Thanksgiving Day

Thursday, November 22 (Thanksgiving)
Today we left with the students after breakfast on a field trip to Yad Vashem – Jerusalem’s memorial to the Holocaust victims. I now have a better idea of all the cruel challenges the Jews had to face while being exterminated: 1) dug their own graves then they were shot as they fell into the graves 2) they were moved to ghettos, then starved 3) they were taken on a death march thru snow 15 miles a day 4) forced to take a train ride to the gas chambers. The Germans, on purpose, were always deceiving the Jews – telling them to take off their clothes so they could take a shower, when really they took them to the gas chambers instead, etc. One man was heard to say he was going to take his violin with him because the Germans loved classical music, and if he played a Bach violin concerto for them, maybe they would let him live!

That evening we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at the BYU Center, with all 80 students, the professors and their wives, and all 4 service couples, followed by a few games with the students.