Holacaust Museum
 

Just returned from a D.C. vacation. We visited The Holacaust museum. It was sad and depressing. My question is why it is on The Mall in our Capitol when the Holocaust happened in Europe to Europeans?

Hello Jim, although I have never visited the Holacaust Museum I always assumed it is sad and depressing. The history of the Holacacaust is more then sad and depressing. It goes beyond what any normal persons mind could ever imagine IMO.

I am not speaking as an expert but I always assumed that we have this museum
here in the US so that hopefully we will never forget this terrible happening.

My 8th grade grandson recently had a lady who had been a holacaust victim come to his school to talk to the children. I know some people do not think this is appropriate but personally our family does.

I am sure some other poster can give you a better explination of this museum then I did.

The United States Holocaust Museum was mandated by Congress to educate Americans about the history of the Holocaust and to commemorate its victims ..
LoveItaly is right, it is much more than just sad and depressing.
Why did you go? Are you interested in the Holocaust?
Perhaps you might like to do a bit of reading up on the Holocaust and maybe you could find some answers.

Much to the surprise of many folks, the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans is designated by Congress as "America's World War II museum." Sometimes, cities far from the action have some cultural or historical significance that we may not know about or perhaps they were just the first ones to put up the money for it. In any case, I'm very glad the U.S. has the Holocaust Museum in D.C. I think it's a fantastic museum. If it wasn't "sad and depressing" then it wouldn't be doing its job, now would it?

Jim, I'm surprised you would ask. Every American should not only be educated about what happened to thesem(millions of) victims, but also be made to remember, so that this kind of evil never, ever, ever is allowed to happen again.

My question is why it is on The Mall in our Capitol when the Holocaust happened in Europe to Europeans?


Well, Jim, I think a bit more globally than that statement. It happened to everyone. Eugenics was supported by Theodore Roosevelt, Churchill and Oliver Wendell Holmes. Research into eugenics was funded by the Carnegie Foundation. Eugenics promotes the idea that the best humans weren't breeding as quickly as the inferior humans. The Germans just took the theory and ran with it.

Maybe the Mall isn't a bad place for this after all. Where SHOULD it go? If one is to approach the Mall with reverence and a respect for history, then the museum is in the right spot.

Gee, I suppose if I look really hard I can find something about eugenics supporters in tonight's paper.

Just to be clear: The Holocaust was about the Nazi's breeding the Aryan race. Blue eyed blondes. Jews did not fit the profile. Neither did gays, Poles, Russians, Communists, Socialists, or the handicapped. Don't forget religious or political dissidents.

Speaking for myself, I fit into at least one of those categories--and I'm of German descent with blue eyes.

So endeth my sermon. Geesh.

" They came for the Jews and I did not speak up because I wasn't Jewish".... It happened to all of us and continues to happen in various forms.

The United States was involved in liberating the camps. In addition, many of the survivors who were displaced persons after the war are now United States citizens.

May I make a comment (I have raised my hand).

Reading through these post the thought struck me that maybe Jim did not know what to expect and was consequently quite surprised and then of course depressed.

I have no idea what age Jim is but I wouldn't be surpised if he is rather young. If he did not know what to expect perhaps the blame could be put at the feet of our school system.

When I was in school we never had one hour of discussion regarding anything regarding WWII. I was just fortunate that I lived in a home that was filled with books, was taken to the library every week and current events and history was discussed at the dinner table. Plus had lots of relatives that fought in WWII (plus all the other wars we have been involved in) so naturally there was a lot of discussions.

I have to say that evidently my 8th grade grandson had no awareness of the Holocaust. Why? I suppose no one thought he was old enough to hear the barbaric details. But the school evidently felt that the students were at the age to learn about mans inhumanity to man and so brought in this lovely older lady who shared her experiences with the students. And she evidently did not whitewash anything. So now my grandson has had lots of questions, plus comments, regarding this terrible time in the worlds history.

I, as a young girl, saw the newsreels before the Saturday afternoon movies at our local moviehouse. I still to this day remember sitting there horrified with the visual pictures of the skeletons, the survivors who were skin and bone, the whole dreadful scenes.

To this day I cannot get the images out of my mind. Am I sorry I saw this at a young age. Not at all. I would be sorrier if I had been sheltered from the truth.

I have also been priviledged to have personally know survivors. How anyone could live what these dear people lived through goes past my comprehension.

Jim, I am glad you posted your question here. Perhaps this will help you understand some of the history of the world. And I can understand your sadness and depression, especially if you did not know in advance what to expect. Actually I would imagine you were horrified.

Unfortunatly I am not sure our world has learned very much from past events.

Take good care, and if you are interested learning more about the events that brought on WWII your local library could help you find some good books.

LoveItaly - I, too, did not receive any education about WWII and the Holocaust in school. I went to college in Phila. and learned about the Holocaust when friends and I went to see Sophie's Choice. I was stunned that I did know more about this. One of my friends was Jewish and she was equally surprised. She grew up on Long Island, where there is a much larger Jewish population than where I grew up. (I think the Jewish population where I grew up was about 1%). Apparently my school thought the only worthwhile historical US events were the Revolutionary War and the Civil War b/c that's all we ever studied.

