On my way into work today, I thought about the Holocaust. The reason for this is that the only DVD I bought out in Miami was Schindler's List - Which is coming out on R2 DVD this Monday. I bought it not only because of the fact that it's a truly brilliant film and told the story about a dark period of history which needed to be told, but also because it made me remember what was the most sombre experience of the whole trip - Going to the Holocaust Memorial.

The Memorial itself was right by the condo, we saw "The big green hand" but didn't really know what it was until one of the neighbours told us. So on the first Sunday night, we decided to go. I had read about it in all the guidebooks that I had, but NOTHING could quite prepare me for what was there.

From the outside, you see the top of the statue which is a cast bronze hand stretched in desperate supplication to the sky (with an imaginary Auschwitz tattoo number), reaching from a cluster of dozens of agonized human figures. Now when you drive past it, you can see how it is in the centre of an island, and you can see from the outside how on the inside, there are black granite slabs with writing on it. I learnt from the guidebooks that the writing were names of victims of the holocaust.

At the beginning of the memorial, there is a bronze sculpture of a mother and her two small children in front of a quote from Anne Frank's Diary: ".. Then in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart". Then the whole history of the holocaust is told on the black granite slabs which lead you to the central corridor leading to the main statue. Now the story of the holocaust is harrowing enough, but there were some points where I thought that it was over "Americanised". They had some pictures from concentration camps there of Jews waiting to be shot standing next to dead bodies of other Jews whom had just been shot and left there. Now I could see for myself how awful it was, I could see how there was an apparent smile on the face of the Nazi soldier - What I didn't need was for it to be pointed out. It got to the point where I actually got angry at the memorial because I resented reading things like "Note how the prisoners are standing next to a pile of dead bodies waiting to be burnt." I thought that was completely unnecessary and it ruined it a bit for me.

However, I was still upset by it all - And the worst was still to come. There was a line at the end of the story of the holocaust that stuck in my mind. It said: "The Nazi's very nearly succeeded in wiping out the Jewish population. The world knew. The world did nothing." And it made me think of how that still happens in present day. People and other countries know of atrocities being committed - yet we are all apparently still content to do nothing about it.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention.. J and Deb wanted to get some flowers to place at the memorial but I said that I wanted to get a candle or something. I don't know what's right for the Jewish faith, but somehow, burning a candle in memory seemed like the right thing to do. At the memorial, we were just looking for somewhere to put them.

So, we make it past the history of the holocaust and we get to the central corridor where there is an audio tape or CD of young children singing Jewish songs. There was a stained glass of the star of David on the top of the dome, and then, you saw down a long, dark and fairly narrow corridor with thin slants of light which were meant to represent the prisoners being transported to the concentration camps. You could see the base of the sculpture where it was all human figures, then you noticed that there was something away from the statue and right in front of the doorway at the end of the corridor and which leads to the main island where the statue is - It is a bronze life-size figure of a small child crying and reaching out it's hand begging for help.

Standing at the doorway, it was disturbing enough to see the small child.. Then I looked around and not only did the full impact of the main statue hit me.. There were similar life size figures of concentration camp prisoners all around the island. All this was whilst there were black granite slabs with names of holocaust victims etched onto them. The walls were high and the island was round to again, show how high the walls were at concentration camps. All on the base of the main sculpture, there were detailed agonised human figures - a father hugging his dead child/wife, a mother reaching out to her baby, 2 lovers hugging each other.. The list goes on. I mentioned how there were also human figures dotted around the sculpture on the ground - One person trying to help another one stand because they are too weak from starvation, children crying.. But by far the most disturbing for me was of 3 human figures which were lying on the floor. It occurred to me that it was supposed to signify how the prisoners had to walk past and over dead bodies in the concentration camps. Given how I had just read about it, I had REAL problems walking past these figures.

After taking some time to regain my composure and just take in the whole thing, we head out along the corridor we came in. Turning left, we start at the name of holocaust victims listed. It was here that I decide to leave my candle. It somehow seems appropriate to commemorate people that way. Reading through the list of names, it's quite striking how there weren't just odd names there.. There were entire FAMILIES listed there. Of course, it was something that I always knew about, but it took seeing a family of nine's name etched on this memorial to really bring home that fact.

Because we got there fairly late in the evening, there weren't many people about. We were told how on most afternoons, there are usually people there whom are survivors of the holocaust and all have stories to tell. There is part of me that kind of wishes that there was someone there to educate me more.

I mentioned how at the beginning of the memorial, there was a sculpture of a mother and her two young children in front of an uplifting quote from Anne Frank. They are there again at the end of the memorial. But this time, all three of them are dead. The Anne Frank quote on the wall behind this statue is: ".. Ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us only to meet the horrible truth and be shattered.."

After that, I had to take 10 mins to pause and reflect on what I had just seen. I was still shaking from having to walk past the three sculptures on the floor and I had to take time to just take in everything. It just brought home the fact that this period of history was something that should never be forgotten, and how lessons should have been learnt - yet it seems at times that we haven't learnt anything at all.

You can see what I am on about at www.holocaustmmb.org