It is hard for someone, in this day and age, to comprehend the enormity of the Holocaust. I have trouble making sense of it and I'm supposedly a learned person, one who has visited the excellent Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles and – this week — the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C.
If it is difficult for adults to understand the depth of horror and pain caused by the Nazis, imagine trying to convey that to children. What I have found through my 15 years as a reporter and recent work as a teacher, is that it is images and concepts, more than words and quotes, that help people come closer to understanding it all. For example, there is a documentary called Paper Clips (2004) about a group of students from Whitwell, Tennessee Middle School. A student in the small town, which had no Jews, said it was impossible to comprehend six million of anything, let alone that many people killed. The students decided to try to collect six million paper clips, choosing those objects since Norwegians wore those in their lapels as a silent solidarity gesture with the Holocaust victims. Not only did the idea catch on – with the help of media attention – but also they ended up with 11 million paper clips, enough to include the five million Holocaust victims who were not Jewish. The paper clips were an attempt to illustrate the war’s horror, which can’t be summed up in words and images.
It also does not hurt to let them interact with Holocaust-related exhibits.
Visitors at the D.C. museum walk through a freight car. A sign indicates the freight car is similar to those used to move 1,000 to 2,000 people headed to the concentration camps. At times, the freight cars would hold up to 5,000 people. The heavier the load, the slower the car would go – sometimes as slow as 30 miles per hour – and the longer the anguished trip would be. It was in trains like this that thousands were taken to the concentration camp in Dachau, Germany. While the name of the camp is not as well known as Auschwitz, this camp served as a training center for SS concentration camp guards. It was also used as a model for other concentration camps. When American forces, 60 years ago this week, liberated the camp, they found more than 30 freight cars filled with bodies in advanced states of decomposition.
Article comments
1 - Purple Tigress
Maybe we cannot truly understand what is was like, but it is somehow comforting to know that some people stood up for their neighbors while others let their neighbors be taken away just because they were Jewish, gypsies, gay or communists.
I think we should all question ourselves to see if we would have had the courage to stand up for others, for what is right as opposed to what is easy and what gives us the best deal.
In the world now, we have similar situations and we cannot, should not ignore them.
I recently saw a play called, iWitness, about a man who died because he would not join the army. He was thought a fool at the time but now he is considered a moral hero, almost a saint. He was Catholic. All he had to do was wear a Nazi uniform as other Austrians did, but he refused.
Quite impressive to die not because your life and your family's lives are threatened but because the lives of unknown others are. That's something that most people, no matter how religious, would not choose to do.
2 - Scott Butki
I should note that hate as well as Holocaust deniers still exist.
In fact, a local KKK group is holding a rally soon at the Antietam National Battlefield.
There is a good editorial on the topic in the local newspaper.
It points out that the location is ironic since it was a moment near the end of the confederary in the Civil War.
3 - Purple Tigress
Even the Northerners were racist and the Civil War did free the slaves but was originally fought over the right to secede from the Union.
Actually, I found this essay quite moving. One of the reasons I mentioned iWitness was because the production I saw used the imagery of shoes.
I also recall when I was younger that I, too, thought that just because I had read a book or two, that I could truly understand, but now that I'm older, I know I cannot.
4 - Barb
The moldy smell of the shoes at the Museum leaves an imprint on the brain of this visitor.
Unforgettable.
5 - Scott Butki
Definitely.
6 - Scott Butki
Have others been to this museum?
7 - Scott Butki
So how are others honoring the anniversaries?
8 - Scott Butki
I led a discussion tonight of Paper Clip.
Here's the link to the movie site:It a great discussion, spanning 3 or 4 generations, and I'll be writing up a review within
the week. I'm also working on getting an interview with those in making what I consider
the most inspiring movie I've seen in several years.
9 - Victor Plenty
The Civil War was fought over slavery. The "right to secede" was an effort to preserve slavery. Nothing more, nothing less. When people seek to distort the memory of historic events, some will resist and some will capitulate.
Did the Holocaust really happen? Dishonest people want you to doubt it really happened. Was the American Civil War really about slavery? Dishonest people want you to doubt it really was. I choose to resist both strains of ideological revisionism, along with many others.
Thank you for your continuing work to keep the memory of history alive, Scott.
10 - Scott Butki
You are welcome. I have another, related piece in the pipline as I write this.
11 - Scott Butki
Thanks. I'm glad you liked my piece. I'll check out your page shortly.