It was with some trepidation that I braced myself for this visit. I had heard the building and museum were impressive but a museum addressing the Holocaust (Shoah) is never going to be easy, nor should it be.

The Holocaust History Museum is only one part of the enormous Yad Vashem complex which is a large tract of land which contains a number of large memorials to various aspects of the Holocaust as well as an education and research centres and an astoundingly poor cafe. I spent my time in the Museum and temporary exhibition spaces.

There was something about all the memorials at Yad Vashem that made me feel uncomfortable. I’m not sure if it was the overt notices about who had donated money to them or something which gave them political overtones and made them feel way too nationalistic. The fact that there were so many also somehow diminished them all. Something odd about that expectation that you would walk around and summon an appropriate feeling for each one. But on the other hand can one memorial satisfactorily do justice to the horror and mind-bending scope of the Holocaust?

The overall experience of the museum was overwhelming as you would expect. There really was way too much information to even hope to take in. Lots of text, lots of images but also lots of video including interviews with survivors. This created the situation where you skipped over bits which made you feel uncomfortable as visitor.

It was also very strange to be in the section about the death camps surrounded by Israeli teenagers, restless after being guided through the many earlier galleries. I wondered how many times these kids had already been taught about the holocaust.

In the end it was the ‘Hall of Names‘ which was the most powerful part of the museum. A large darkened room with an enormous inverted cone lined with names and faces of those killed. When you look down you see a reflective ‘pool’. Surrounding all this are archive boxes with further names of victims of the Holocaust. There certainly does seem to be an evolving ‘type’ for these kinds of museums. Parts were certainly reminiscent of the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington and the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders in Nanjing, China.

Visited: 5 February 2018

Looking down the barrel View along central corridor of the museum. Galleries come off the corridor which you cross cross as you make you way through exhibition.

Recreated room A space with displays showing the integrated life of Jews in Germany set up like a lounge room.

Display of valuables stolen from Jewish homes and synagogues Silverware but also stain glass windows were stolen. This display of them sorted in boxes but jumbled together was very striking and really hit home what had been lost in both spiritual and financial terms.

Mass produced ‘Jewish stars’ There were several versions of these ‘Jewish stars’ on display. Such a powerful symbol.

Handmade monopoly game using places in the Terezin ghetto There were a couple of other board games at Yad Va’Shem aside from this one. There was also a board game that involved collecting Jews and expelling them. It made me think of the 1914 ‘White Australia Game’ held by the National Archives of Australia (NAA: A1336, 3368). Board games used to normalise the political.

Walking towards a sunny view? While there were plenty of spaces to sit and reflect at the end of the exhibition, I was surprised that there were no warnings for visitors entering the exhibition about its content and imagery. There also didn’t seem to be any information offering people who might struggle with the content any support.

‘Flashes of Memory: Photography during the Holocaust’ I was less annoyed that I wasn’t allowed to take photographs in this exhibition than the fact that there was no sign saying that I couldn’t. Instead a grumpy guard grouches at me about it. The exhibition itself was disappointing as well – too much content, not enough interesting interpretation and an odd layout which was trying to get visitors to take a strange looping path through the exhibition. Started with an unnecessary long and detailed ‘history of photography’ timeline.