My Trip To Auschwitz-Birkenau 3/26

6 million Jews. The number haunts me every time I hear it. Every time I think about it. But being here is different. There's no way to describe the horror and tragedy that is the Holocaust. You hear stories, you see pictures, and you imagine it. But whatever you imagine it to be, it's a million times worse. Jews were not only killed, but they were starved, beaten, separated from their families, and forced to work. They were either killed immediately, or they had to fight with everything they had to survive another day. Each shred of hope, pride, and dignity was taken away from them. Just like their lives and their food and their families were. Each time I think about it it makes me angry. What type of person would be so mentally unstable that they would want to eliminate and exterminate an entire religion and "race" of people? There is absolutely no excuse for this, and it makes me sick that people don't believe the Holocaust and its horrors. Auschwitz-Birkenau was the main death camp. 2 million Jews alone were killed here. There were between 3000-5000 people killed each and every day. Think about how many people that is. That's practically 3 or 4 times the size of my own high school. This horrible event destroyed families, people, communities, and so much more. Living in Israel for these past two months has given me such a new insight on the past, present, as future of the Jewish people. It makes me so proud to be Jewish. So proud to come from where I come from. And after everything that am Yisrael has been through, we're finally free. Together as a people, we have overcome so much. And today, we have our own state. We have a safe place for every Jew to go. To visit, to live, or to pray to. I think that it is so remarkable how far we've come in such a short time. We are strong people. We will never forget our past, for it has shaped our present and our future.