United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Post 1

"Never Again". Two words are all it takes to define the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's mission. As the years continue to go by, there are less and less Holocaust survivors still alive. Through documentation and preservation, the stories of the participants can be memorialized for many years to come. Along with the Soah Foundation and Yad Vashem in Israel, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has one of the largest archives of personal narratives and eyewitness accounts in the world. As an intern, it is my job to analyze the content from oral interviews given to those who either witnessed the atrocities or were involved themselves and then translate that information from the Russian language into English. My first two projects were to examine a group of accounts given by Latvian and Russian witnesses who had seen the deportation of Jews, had heard the mass executions, or had even seen the massive gravesites. I find it absolutely captivating that even after 70 plus years, there is still so much emotion when talking about the past. One of the interviewees shed tears recalling her father’s murder as though it was fresh in her mind. It makes me come to the realization that some wounds can never heal.  Although emotionally taxing, this project and the projects I will embark on during the semester will be well worth it. By taking these foreign interviews and allowing English speakers to get a glimpse of these experiences, I will play a small but integral part in the mission of “Never Again”.