Remembering year after year
Posted: Monday, April 16, 2007 6:07 PM
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Tel Aviv, Israel
By Paul Goldman, NBC News Producer
Today is the Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel, and I thought to myself that this is the right time.
The right time to introduce my eight-year-old daughter to the atrocities that took place just over 60 years ago. But how do you tell a little girl about Hitler’s systematic killing machine? About shooting men, women and children in the back, starving families to death, and putting them into gas chambers.
The real problem I faced was how to get her attention away from watching Dora on T.V. to a serious matter like this. Of course the way to do it was to get the backing of the educational system, which kicks into full action when memorial dates like the Holocaust come up.
Last night, just before our bedtime story ritual, my daughter and I sat together and I started very coldly telling her what I know and had learned over the years. I didn’t try to make any of the Holocaust accounts sound "nice," I was blunt and very serious and just hoped she would have a good night’s sleep. There were no questions on the matter that night.
This morning after what looked like a very good night’s sleep, my daughter put on her mandatory white ceremony blouse and we walked to her school. The Holocaust memorial ceremony was simple, and emotional.
The kids memorized by heart personal Holocaust accounts and sang the usual sad songs. At 10 a.m. we all stood up, just like the rest of the country, for a two-minute siren. I looked at the faces of all the young children, trying to figure out what were they thinking. What from all of these horrors will stay with them?
From my own experience the Holocaust accounts do filter in, slowly, slowly, year by year, siren by siren.
