The other day we visited two cites: the Memorial to Murdered Jews and the Topography of Terror. Visiting these cites was sobering. Although I had learned about the Holocaust and some of the politics beforehand, I wasn’t prepared for all that was coming my way. The memorials, particularly the information center for the Memorial and the entirety of the topography of terror, are every upfront about what happened, laying out the process from the beginning of the Weimar Republic to the end of the Nazi Regime in 1945. The Topography of Terror also had information on the trials of the top perpetrators of the crimes against humanity that was the Holocaust. The Nazi Regime is a cautionary tale, and I fervently wish I could take certain people voting for a certain politician to this exhibit to see the results of hatred, racism, and extremism.

Walking through the underground center dedicated to the history, testaments and families of the murdered Jews was very sobering. While it’s a given that what happened was a tragedy, walking through this cite gave faces and voices to people that were originally an anonymous piece of horrendous history. The sheer number of the lost-around 6 million-made it very difficult to connect to any of them before I came to this memorial. With each black and white face and stricken letter individuals emerged from the fog, and each time their biography ended with their life I was saddened anew. Even though I knew very few survived, I couldn’t help but retain a spark of hope, and think “maybe, maybe this one made it, please let them make it.” As I left the memorial, the thought stuck with me, that while I couldn’t even partially imagine what they were thinking…there was a chance that that same feeling of hope despite the odds flowed through the hearts of innocent people whose only crime was being the unfortunate target of fear, anger and bigotry.