When I found out I was coming here to Israel, my mom and grandma told me that I had an ancestor with a tree dedicated to him at the Yad Vashem holocaust museum here. I didn't research this ancestor until this week and found out that my great grandfather's brother/my great great uncle has an incredible story about helping the Jews in the holocaust. I shared this story with my Jewish professor who teaches our Judaism class and he was really excited about the story and so were my other professors.
Today was the day we went to the holocaust museum in Isreal called Yad Vashem. It was something all of us knew would be an incredible experience but we were all a little nervous about our emotions before we went. I've been to the holocaust museum in Washington D.C. so I knew what to expect but after spending so much time this semester learning about Judaism and being around Jewish people, I knew this experience would be especially profound.
When we got off the buses, the first part we walked through was called the "Righteous Among the Nations" and is a beautiful path through a lot of trees dedicated to those who helped save the Jews during WWII. I knew that one of these trees was dedicated to my ancestor Jan Giliam but I didn't know where to find it because there were too many. My professor had me talk a little about my ancestor's story but I definitely didn't do the story justice because I barely knew the story myself. It was cool but I wanted to find his actual tree and so did two of my professors.
We walked through some gardens and saw some really cool memorials. One that was especially touching was a memorial for all the children killed in the holocaust. We walked through a garden into a dark building with lit up pictures of children who were killed. We kept walking and it got darker and then we entered this room with lots and lots of candles behind glass and I don't know how they did it but there were so many mirrors reflecting the candles that innumerable little lights could be seen in every direction. It was beautiful but sobering knowing that out of all the thousands of lights we could see there wasn't even as many lights as children killed. Throughout seeing this, we listened to names of children and their ages being read. That definitely set a somber mood for the rest of the day.
We were let free to roam the museum ourselves. It was obviously sad but very well done. The thing that touched me the most was videos of the accounts of the survivors telling their stories about the mass killings. I realized today that no matter how much I try to understand this awful atrocity, I will never be able to even believe it was real. We had a holocaust survivor come and talk to us on Wednesday night who survived 9 different Nazi concentration camps during the holocaust- the only one in the world who survived that many and who is still living. It was really awe-inspiring listening to his story and one thing he said that helped me was that he still doesn't even believe it happened and he experienced it, so he doesn't expect us to be able to believe it.
After I got through the museum, my Judaism professor excitedly told me that with the help of the museum staff he was able to locate my great great uncle Giliam's tree! He said it was pretty close so after everyone met up, we all walked over to it. This is the part I don't know how to describe and certainly can't do my emotions justice in writing. Family legacies are something that can deeply move you if you let them. The museum staff gave us a printed version of the story that did it a lot better justice than I could have, so I read it to the class while standing next to the tree. About a third of the way in it struck me how amazing this experience was and I made every effort to fully absorb the moment for everything it was. Here is my great great uncle's story from the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum:
Giliam FAMILY
Rescue Story
Giliam, Jan (1914 - 1968 )
By mid-1942, it became clear to Jan Giliam, a police detective from Haarlem, that the Germans were serious about removing all the Jews from Holland. In July 1942, Mr. J. de Vries, the Jewish owner of a store Jan frequented, received an order from the German authorities to report for labor in the east. Jan urged him and his family to go into hiding. He also offered his home as a temporary way station. Jan’s modest apartment, already inhabited by himself, his wife, and three teenage daughters, was simply too small to shelter Mr. de Vries, his wife, and their five children permanently. Within a few days, Jan managed to arrange permanent hideouts for the fugitive family: some were to remain in Haarlem and one daughter was sent to Jan’s nephew in Friesland. Several months later, the fiancé of one of the de Vries’ daughters, Simcha van Frank, came to Jan, also seeking a place to hide. He stayed with Jan for two nights before relocating to a permanent shelter where he remained until the end of the war. Jan helped many other people in the same way. In February 1943, Jan was betrayed, arrested by the Gestapo, and taken to the Euterpestraat, the SS-headquarters in Amsterdam and then to the Amersfoort internment camp. While there, he succeeded in sending out a warning to the de Vries family and the members of the van Frank family for whom he had also found a safe shelter. Only after he heard that they had received this message and had moved to safety did Jan succumb to torture and admit to having helped Jews. For unknown reasons, he was released. Upon his discharge, he immediately contacted those in hiding to check if they were still safe. He remained in contact with them until the end of the war. Jan provided those in hiding with food and food coupons, as well as being a regular visitor and providing emotional support. Also, as a member of the local police force, he passed on information about imminent razzias. Jan, a devout Christian, knew that during all the time he was involved in illegal activities, he was putting his life and the life of his family in jeopardy. He never received financial compensation for his perilous activities. All the members of the de Vries and van Frank families survived the war and remained in contact with Jan afterwards.
On September 7, 1977, Yad Vashem recognized Jan Giliam as Righteous Among the Nations.
There are hundreds or maybe even thousands of trees like my ancestor's planted on the grounds of this museum and each one of them has a unique and awe-inspiring story like my ancestor's. It renewed my hope in humanity that I was starting to doubt after the heart-wrenching museum experience. It felt incredible being able to share my ancestor's legacy and be the first out of my extended family to see the tree that was planted in his honor. I placed a pebble on a branch to leave a little mark and took a leaf from the tree so I can remember that experience.
This is SO COOL!!! Wow Sarah, what am amazing life experience!!! I so glad that you were able to do this! Thanks for writing and sharing with others; it's a story that needs to be told!!
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