United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

As a resident of Bexley, Ohio, a dominant Jewish neighborhood, I’m constantly learning about the Jewish culture. I will never forget my times in middle school and how almost every weekend I had a Bar and Bat Mitzvah party to attend. During my time in middle school and high school, I remember learning about the Holocaust and hearing lectures from Holocaust survivors.

When I learned that the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum was in Washington D.C., I knew I had to go and visit.

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is the United States official memorial to the Holocaust. The Holocaust was the systematic extermination of six million European Jews in World War II by Nazi Germany.

People of all ages are able to learn about the Holocaust through the personal stories, photographs, images and objects in the museum. Exhibitions such as "Remember the Children: Daniel’s Story" is ideal for families as it tells a story of the Holocaust witnessed by a Jewish boy named Daniel. The guided tour of the "State of Deception: The Power of Nazi Propaganda," allowed me to better understand how the Nazi regime used propaganda to gain power and garner support for the Holocaust. The film about propaganda enables one to understand how propaganda did not begin or end with the Nazi regime and how techniques of propaganda are still used today to sway people.

By visiting the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, I believe that one can learn a great deal about the Jewish culture and better understand how to prevent ethnic cleansing.

-OI