Fallen, caught and taught

I visited the Jewish Museum in Berlin

Exploring Holocaust, Exile and Continuity

But what really stopped me in my tracks was “Fallen Leaves”

10,000 plus metal discs in the shape of faces

Littered on the ground

The thought of walking on them

Made me sob

Such brutality

Such a waste of human lives

I was crying so hard I couldn’t move

But I was caught by my darling

As she said words I needed to hear

“We need to live and love for them”

We need to walk on because of their humanity

Upon reflection my tears should have been

Not just for the lost humanity of the victims,

But also the lost humanity of the perpetrators.

Are we learning the lesson of our shared humanity?