My visit to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

In honor of the Holocaust victims and survivors  - 70 years after

In 2003 my mother and I traveled to Washington D.C. to visit my mother's friend. Because her friend was going to work all day, we decided to visit the numerous museums that this federal district had to offer. The first museum we went to was the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

I must say that this place is so beautiful... not only because of the minimalist architecture of the building itself , it imitate the look of a concentration camp, but because each room or sector of the museum is so successful in making us imagine that we are in a nazi concentration camps. I know it will never be that way, there is no way to compare being there and being in a museum room but there are tons of images, sounds and videos along with material things that makes you feel that way.

I believe that the things on that museum exude (so to speak) the pain, loneliness and fear of the people who died in those concentration camps. It's a solemn place.

We walked through rooms that exposed documents, letters, and newspapers.There is also a place to remember the people who fought for them and tried to saved them. Other rooms showed videos of the German army, of the Jewish people, the camps, the dead, the children, and all the horror. If you go there you will also get a chance to see the actual uniforms that the Jews and the nazis wore. Personal belongings taken from the Jews are also on display like: shoes, luggage, clothing, toys and more. Other rooms imitated the barracks where the women and men used to sleep. We can see the pictures of them sleeping there and how crowded those places were. The exhibits are impeccable, they not only offer information but they affect you. 

One of the exhibits that made me emotional (again) was a long hallway between 3 floors with very high ceiling that is covered with pictures, it is called “The Tower of Faces” this tower has 1,500 photographs hanging on its walls. This is the collection of Yaffa Sonenson Eliach, a survivor who recollected pictures of where she once lived and its inhabitants before the holocaust; Ejszyszki.

You can see how normal and happy was this community before the nazis arrived and destroyed their lives. This exhibit is a way to give back to them all their memories and make them feel like the community survived despite everything that happened. 

This was my favorite place because after all the darkness and sadness of the museum, comes the light and the life and the love that this picture evokes. You really feel at home and you try to see the smile on their faces to feel better after all you have seen before.

Before entering the exhibits, you will learn about tragic personal stories of people who were on those camps thanks to an identification card that is given to you. I got the identification card of Alice Lok Cahana (artist) and by coincidence we share the same birthday. So that was very special to me.  If you plan to visit this place, remember that you can spent hours and hours in there because there are so many things to see, read and hear. It's an amazing place to learn about history. 

This was my little tribute for all the people who died in the hands of the Nazis, by a bullet, by sickness, by suicide, by hunger or a broken heart at the many concentration camps across Europe. 

ALICE Lok BORN: FEBRUARY 7, 1929

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BUDAPEST, HUNGARY

Alice grew up in a Jewish family in Sarvar, Hungary, near the Austrian border. She had two younger brothers and an older sister. Her father worked for the family's carpet weaving and import/export business and was often away, traveling to their Budapest office. Alice's grandfather was a community leader and president of one of Sarvar's synagogues.

1933-39: I had a very special relationship with my grandfather. I admired him. People knew that they could always come to him for help of any kind. He often invited Jewish orphans to our home for meals. Every Sabbath our home was open to guests who came to study holy texts together. I loved to listen to the wonderful stories that Grandfather told, and he asked me to be his scribe and write those stories down.

1940-44: In April 1944, when I was 15 years old, the Germans invaded Sarvar and a ghetto was set up. Two months later, I was deported to Auschwitz with my mother, sister, and brothers. On arrival I was sent to a camp with children aged 15 and under. I searched all over for my sister Edith, and when I located her I sent a message. Miraculously, Edith switched places with someone in my camp. Every Friday night, the Sabbath, we'd pray where we could assemble secretly--the latrine. Other children joined us for these prayers.

Two days after liberation, Alice's sister was taken to a Red Cross Hospital. Alice never saw her again. After the war, Alice emigrated to the United States and became an artist.

(By: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)

Les adieux à la reine - Farewell, My Queen (2012)

Directed by Benoît Jacquot based on the novel by Chantal Thomas (set a few days before the famous July 14th 1789), this movie is a about the memoirs of the young reader to Marie Antoinette, Agathe-Sidonie Laborde. Although she lives among poor servitude and in precarious conditions, in contrast to the palace of Versailles, Sidonie gets up every morning excited to enter the fantasy world of Versailles and if she is lucky that day, she will see the Queen Marie Antoinette.

