American Loss after the Holocaust

I thought the title of this lecture was very misleading. I was expecting to hear about the destruction of the Jewish people during the Holocaust in a broad sense. Instead, she focused on the Holocaust on a personal level. I'm not sure I even understood what most of what she talked about had to do with the Holocaust. I enjoyed the stories she told about her ancestors and her "ghosts" and it makes me want to do more research about the stories that are important within my own family. I agree with the speaker that we must understand and view the Holocaust as millions of individual stories instead of purely speaking of the destruction as a whole. I'm not really sure I understood the correlation between learning about our own pasts and understanding the Holocaust. When I visited the Holocaust Museum in Israel as well as Washington D.C., I saw and felt the pain of the people in the various pictures and names on the wall. I'm not completely familiar with my own family's story, but I think I do understand the meaning of "never forget." From this lecture I do want to hear stories about my ancestors and I appreciate her persistance in telling others about our family especially our future families to keep it alive. I thought it was interesting how she said that "as a minority, you must be exceptional to be okay and accepted." I can see how this can be true because if you are not extraordinary, you could be put into a stereotype unless you try your best to break out of it. It is also true that the only stories that you hear about in Jewish Studies or in any religions for that matter are exceptional stories and we should appreciate the ordinary stories as well.