Fourth Floor
The Nazi Assult
1. The first exhibit that I experienced was a film on Hitlers' rise to power. It showed how he played on the fears of the people by using propaganda to promote himself to becoming Chancellor of Germany. Ever though he lost the election, Hindenburg on January 30, 1933 appointed Hitler Chancellor.
2. The next thing that caught my interest was a film on anti-Semitism. This film showed the roots for people's natural fear of the Jews from the times of Christianity through the middle ages and up to WWII.
3. The more traditional type of exhibit they had was about how the Germans tried to separate Aryans from what they considered inferior races that did not deserve to exist. They tried to do this very scientifically by measurements, facial features, eye color comparisons, and other features.
4. In a different part of the exhibit, was the listing of all of the Jewish towns that were totally or partially whipped out because of the Holocaust. The names of the towns were engraved on the glass windows of a corridor there were so many of them that they filled up the entire wall.
Personal Response
1. This movie was very informative, for example before this movie I thought that Hitler was voted into power, but really he was appointed by Hindenburg. I thought that it was kind of scary that a government system could fall apart that easily.
2. I was amazed at how long of a history anti-Semitism had. It went all the way back to the beginning of Christianity. I also learned that one of Martin Lutherans, of the Lutheran Church, goals was to convert Jews to Christianity.
3. I was astonished of how in depth the Germans went in measuring the body parts, such as the different parts of the head, the position of the nose, and so on.
4. I just stood there for a little bit, just looking at the names of the towns, and I saw people pointing out different towns of there ancestors, but I could not relate to it at all.
Third Floor
"Final Solution"
1. The actual start of the German plan for the Final Solution (1940-1945), was to isolate the Jews into Ghettos, and then to send them off to Concentration camps to be used for slave labor, or gassed.
2. The archway to Auschwitz was incorporated into the museum by having it as the archway to the part of the floor that describes the things that went on inside concentration camps. The Translation of the...
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... drawers and closets. This is an interactive, hands-on exhibit.
3. The Quote "You are my witnesses" from Isaiah 43:10 is reminding people who visit the museum that the Holocaust really did happen, and that such an event should never ever happen again.
4. The middles of the museum from the first floor up is designed to look like a ghetto, and it gives sort of an eerie feeling to the place, that you are in the place of the Jews during the Holocaust in the ghettos, before the concentration camps.
Personal Response
1. It is hard not to notice the architecture, because it was such a part of the museum. It had a lot of emotion in it, like it self endured the holocaust.
2. I thought that this was really nest, all of the hands on stuff, and the little bits of the diary everywhere. It was a lot different to see the holocaust through the eyes of a child.
3. This is a well known quote, and I thought about it a little bit, and I started to think about all of the bystanders of the Holocaust, not, Jewish, not Aryan, just there. They too must have been scared by it.
4. While I was standing there I felt like I was actually inside of a ghetto. It was a sort of eerie feeling that I got.
2. The iota of depth in the book made it a hard plot to follow.
12. If you were the author, would you have ended the story in a different way? Why? How so?
"Jewish Resistance". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 19 May 2014.
The Third Reich sought to eliminate the Jews because the Germans viewed the Jews as parasites that were infecting their country and the world. With economic and physical pressure, Germany was able to encourage the Jews to flee Germany, however, not many left because of restrictions. The Nazis created the final solution in order to quickly eliminate all of the Jews that existed primarily in Germany. Through the use of medical experimentation, gas chambers, and the crematorium, around 6 million Jews were killed.
Martin; Hilberg, Raul; and Yahil Leni. "Introduction to the Holocaust." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC, 10 June 2010. Web. 14 Nov 2013http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005143
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
Did the Jews of Germany do enough to prevent their wholesale massacre by the Nazis? Should they have resisted earlier and to a greater degree? Should the Jews in Western countries acted even when Jews within Germany did not? In 1933, there were several different responses to Germany's increasingly anti-Jewish tendencies. Then, on the eve of destruction, before the Nazis had fully planned for their extermination, the German Jews had a chance to affect Germany and their own lives. I have chosen a few of the German Jewish responses to examine in this essay.
For many years, people time and time again denied the happenings of the Holocaust or partially understood what was happening. Even in today’s world, when one hears the word ‘Holocaust’, they immediately picture the Nazi’s persecution upon millions of innocent Jews, but this is not entirely correct. This is because Jews
"Introduction to the Holocaust." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM, WASHINGTON, D.C. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. .
Cruel. Hellish. Inhumane. These three words describe life in Auschwitz during the Holocaust. Adolf Hitler’s "Final Solution" was to exterminate the Jews; among other groups including the Gypsies, mentally ill or disabled, and homosexuals. This “solution” would take place in hundreds of secret concentration camps throughout all of Europe. Auschwitz is one example of Nazi cruelty forced on people they viewed as inferior. The Nazi regime rose to power on January 30, 1933, making Adolf Hitler chancellor. He quickly turned his presidential rule into a dictatorship. Then he set upon his goal of making the perfect race by using widespread propaganda to spread the regime's ideals and goals. They made fast work to get there plan under way and start, as they called it, “The Finial Solution.”
8. My initials responses was shock. It was shocking not gruesome how they tide the birth and the suicide into a story at the same time. The death overshadows the birth of the child being born in my eyes.
...locaust." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 10 June 2013. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. .
...caust." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 10 June 2013. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
The Holocaust Memorial Museum was built to honor those who were directly affected by the Holocaust. “Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God himself. Never” Elie Wiesel (“Holocaust Encyclopedia”). While some believe the building of the museum was a political act for President Carter, others were very optimistic of the outcome. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum was a marvelous achievement for this country and those who dedicated their time and effort to this wonderful building. This museum not only has an interesting history and opening, but exhibits inside are nothing in comparison to the statistics of this grand foundation.
Items displayed in museums hold historical significance and are representative of society’s culture. Preserving valuable collections for education and enjoyment is a primary role of museums. While fulfilling this role, the architecture of the museum is also an important factor. Historical buildings are converted into museums and architects must consider the use of the space and the museum’s purpose during their initial design. Other museums are built with a clear purpose in mind. As museums are designed, many characteristics are determined. Display and storage spaces as well as visitor services impacts museum’s functionality. Based on the function of a museum, architectural requirements are different.