To make this more travel related, once we started visiting the western US, I started reading a lot about western US history. Boy, there were a lot of things we didn't learn about that, either. Like how the Native American Indians were REALLY treated.

I get depressed sometimes, especially with recent global occurances. It does not seem like mankind learns that much from past evil and past mistakes.

Gee, Jim, I guess you think they should get rid of all the Christian churches in Washington D.C., and everywhere else for that matter, right?
After all Jesus Christ never lived in the US! Why do they have churches here?

I too did not know much about the holocaust from school. I grew up in a military family though so learned bits and pieces along the way. A couple years ago we took our children to France, and part of that trip was spent in Caen at the Peace Memorial and at Omaha Beach and American Cemetary. The kids were young, but very interested in what they saw. They still remember a lot from that visit. Both kids have commented to us that they are glad we included this in our travels. I had no doubt that visiting places such as these would be quite educational.

Let's give Jim a break, please. LoveItaly, I was quite impressed with your post - truly.

LoveItaly,

Unfortunately I don't believe Jim is young at all. Here's a recent post of his on another unrealated thead.

Author: Jim
Date: 02/25/2005, 09:54 am

"I remember seeing tar balls on the beaches off L.A. in the 1940s. It was no big deal and the beaches were the most beeautiful I have ever seen."

I think the museum should be a mandatory experience for all world leaders, through the United Nations, then maybe there will be less wars.

I had a different experience when visiting the museum, after my visit I felt a wave of hope that this will never again happen and I guess that was a childs hope because, it is happening all over again in parts of Africa.

I think part of the reason the museum is in the US, (and there is also a Holocaust Museum here in NYC, the Jewish Heritage Museum) is because so many Americans lost family members in the Holocaust.

I was with 30 friends when we toured the museum and we all had different experiences viewing parts of the exhibits, the most moving to me were the empy shoes, thousands of shoes, of men, women and children.

I grew up in the 50's and we never learned anything about the Holocaust and I firmly believe we should have been taught all parts of WWII. My Dad and Mother were active in Civil Defense and Dad was an Army Instructor in explosives. (He also played a big part in the Cuban Missle Crisis, just a bit of family history here).

If we don't learn how things can happen, how are we to stop them from happening again.

Hello everyone, a thought just occurred to me.

If any of you are in SF and are interested in this did you know there is a Holocaust Memorial in Lincoln Park in SF. It is called the George Segal Holocaust Memorial. I think it was opened sometime in the early 1980's.

I haven't been there in years but I was close to tears the first time I visited it.

Boston has a very impressive Holocaust memorial near Fanuel Hall and the Freedom Trail. Somehow, seeing it against all that history made it even more meaningful - seeing the best and the worst of humanity in the same day.

I think all the memorials and museums in the US are very appropriate. This was a global tragedy. And as pointed out in a previous post, many survivors eventually came to the US.

The Holocaust Museum is in the capital of our country, not in the Capitol building.

From the ushm Mission Statement:
<The Museum’s primary mission is to advance and disseminate knowledge about this unprecedented tragedy; to preserve the memory of those who suffered; and to encourage its visitors to reflect upon the moral and spiritual questions raised by the events of the Holocaust as well as their own responsibilities as citizens of a democracy.>

There are millions of Americans, not just Jews, who are related to someone whose life was lost or horribly damaged by the Nazi nightmare.

Although the primary focus of this museum is the Shoah and other Nazi atrocities in Europe, a look at its website http://www.ushmm.org/ will show you that it aims to raise awareness of contemporary tragedies in other locations as well, such as the mass murders in the Sudan.

I see Jim hasn't responded to any of the
answers here. Was this just a 'hit and run' kind of provocation?

The AAA book said to allow 3 hours for the Holocaust Museum, we were there for almost 7. I won't say the feeling was depressing, but it certainly was eerie and left a pit in my stomach. A suggestion I read somewhere was for after a family trip to the Museum, to maybe sit outside, such as on Capitol steps or Lincoln Memorial, and to discuss the Museum afterwards.

The holocaust was bearly mentionned (and not even by that name for certain) during my HS days.

One thing that left an impact upon me is that Eisenhower KNEW there would be denials of the atrocities in the future, so made an extra effort to document what he found. While I could expect denials maybe 100, 200 or so years, I find it almost impossible to imagine that there would be denials of a Holocaust within a timeframe that included people who lived in that era.

Getting back to travel, I would find it hard to try to do something "fun" after a visit; it just wouldn't seem right. And is the block it's on even considered the Mall? I thought the Mall was only between Independence & Constitution.

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

I find this offensive as a question in general I find it particularly offensive on the first night of Passover.

Dear PamSF, I am not Jewish, but I too had the same thought.

And obviously someone posted something that caused Fodors to delete the Passover thread. Otherwise why was it deleted?

There was Catholic bashing some days ago.

And this Jim, maybe a coincidence, do not know who this poster is; but this evening I too thought what a strange thread to write tonight of all nights.

Peace and love to all of you with good hearts.

<i>While I could expect denials maybe 100, 200 or so years, I find it almost impossible to imagine that there would be denials of a Holocaust within a timeframe that included people who lived in that era.</i>

In 1980, a radical &quot;neo-Nazi&quot; group in Torrance, CA offered a $50,000 reward to anyone who could prove that &quot;Jews were gassed in gas-chambers in Auschwitz.&quot;

A friend of our family, Mel Mermelstein, who was the only member of his immediate family to have survived Auschwitz, came forward to prove the &quot;allegation&quot; and ended up suing the neo-Nazi group, the Institute for Historical Review, for the $50,000 reward they offered.

On October 9, 1981, L.A. County Superior Court Judge, the Honorable Thomas T. Johnson, ruled and declared the following: &quot;This court does take judicial notice of the fact that Jews were gassed to death at Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland during the summer of 1944. It is not reasonably subject to dispute. And it is capable of immediate and accurate determination by resort to sources of reasonably indisputable accuracy. It is simply a fact.&quot;

Although the judge ruled in his favor, Mel never did collect his $50,000 reward (the group disappeared), but he did write a book about his experiences as a survivor - <u>By Bread Alone</u>

The book was eventually made into a movie, directed by, and starring Leonard Nimoy as Mel.

Peace to All, Robyn :)&gt;-

Are you serious Jim? Honestly I'm shocked.

Not only did many Americans lose their lives liberating the Jews but as someone else pointed out, many of those survivors are United States citizens. Millions of US citizens are related to those who were gassed in the concentration camps.

While I find the Holocaust museum sad and depressing, I find your question of why it is on the Mall even more so.

Yes, terrible in the timing and also in the context of various other issues. And IMHO would have been tasteless at any time. The Holocaust was a world wide atrocity because it was encompassed within WWII. This can never be forgotten. And there have been others as well, but that does not diminish the horrid, organized mass murders in Europe during the WWII era.

I think we have a few strident haters or two who like to stir the pot here.
It starts small, as well. Don't forget that. &quot;Jokes&quot; or &quot;Comics&quot;- have you ever read or seen back issues of late 1930's German newspapers? I have. They make fun of &quot;their&quot; intellect, clothes, accent, etc. and it is all in a real &quot;funny&quot; context. Then it becomes throwing stones through store windows, or knocking people off sidewalks. And then escalates into much, much more. It is all in exact and sometimes melodious language, &quot;logical&quot; with the covert hate quite there but dressed in a pretty coat of praise and self-righteous &quot;Why should that be there!&quot; And jealousy is the seedbed it is grown in. Jealousy by those who have a hole inside that others have filled with some &quot;good&quot; things that they want but have no way of getting within their accepted life plan.

So much more I could say, because my German grandparents (not Jewish) fleed all over Europe trying to get away from this garbage, and it split up both of their families permanently and forevermore. And when we TRAVEL to see some now- it is NOT their descendants who stayed, but the ones who left with them who are now in other places. EVEN NOW it is still there- that division. People are still alive who remember so much of this, and remember the dead/murdered.

And Americans by thousands and thousands died also because of this insiduous pervasive hate on the rampage.

Most surprisingly, I am shocked that so few of you say you can remember studying this in your grade, high schools. We read Exodus by Leon Uris before I was out of 7th Grade. Also later Hiroshima by John Hershey. These issues and moralities were studied across the academic curriculum- not just in Hist. or Pol. Sci. I went to school in Catholic grade / high schools with 55 to 60 kids per teacher in one classroom during the '50's. Dominican Nuns (South side of Chicago proper), and we studied Holacaust in detail, down to the pictures/ &quot;lampshades&quot; etc. And what lead up to the rise of the Nazi party as well during the late 1930's.

Sometimes I see some sharp parallels between that time and now. The whole PC thing is scary as it &quot;entitles&quot; some groups to a totally different consideration and treatment than others. And how these political systems and subsequent atrocities seems to have missed so many of you in &quot;good&quot; school systems. Why? Not by me.

I read this yesterday and debated to answer or not, as it was answered more kindly already, but I just couldn't get pass the not learning it in school!!!
Exodus was published in '59 and so many other non-fiction pieces- that would lead into some deep discussive inquiry that we did all through the 50's and 60's as the &quot;morality&quot; of Community to ME also changed during that time, and that was discussed as well. Israel was established in 1948. And my kids studied in the 1970's and 1980's in public schools in Chicago suburbs and they studied Halocaust and Genocides also. I remember my daughter taking my Grandmother's family pictures from 1913 and doing a show and tell of what happened to each of the 11 family members (9 brothers and you just don't want to know). And I also remember a big project done on the Cambodian genocide during that very period. Right now my college has a field full of flags for all those who are missing or &quot;down&quot; in Sudan. Can't see how the schools can fail to teach the reality of this.