Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Day 3 - Holocaust Memorial Museum and Smithsonians

After the National Mall, students transitioned to museum visits including the Holocaust Memorial and a Smithsonian(s) of their choosing.
Outside of the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

President Lincoln's top hat at the National Museum of American History.

15 comments:

  1. The Holocaust Museum was outstanding! The Maggie's and I spent 4 hours there and we probably could have stayed longer. I didn't know all of the information that I read so it was sort of an information overload at the end. I have been to the concentration camp Dachau and that was overwhelming so I didn't think this museum would have an emotional affect on me but it did.
    -Erin

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  2. The Holocaust Museum was really interesting even though I felt sad for what happened to the jewish people in germany. Also, I learned lots of things from it . For example the tool that Hitler used on his people and would he do for the people who make other people hate him.

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  3. I did spend a lot of time at the Holocaust memorial, I wanted to read everything in every exhibit because it was all such interesting information. There was a video at the very end that played interviews with Holocaust survivors. I thought that this was the most powerful part of the memorial because we got to hear first hand accounts of how it felt during the Holocaust.

    Maggie Thomason

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    1. Holocaust survivors' interviews were very interesting. The survivor's tattoo made me sad. The survivor remember the Nazi camp whenever they see the tattoo.
      Yohei

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  4. The most emotional place we visited, to me, was the Holocaust museum. I have never experienced something that emotionally overwhelmed me to the point I felt I needed to leave. I think I will never be able to erase some of those images from my mind or those feelings from my conscience. It is staggering to me that such behavior occurred and that so many people followed this leader in his maniacal behaviors!

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    1. Although I did not get to go and experience it first hand, when Doug came back from the museum he was very clearly distraught. I could visibly see that he felt complete sadness and remorse. The anger came after processing it all.

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  5. There was an overwhelming sadness that comes over everyone that enters the doors at the Holocaust museum. As most people are familiar with the Holocaust the museum really takes you there. I never knew that shoes can draw so much emotion from a person like the ones they had on display. To explain further they had a huge wall to wall bin that had nothing but shoes in it from only a small portion of the people that were in the camps.
    Crystal Gordon

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    1. The shoe room is one of the most powerful pieces of the exhibit, in my opinion. It really puts it into perspective for you just how many people lost their lives, and to think that was is being displayed is only a SMALL portion of what could have been there. I also remember reading that they discovered over 14,000 pounds of human hair that had been cut off of the heads of victims prior to being gassed/burned. Hair is a very light material so imagine just how much hair they discovered after the camps had been liberated... It's sickening.

      Katie LaRose

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  6. The Holocaust Museum was the most emotional and draining exhibit. From the moment the elevator doors shut, I felt as though I was trapped. What really did it for me was walking through the rail car and imagining the hundreds of people that would have been packed in there. And then seeing the shoes that were discarded by these individuals. There were several times that I was moved to tears. I just can't fathom the terror and agony that these people had to endure.

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  7. The Holocaust Museum was very intense. I learned WWII in history class, and people talk about how terrible a war is. At in front of the the holocaust museum, I found the poster that says "do not have same mistakes." But, in my opinion, even if people know about the holocaust, they kill each other at a war. In fact, usually people really don't know how many people died and got killed. I thought it is a big contradiction.
    Yohei

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  8. I'm so glad that I snapped that illegal picture of Abe Lincoln's hat... I apparently couldn't read all the signs around it that said "No Pictures Allowed"... :)

    Katie LaRose

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  9. The Holocaust Memorial Museum is almost impossible for me to put into words, Erin, Maggie and I spend four hours there and didn't even get to read everything. Seeing the 'beds' that were in the camps, and hearing the stories from survivors was one of the most intensly sad experiences I have ever had. Reading all the information gave me an even greater background on everything than I had before, and I think that made it even more difficult to go through. It was almost as though all the horrible things I already knew weren't nearly as bad as the full truth, and survivor accounts of everything that they went through.
    Maggie Luehrs

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    1. I totally agree seeing the beds that the people had to call home was shocking. -Nick Parsells

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  10. By far the most interesting thing on this day was the holicaust museum. I learned many things about the holocaust such as how in depth they went to classify and attempt to make the "perfect human." - Nick Parsells

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  11. The holicaust museum was one that evoked a lot of emotion in most of us I think. At first, my group felt that they had let too many people in at one time and it was ruining the impact of walking through the museum but after some thought it may have been intentional. With all those people crowded in the dark narrow museum just slowly pushing through the crowd we almost got a sense of what it felt like for all the victims of the holicaust being hearded with so many others. -Nichole

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