Each of these name plates commemorates a Jewish citizen of Frankfurt, murdered during the holocaust.  There are over 12,000 names.

This Holocaust memorial wall is adjacent to Frankfurt’s Jewish museum.  The main synagogue of the Jewish ghetto used to stand here, before it was burned in Kristallnacht.

The birthday of each victim is recorded along with the date and location of his or her death, which was mostly in a concentration camp.

It is a Jewish tradition to leave a small stone on a grave.

Anne Frank, once a citizen of Frankfurt before her family fled to Amsterdam, is one of the 12,000.

Today, January 27, is Holocaust Remembrance Day.  Today we remember the 6 million Jews, gypsies, people with physical and mental disabilities and gays that were systematically murdered by the Nazi regime.

Throughout Germany we have encountered Holocaust memorials.  Like this memorial in Frankfurt, these public and centrally located tributes acknowledge the shocking and incomprehensible human loss brought on by genocide.  While a few memorials in other countries have felt a bit self-righteous and self-serving, Germany has an unflinching approach—-the only acceptable approach really—-of accepting responsibility for these horrific crimes.

We’ll never recover these stolen lives.  What we can do is remember the lost ones.  What I can do, what you can do, is remember how this happened, with a mass political brainwashing, with the collaboration of fanatical leaders and regular citizens.   We can constantly be on guard against religious and racial scapegoating.  We can honor the dignity and potential of each human life.  We can not let this happen again.

How we got to Frankfurt:  train from Bamberg.

Where we slept: Hotel Excelsior.  Price: €77 for a double.  Recommended: yes.