creative jewish mom

Holocaust Rememberance: Jewish Murder In The Ukrainian Town Of Bratslav

 

I am reposting this from 2018, and as always, simply no words....

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day, Yom HaShoah, so I thought I'd mention some of the tragedies of the Holocaust that occurred in one of my very favorite spots, Bratslav, Ukraine. Our family was very fortunate to have the opportunity to spend the Passover holidays in Uman, Ukraine this year (my first time ever not at home) and despite quite cold winter weather and main roads in the countryside that are full of deep potholes, we rented a van and a driver and made the trek to Bratslav (one of those places in the world where time seems to have mostly just stood still) with the primary intention of visiting the gravesite of the very great Rabbi Nosson Sternhartz (referred to as "Reb Nosson" or "Rebbi Natan" ) the primary student of Rebbi Nachman of Breslev.

If one takes a moment to consider Jewish History, and in this case Eastern European Jewish history, where there were Jews there was ongoing fear, tragedy and senseless murder in great numbers even long before the Holocaust. I'll admit that I didn't even know about the presence of the Nazis in Bratslav until I started doing some research to add extra meaning to my photos, and now I feel downright foolish for having been there just last week, without even giving it a thought. Sigh.

Theresienstadt Nazi Ghetto In The Czech Republic

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, and once again we are reminded to never forget the tragedies of the Holocaust. We are reminded to fight for truth at every turn, and to do acts of kindness in the names of those 6 mlllion innocent Jews who perished at the hands of evil.

In 2019 I had the chance to visit the Jewish ghetto of Theresienstadt, located just an hour's drive from Prague. There are several museums and a tour by foot of the entire town, and it is a very solemn experience, but one that is of course highly recommended.

Theresienstadt Ghetto was established in November 1941by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, located in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (a German-occupied region of Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served two main purposes: it was simultaneously a waystation to the extermination camps, and a "retirement settlement" for elderly and prominent Jews to mislead their communities about the Final Solution. Its conditions were deliberately engineered to hasten the death of its prisoners.

The ghetto was established by the transportation of Czech Jews in November 1941. The first German and Austrian Jews arrived in June 1942; Dutch and Danish Jews came at the beginning in 1943, and prisoners of a wide variety of nationalities were sent to Theresienstadt in the last months of the war. About 33,000 people died at Theresienstadt, mostly from malnutrition and disease. More than 88,000 people were held there for months or years before being deported to extermination camps and other killing sites.

Mass Holocaust Gravesites In Bratslav, Ukraine

 

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day, Yom HaShoah, so I thought I'd mention some of the tragedies of the Holocaust that occurred in one of my very favorite spots, Bratslav, Ukraine. Our family was very fortunate to have the opportunity to spend the Passover holidays in Uman, Ukraine this year (my first time ever not at home) and despite quite cold winter weather and main roads in the countryside that are full of deep potholes, we rented a van and a driver and made the trek to Bratslav (one of those places in the world where time seems to have mostly just stood still) with the primary intention of visiting the gravesite of the very great Rabbi Nosson Sternhartz (referred to as "Reb Nosson" or "Rebbi Natan" ) the primary student of Rebbi Nachman of Breslev.

If one takes a moment to consider Jewish History, and in this case Eastern European Jewish history, where there were Jews there was ongoing fear, tragedy and senseless murder in great numbers even long before the Holocaust. I'll admit that I didn't even know about the presence of the Nazis in Bratslav until I started doing some research to add extra meaning to my photos, and now I feel downright foolish for having been there just last week, without even giving it a thought. Sigh.

Why Is The Butterfly A Symbol Of The Holocaust?

The butterfly has become a symbol for the 1.5 million children murdered in the Holocaust and for Holocaust Education, and I did a little research to find the source. What I was truly stunned to discover is that there are three separate sources in which concentration camp victims used the butterfly in their art and poetry. A connection that I haven't seen written anywhere, but may or may not have been in the minds of the artists, at least in the painting above, is that the yellow butterfly can be likened to the yellow Jewish star that Jews were forced to wear on their clothing.......a star however that is not about limitations but rather that takes flight and lives on forever, in stark contrast to the goals of Nazi Germany and their desire to exterminate the Jewish people.

Keep reading for some very moving information about butterflies and the Holocaust.....

Holocaust Education Project: Labels Do Not Define Us

After a sad day thinking about the Holocaust, and doing a little research as well, I had the idea that one could make a project in which yellow Jewish stars become butterflies, as the butterfly is a symbol that has and is being used to represent the Holocaust and in one case specifially children who perished in the Holocaust. So I cut up a bunch of yellow Jewish stars, only the butterfly idea didn't really become anything, so I decided to take my own advice and do a collage with the stars. As I was making this little collage, an abstract conceptual piece of sorts, I started to reailze that how I chose to make the piece could indeed represent so many aspecits of the Holocaust, and that abstract art can be a great medium for discussing heavy concepts, especially with somewhat older children.

So thus was born my Holocaust Education Project: Labels Do Not Define Us. Because education about the Holocaust should state the facts, but at the end of the day shouldn't just be a historic lesson, but rather a lesson in how to combat the evils of human natur, and to dispell hatred from this earth of ours. Keep reading for some insight regarding this project, and how to do it with a group of kids, or even just yourself as I did in my kitchen this afternoon.

A Somber Collage Of Jewish Stars For Holocaust Remembrance Day

Photo credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom HaShoah, here in Israel. I realized today that on this day I generally post a photo, which is a message of sorts, but not really the kind of message that is my forte, namely education thought crafting and creativity. So today, as I personally remember the victims of the Holocaust, which certainly did include relatives of mine who did not flee Europe in the early 1900s as did the families of my grandparents on both sides, I am going to make a small attempt to present some ideas for craft projects that might be appropriate today, or any time really when educating children about the Holocaust.

A collage of Jewish stars for Holocaust remembrance day is a simple yet compelling image that can certainly be a powerful education tool. I do not know whether the above image is actually an art piece, or taken from a Jewish museum, nonetheless, we can certainly use it as inspiration for our own projects. Okay, lets get started: