Friday we our Gifted and Talented class took a trip to the National Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. For weeks I had been hearing about how powerful the experience would be and how emotional I would get. To be honest, I simply brushed off these comments and was simply looking forward to missing a day of school. How was I to know that after leaving the museum, I would be one of the people singing the museum's praises?
When you first get to the museum, you get crammed into this tiny elevator and brought up to the top floor, then you're set free to roam around. The thing that I noticed first was how silent the entire museum was. You could literally hear a pin drop. People were in awe of what was being presented to them and they had no words. When I started to move through the museum I kept being hammered with images and information, it was almost too much to handle.
The most powerful part of the museum was the room filled with shoes. There was literally a room filled with shoes that were taken from the Jews that were killed in the concentration camps, and they were piled three or four deep on the floor. You hear that millions of Jews were killed in the Holocaust, and you never give it a second thought because it's only a number. Then when you see something that belonged to an actual person it suddenly becomes real. The sad part is that there were a lot of shoes in the room, but the number wasn't even close to the actual number of people who died in the Holocaust. Overall, I would definetly recommend the museum to everyone, it's a great way learn about the Holocaust while also seeing the emotional side of the tragedy.
Hi Lauren- I'm Rachel from River Falls, WI (small town nowhere) working on my special ed graduate degree. I went to the museum for my 8th grade field trip, and I vividly remember we were all SO excited to get there. When we got there we were given a booklet with information about a person in the holocaust. The little girl I received had the same birthday as me.
ReplyDeleteI remember the shoes. I remember it sent shivers up my spine. I also remember lying down on the "bunk beds" from Auschwitz and wanting to cry. At the end of the walk through the museum, I remember the little girl I had lived through everything just to die on her way to America.
Keep this memory close to your heart and never forget how lucky and blessed you are that our veterans fought for them and for your future! You were given a wonderful, lifelong gift by going to this museum. Treasure it, and great blogging!