Yad Vashem — Attraction in Jerusalem

The design and layout of the museum is excellent. They contribute to understanding the events leading up to the Holocaust. I didn't expect it to be there but the museum included a lit of detail regarding Hitler and the events in his life that lead him to being the dictator he was. The museum left no stone unturned. They went into detail about the German people having to have a specific color of hair and eyes to be considered accepted. They also went into detail about the events and pogroms before and during World War II. There interviews with survivors of the Holocaust through out the exhibit. The interviews ranged from living under oppressive laws to fleeing the Nazis to surviving the death camps. There's only one piece of carpet in the entire place and that is in the area where they are showing a pieced together film of what life for the Jewish community was before the war. The concrete floors in the remainder of the the museum is not an accident. They're to drive home the point of how hard life was for the Jewish community in Germany and then throughout Europe. The children's exhibit is a stand alone exhibit. Walking into the exhibit, you see different heights of rock pillars to represent the various ages of children killed. The exhibit itself goes into a building that is quite dark showing pictures of children that were killed. The exhibit winds around a large mirrored area that have candles within it do it looks infinite. The exhibit states children's names in Yiddish, English and Hebrew. It continues to states the children's age and when they went into the death camp. Incredible! Overall I recommend visiting this museum, just be prepared to spend a great deal of time there so you can hear the testimonies of the people involved. Also take with you tissues and a very good pair of...

This is awe inspiring. It's very well done and beautifully designed, but so incredibly sad. On a recent trip to Jerusalem, I went with my 25 year old daughter, and we cried all the way round. It's a shattering experience, and even though you know what happened to the Jewish people during the second world war, nothing prepared you for Yad Vashem. Everyone should go there. The staff are so nice, and all speak English. We went by public transport, which is really easy and cheap, but it's a bit of a walk to the site, so if you have trouble walking, you might want to get one of the buses. We enjoyed the walk, there are lots of trees and a great view of the city. I can't praise this place highly enough, it's incredibly sobering and humbling. We didn't go and see the cattle truck - it's one of the actual ones that was used to take the poor, poor people to the camps - we were so emotionally drained by then that we just couldn't, but we saw everything else. I recommend it, it's tough, but it is also uplifting, when you see what some people did to try to help the poor Jewish people. There's a whole display dedicated to Denmark - the Danes were absolutely wonderful during the war - despite being occupied by the Germans, they managed to get almost all the Jewish population away to neutral Sweden. What an inspiration. I would urge people to visit; what happened should never be forgotten. God bless Israel and keep her safe. The song by Paul Simon, Silent Eyes, was playing in my head as we approached, but once we got inside, it was too emotional and harrowing to do anything except look at the exhibits and read all the...

If you go there don't plan anything after. You can go by city train to last station. After Mt Herzl. Follow the sign to Yad Vashem. On the right is a busstop, just before you walk down the hill. A shuttle comes quite often and can bring you down for free. Or take a ~8minute walk. In the main building on your left are going stairs down to food courners, restroom and the place where you leave your bags. Up again. Don't forget the children memorial. It is sad but a very powerful memorial site. Pass the trees of the righteous of the nation. If you enter the building you cross a bridge. Symbolic it means that people entered from a normal life in a world we can't describe with words. A movie shows life of Jews before the Shoa. You enter the hallway. Grey walls falling in above you. It is going down. Exactly what happened. The world falls apart above! It is like a grave. In zigzag are we going now from worth to more worth. But in the end we find people who helped. It goes up again towards this big opening. And than sudden we look in this open landscape. Houses, forest, ...live starts again, hope......many more to see and learn! They have also headphones to borrow. And it is maybe not polite. But they have great guides. Ask if you can tag along. They tell a lot of stories and it becomes like...