A Picture Is Worth A Million Words.

After reading Projected Memories by Marianne Hirsch, I realsize that pictures weigh more heavily than mere words. There is a saying, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt", this stresses the point that the verbal, and written stories of many personal accounts of individuals who experienced the Holocaust somehow delivers less of the pain, and hardships these people endured, but the sight of a picture of an individual during this time would speak volumes. Today, many of us have prior knowledge of the Holocaust story, but when we come across a photo of someone who experienced this cruel act, the image allows our imagination, and emotions to run wild. Many of the photographs featured in this article seem to have a common theme flowing through, they all include pictures of children. When one looks at these children you can visualize the difficulties they encountered, by the way they were dressed, by their bittersweet smiles, and this leads us to think about the struggles their parents had to put up with inorder to maintain their well-being. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a million words. Then, this pushes me to ask the questions, "why do these picture surface?", "why would anyone want to see such horrible, difficult times?","by showing these pictures to the second generation, does it help in their understanding, or does it intensify the situation?"
Well, this is where Hirsch goes on to explore the notion of Postmemory is described as "the relationship of children of surviviors of cultural or collective trauma to the experiences of their parents, experiences that they 'remember' only as the stories and images with which they grew up, but are so powerful, so monumental, as to constitute memories in their own right"(267). From this quote, we see that the second generation Jews do not fully understand the horiffic event of the Holocaust, and the dangers their ancestors faced at that time. This is the exact experience Artie from the last reading, Maus encountered, he retold the story of his father's Holocaust experience, as a form of closure for himself. Above all, pictures, comic sketches, photographs, stories, and written volumes all forms in which light is being shed on the horrendous, and unforgettable time of the Holocaust. An attempt for some individuals to get closure, for some to relive the experience, and for some a way to connect to someone or something, and feel like you belong, and less of an outsider in society.