It was a difficult experience of history so painful and so cruel toward the Jewish people. It put a stop to the beauty and vitality of life and gave way to unimaginable evil.

Facing this darkness brought proportion to my life. The best things—the small, simple and ordinary things—are suddenly desirable. I wanted to leave Yad Vashem and see the light of day, the trees, the sky and the sun. The problems I had before were forgotten and became insignificant. Life was turned upside down, it became upsetting, and the desire to vomit accompanied me throughout the visit.

Reality paled beyond the imagination. The Jews experienced rejection, abandonment, panic, fear, hatred and violence. My body trembled at the distorted thoughts of the Nazis who saw the Jews as “subhumans” destined for annihilation. They used them for human experiments, such as putting them in ice water to see how long it would take for them to die. Thus they determined how much time...

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