The Holocaust Museum

We were told before going to the Holocaust Museum this past Sunday that it is one of the best museums to go to in DC.  Despite the fact that I haven't been around to every museum in DC in my limited time here, I have to say that the Holocaust Museum was indeed the best I've gone to as far as the impact it had on me.

As you enter the museum, a quote from President Bill Clinton is on the entrance wall that starts with "This museum will touch the life of everyone who enters and leave everyone forever changed."



The quote certainly isn't an understatement.  For those of us who weren't around to experience the effects WWII or the Holocaust had on the world, the museum offers a stark reminder of the atrocities that happened and the idea that "if it happened once, it can happen again."  The two exhibits which had the most impact on me was the pile of shoes and the train car.

                                                                       
The shoes hit me hardest.  The thought of the men, women, and children who all wore those shoes in the final days of their lives is a haunting reminder of the cruelty of war and genocide.  When I entered the train car, I tried to imagine what it must have felt like years ago when people were crammed into the trains like cattle and sent to concentration camps.  What was most troubling to learn is that none of the people in the train cars knew of the horror in which they were being sent to.

If you haven't gone to the Holocaust Museum yet, try to make it a priority.  These pictures are just a few of the displays and aspects of the museum that are worth remembering.  It will give you a perspective on the Holocaust that you haven't experienced before, and truly will "leave everyone forever changed."

-Kevin Arndt