Following a report in Israel Hayom's Hebrew edition this week, the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum on Wednesday removed the poem "Sepia" – which some visitors interpreted as drawing an unfair parallel between Israel and Nazi Germany – from its exhibition "Flashes of Memory – Photography during the Holocaust."
The poem, penned by Professor Karen Alkalay-Gut, was on display in Hebrew and English. It drew criticism for allegedly hinting that Israel is an oppressor of Palestinians in a way that is similar to Germany's oppression of the Jews.
"A number of visitors made us aware that the poem 'Sepia' could be interpreted as intending to make a political statement," the museum said in a statement.
"As this, of course, was not the intention, we decided to remove the poem from the temporary exhibit. We are sorry things were understood differently and wish to emphasize that as a principle Yad Vashem objects to politicizing the memory of the Holocaust," the statement said.
The poem is as follows:
No matter how much we enlarge it,
that photograph snapped by a German soldier
of my grandmother in Lida, 1916,
remains perfectly clear. Her eyes
register her cold measure
of the soldier who could decide
to shoot her instead of her
picture if that
was his hobby
instead of photography.
This is what war
is like – I taste her fear
even though I'm seeing her
now from the eyes
of the oppressor.
And I know the shame of both.
Alkalay-Gut, professor emeritus of English at Tel Aviv University, later apologized. "I did not mean to offend, and I ask forgiveness if I hurt someone," she told Israel Hayom, adding that the poem was not intended as a political statement, though it was possible to read it as such.
"It's a personal poem, I write from the heart, and it's not a political poem, despite the fact that there are many ways to read a poem – and it could be read in such a way," she explained.
"If this poem is hurtful to someone, then it should be removed from the exhibit. I did not mean to offend anyone, heaven forbid. I lost all my family in the Holocaust, and if it offends someone then I have no right to say something else," she said.
"I think Yad Vashem needs to handle the matter, and if it appears to someone as political and insensitive – the poem must be removed from the exhibit," she reiterated. "I apologize and ask forgiveness if it hurt someone. I very much want to offer them another poem that maybe will suit them more."
"I think it is indeed possible to read the poem without a political lens," she concluded.