The film summarizes the book and omits details and some situations that could have contributed much to the movie. I feel the hour and a half the movie last could have been turned into a two hour movie and still that would not have been enough for me. The story is so interesting, apart from the interest that Marie Antoinette awakens in me ; I would have liked to see more interaction between the queen and Sidonie. The film leaves you with more desire to see them together (that is, interacting more). That was the main story of the movie, but we don’t see much of it.

It must be said that the acting and chemistry between Diane Kruger (Marie Antoinette) and Léa Seydoux (Agathe-Sidonie Laborde) is intense and deadly.

It made my hair stand on end and gave me shivers down my spine. Sidonie is silent about his admiration towards the queen but the moment she enters the queen's room and then sits down to read a book to her, we can feel the queen's sensuality and Sidone's desire for her filling up the room and exploding in our faces. It is a scene full of sensuality.

Sidone is totally captivated when the Queen of France takes care of her when she sees that Sidone has mosquito bites on his arm and she rubs rosewood to soothe her itching. This young girl was sure her majesty was noticing her.

Like in every royal house, Versailles has secrets and gossip. One of the gossips that resonate most is the very loving friendship between the Queen and Yolande Martine Gabrielle Polastron, better known as the Duchess of Polignac. Sidone doesn't want to believe that the rumors are true but we don't know if it's because she is offended by the slanders toward his queen or because she actually feels jealous. In a desperate act to the attention of the Queen, Sidonie lets him know that she will do anything to make her happy, that's when the queen can trust her and says she was captivated by the Duchess of Polignac and although the word love is not used, the movie hints that. The Queen's despair, is so strong that Sidonie needs to satisfy the whim of his queen.

The world of Versaille shakes when a list of  286 aristocrat names are publish ...the french people want their heads to roll. Many Aristocrats are escaping because they feel insecure and even Sidonie was warned by other employees, she must escape but she won’t leave his queen behind, his loyalty is with her. Sadly, in the end things don't go like Sidone's planed and she is the one who save an unexpected person.

Overall, this is a movie that I recommend. What if all of this was true? who knows? but we can always play with reality and fantasy. I wished the movie showed more of the Queen's relationship with the maids and Sidonie. Also, more of her friendship with the Duchess of Polignac. This movie deserved to last at least 2 hours!

SAG Awards Fashion -Best dressed Females

Emma Stone - Dior

 Joanne Froggatt - Honor

Julianna Margulies - Giambattista Valli

Jennifer Aniston - Galliano

Julie Bowen - Georges Hobeika

Keira Knightley - Erdem

Laura Carmichael - Vionnet

Sarah hyland - Vera Wang

¿ How long will you wait ...?

How long will you wait for her/him?

" Siempre hay dignidad en esperar. Porque lo fácil y villano es reemplazarla(lo) (aun así sea una pieza de recambio pasajera), lo cobarde es consolarse en las personas veleidosas que nunca faltan y te ven como un trofeo de guerra. Lo canalla es olvidarla(lo) en un paréntesis indigno, y luego hacer como si nada hubiera pasado."

"There is always dignity in waiting. Because it's easy and villain is to replace (That person) (even if it's a piece of temporary replacement), the coward thing to do is console yourself in the fickle people who are always there and see you as a war trophy. The scoundrel is to forget (her/him) in an unworthy parentheses and then act as if nothing had happened. " 

By: Antonio Tamariz

Hay una parte de nosotros que no vive sino es con ella (él). ¿Por qué la extrañamos tanto? Cuando la besamos, por ejemplo, es como si la mitad de nuestra alma quedara con ella. Entonces al siguiente encuentro uno la besa tan apasionadamente como si tratara de recuperar por su boca la mitad de su alma o como si entregara la otra mitad para no vivir más que en ella, de ella.

Por eso, es una tarea tan ardua separarse por un tiempo de aquella persona a quien se ama. Aguardar su regreso es tarea titánica. Ahora, ¿cuánto uno puede esperar al ser amado?