In a week that's dedicated to remembrance, I recall a recent trip to Jerusalem where a visit to Yad Vashem, a museum on the Holocaust, struck a particular nerve.

Yad Vashem left little to the imagination.

As a visitor, there was no escaping the horror of what happened.

But the hillside setting, in gardens which honoured those who helped Jews escape, and so survive, meant I left with a completely different feeling from what I’d expected – I found myself looking to the future rather than overwhelmed by the past.

The museum, built in the 1950s, is the leading Holocaust research and education centre in the world.

Children have to be 10 to be admitted. If you think your kids are up to it, it’s definitely worth a visit.

The building itself is triangular in shape with a glass roof that sends a shaft of light onto a darkened floor.

You pass in and out of this light as you cross the main corridor that links one room with the next.

I was told the triangle represented a scar – the permanent pain of the Holocaust.

The ray of light was a reminder that the annihilation took place, not in hidden corners, but in broad daylight.

Surprisingly, it was the simplest of exhibits that shocked the most.

Among them was a child’s 20th century board game called Out with the Jews.

The aim was to collect as many Jewish figurines as you could and send them to a square marked Out of Palestine.

Even more disturbing was an account of how, in 1942, the Nazis forced the mayor of Lodz ghetto in Poland to stand in front of families and demand they surrendered 3,000 children to be killed every day, for eight days.

If parents refused to comply, soldiers said they would seize the children anyway.

The account of the mayor’s appeal is chilling.

“I come to you,” he said, “like a bandit – to take what you treasure most in your hearts.”

The museum’s final room was The Hall of Names, entered via a narrow passageway. The rotunda was surrounded with shelves filled with files. Each contained personal details and information of the Jews who were murdered.

From there, a brightly-lit corridor led to the exit, where a glass door opened onto a terrace overlooking the city.

The panoramic view and bright sunshine seemed to highlight a sense of relief that the horror of the Holocaust museum was over.

I walked, in silence, downhill, to the museum’s garden of remembrance.

“Remember these were real people, not just names,” I heard a guide urge school children who had gathered beneath the trees.

“These were men and women who loved, laughed and before they were incarcerated, lived very ordinary lives.

“Let’s honour them today, by sharing the values they held dear with others.”

Taken out of context, the plea sounded a touch melodramatic.

Said against a backdrop of four million murders, it didn’t seem too much to ask.

ESSENTIALS

The Holocaust History Museum & Yad Vashem: yadvashem.org Entrance is free

For further information about Israel visit thinkisrael.com

El Al offer flights from London to Tel Aviv from £360 per person. elal.uk

Stay at: David Citadel Hotel Jerusalem. Rooms from £370 per night. thedavidcitadel.com