Holocaust Museum Experience

As a young American Jew, visiting the Holocaust Museum is very powerful. I have been there a few times before, but my experience going through it by myself was very different than it would have been with family or with friends. When I was by myself, I only had one focus, and I never thought about other people or other concerns I had at the time. I think seeing everything slowly and just taking in all of the information was very influential. I think almost all of the students here, or at least the ones who have been in day school for a while, have learned about the Holocaust for many years, including me. Every year, when Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) comes around, we have at least talked about the Holocaust a little through different classes. However, I think that the museum trumps all of the other learning experiences I have had learning about the Holocaust.

On the third floor, which focuses on the direct years of the Holocaust (1940-45), a train car is placed in the middle of the room. It is a traditional Polish train car, and many like it were used to take Jews away from their homes, families, friends, and communities to go to concentration or work camps. However, the train car alone does not just complete the setting. Around the entire room, there is many pieces which directly came from Europe during the time of the Holocaust. Outlining certain parts of the room is stone, which would have been made of Jewish gravestones. Some may say that this is not nearly as bad as the six million who were killed by the Nazis, and yes that is true. Nonetheless, knowing that the Nazis had to kill our family and also disrespect those who were already passed, I feel even more upset about