{"id":952,"date":"2021-02-04T12:13:12","date_gmt":"2021-02-04T12:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniofglos.blog\/chaplaincy\/?p=952"},"modified":"2021-02-04T12:13:12","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T12:13:12","slug":"things-i-didnt-expect-from-a-holocaust-remembrance-memorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.glos.ac.uk\/chaplaincy\/2021\/02\/04\/things-i-didnt-expect-from-a-holocaust-remembrance-memorial\/","title":{"rendered":"Things I didn\u2019t expect from a Holocaust Remembrance memorial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I wasn\u2019t anticipating hearing stories of grandparents and long-lost family members whose experiences, and letters of Holocaust experiences, would make me feel like they could be a mutual friend. A person<\/em> who you just<\/em> missed passing by, instead of a chapter in a history textbook. You wouldn\u2019t expect multiple members of the local Gloucestershire community to have family stories and memories of Holocaust survivors or victims. I thought of my Grandma who passed several years ago and consider things I now wish I could ask her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the 27th<\/sup> of January 2021 I attended an online Holocaust Remembrance Memorial event hosted by the University of Gloucestershire Chaplaincy and Cheltenham Borough Council. After a long day of fussing over the details of my very unextraordinary day I had failed to take a moment to think about what I was about to do. Honestly, it was the final part of my daily to-do list and I was surprised to be left in tears when it was over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we think about the Holocaust we often think about the distance, the progress<\/em> and change that that stands between us and it. That distance makes us feel safe. That kind of thing would never happen to us. It\u2019s a textbook, a documentary, a school trip. It\u2019s your first time watching The Pianist and being brought to tears. I became so aware that the witness accounts of our family members and their stories are slipping away as the years pass by<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite being a big reader since an early age, no poetry read has ever hit me quite as hard as the reading of Elie Wiesel\u2019s Never Shall I Forget<\/em>. No words will haunt me like \u2018Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes. Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


As someone who believes in God, I thought about how much trauma and pain it would take to crush a person\u2019s faith in God?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was shocked at the part of the memorial that talked about anti-Semitism today and the ways it\u2019s overlooked. I was surprised I didn\u2019t know about the anti-Semitic graffiti in Cheltenham. I remembered walking through Cheltenham and seeing \u2018polish scum\u2019<\/em> graffitied on the bridge. Being Polish myself, it stung a little bit, but I brushed it off. I wasn\u2019t prepared for how much a Holocaust Remembrance Day memorial would remind me that racism in a lot of ways, is still so prevalent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first time in this pandemic, an online event felt so real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was written by Alicja Shannon, a Journalism student at UoG who is currently on a part time placement with the Chaplaincy team. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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