m one of the lucky ones,” she would say. She has never allowed hardship to destroy her. Here is a very short clip of our time with her, but if you are interested in her story, you can purchase her book, A Daughter of Many Mothers: Her horrific childhood an wonderful life.

I know this is a lot to take in…and it is only a tiny percentage of what is seen at the museum. But it is important for us to know exactly what took place, and the depth of depravity exhibited. Why? Because we see the same thing happening today as what happened prior to the Holocaust. There are demonic regimes (including in the US) that want to wipe the Jews from the face of the earth, and from history. As the world grows more and more antisemitic, we will discover those who are obedient to stand with them.

Again, it does not mean we agree with everything the Israeli government does. What it means is that we stand with the people of Israel and the promises God made to them, such as to give them their own land, to make them a blessing to all nations, to give them a new heart, and to be their God! Those promises are everlasting!

Be encouraged, believers! God is not done with His people, and He will fulfill His promises. The world may spin out of control, but our mighty God will always be on the throne! Dry bones rising from the Holocaust, exactly as Ezekiel 37 prophesied, is proof of that!

PS: This concludes tour updates, but you are welcome to follow along as we continue to love the Jewish people and their Messiah! We’ll also put current events (particularly as they pertain to Israel) in light of Scripture, and continually reenforce our Biblical mandate to stand with Israel! Blessings to those who followed our tours. May you be abundantly blessed!

***Observations and tour updates appearing here are my own and do not reflect the positions of any other organization or ministry. Though employed by ONE FOR ISRAEL I am not an authorized spokesperson on behalf of the ministry.