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Local Holocaust Museum
12 Sep 2019 10:32Yesterday, I visited the local Holocaust Museum because I had never been. It's not a cheerful place, of course, but it's definitely worth a visit -- free admission and parking.
The museum is designed to try to place you into the space. For example, you round a corner and suddenly have all these prisoners right next to you --
There were lots of prints of period photos. Sometimes I think there were almost too many -- I found myself just skimming past most of them.
There were exhibits -- I didn't take any photos -- of the ships of Jewish people fleeing Germany, but turned down by other nations -- the US among them.
I spent some time in this courtroom -- a scene of the military trials that took place at the end of the war. I knew the trials had happened, but I didn't know much about them.
There was a movie at the beginning -- it was worth watching, although I have previously seen survivor accounts. I believe these accounts were from survivors who eventually settled here in the Richmond area. The audiovisual equipment was older -- the TV showing the movie was quite small by today's standards. I wonder how much work it would take to re-size the videos and photos so that they would be viewable on a larger TV?
I noted that the floor tile in the Kristallnacht room was loose -- I presume this was intentional because the whole room was like that, and because the sound it made as you walked on it was similar to the sound of walking on broken glass.
I also saw some information about the Rwandan genocide. I guess the point is that genocides still happen. I thought about it a little -- as long as the world is a collection of nation states, I think this will continue to happen because there is no global government / judiciary / police enforcement. However, given the current state of the US and other countries around the world, I'm dubious/dis-trustful about having a global government at this point.
I also left thinking about how prisoners would be disrobed before being killed. Of course this is de-humanizing, but it seemed to also be about stealing the prisoners' valuables that might be found in their clothing.
I had not realized there were Nazi killing squads that roamed the countries of Eastern Europe, detaining and murdering groups of Jewish people.
Definitely worth a visit.
The museum is designed to try to place you into the space. For example, you round a corner and suddenly have all these prisoners right next to you --
There were lots of prints of period photos. Sometimes I think there were almost too many -- I found myself just skimming past most of them.
There were exhibits -- I didn't take any photos -- of the ships of Jewish people fleeing Germany, but turned down by other nations -- the US among them.
I spent some time in this courtroom -- a scene of the military trials that took place at the end of the war. I knew the trials had happened, but I didn't know much about them.
There was a movie at the beginning -- it was worth watching, although I have previously seen survivor accounts. I believe these accounts were from survivors who eventually settled here in the Richmond area. The audiovisual equipment was older -- the TV showing the movie was quite small by today's standards. I wonder how much work it would take to re-size the videos and photos so that they would be viewable on a larger TV?
I noted that the floor tile in the Kristallnacht room was loose -- I presume this was intentional because the whole room was like that, and because the sound it made as you walked on it was similar to the sound of walking on broken glass.
I also saw some information about the Rwandan genocide. I guess the point is that genocides still happen. I thought about it a little -- as long as the world is a collection of nation states, I think this will continue to happen because there is no global government / judiciary / police enforcement. However, given the current state of the US and other countries around the world, I'm dubious/dis-trustful about having a global government at this point.
I also left thinking about how prisoners would be disrobed before being killed. Of course this is de-humanizing, but it seemed to also be about stealing the prisoners' valuables that might be found in their clothing.
I had not realized there were Nazi killing squads that roamed the countries of Eastern Europe, detaining and murdering groups of Jewish people.
Definitely worth a visit.