What Are The Voids In The Jewish Museum

“You get the feeling that you're trapped, that something bad is about to happen.” At the concentration camps the people couldn't live by the expression “There's always tomorrow”, because for them there really wasn't and that wasn't a good quote to live by. When entering the museum they had the plainness and feeling down in your gut that something bad was going to happen, because at the real concentration camps something bad was likely to happen. “Many Jews thought that if they were patient, the storm of Nazi Antisemitism would eventually blow over. As you descend to the third floor of the museum, you begin to feel the Nazi net tightening around Europe's Jews.”

A majority of the exhibit was technology based or was made up entirely of dioramas. It was very interesting to discover that the museum uses a mediated based approach to inform their audience of the events that happened during the time of the Holocaust. To heighten the experience, the museum hands out cards with pictures of Jewish people who were affected by the Holocaust. At the end of the tour, there is a scanner that will reveal the fate of the person on your card. I received Peter Freistadt. Peter Freistadt was born on October 13, 1931, in Bratislavia, Czechoslovakia. With the arrival of anti-Semitic laws in the 1940s, him and his family had to wear the Star of David on their sleeves and a brand. The star branded them for all to see that they are jewish. They were required to hire a non-Jewish man to overlook their family owned business. They were forced to leave their home. Peter Freistadt was one of the lucky few to escape the ghettos, and the horrors that followed. There was one section within the exhibit called "The Hall of Testimony". This is where you can hear the stories of Holocaust survivors. This provides live testimony of the events from the period and semi fills the void that was caused due to the previous lack of artifacts. The Museum honors the survivors in a permanent exhibit titled “Witness to Truth”. The

In this book, the author describes the long process it takes to create a national museum that will commemorate the Holocaust. He covers issues such as, the location of it, the design and construction aspects of the museum building. He informs readers about how they’ve tried to represent the Holocaust through the museum with sensitivity. I will use specific facts from this book to show that this museum was built with the help of many and required a lot of thought into it. I will show that this museum does in fact show sensitivity to an individual.

While walking in to an art gallery, everyone had a moment of stopping in their tracks to be memorized by a painting or a drawing. Only to think about what that art is about and the meaning behind it. Especially at a holocaust museum. There are many works of art about the holocaust. The prisoners had a life story to share. Also, the people who did the art works had to be careful, not to be caught by the Germans. The reason for this, was it was illegal to draw what's actually happening in the camps. Few of the prisoners were "privileged" to make art for the Germans, to only draw or paint what the Germans say. The prisoners were only chosen, because they were talented enough. But for the prisoners who weren't "privileged" had to be smart, by

In creating a monument and memorializing an event, the group or agency should consider its importance in bringing together a community, thus providing a sense of attachment. In creating public monuments, it furnishes “a face-to-face encounter in a specially valued place set aside for collective gathering” (Source A). Essentially connecting the past and the present, monuments stand as an absolute reminder of our past. Not only does it serve as a reminder, but it also acts as a holy site as people come together to experience the monument in a simple but powerful way. Monuments establish the sense of community in both a real and imagined fashion. Connections between the people among themselves visiting the authentic public space, and connections between people and history are made. As Source A states, “The public monument speaks to a deep need for attachment that can be met only in a real place, where the imagined community actually materializes.” With memorializing an event, it is important that the emotional connection built off of its fundamental historical significance is considered. Based on Source E, controversy over not only just creating the monument, but also the idea of memorializing the Holocaust was deliberated. Because the United States made little to no effort in preventing the Holocaust, the memorialization of the event drew protest as opponents felt as if this act of remembrance would be offensive emotionally. From this, it is clear that it is important to assess the emotional underlying behind an event and how it could affect communities consequently. Memorializing an event should connect a community, not divide

The readings from these past weeks on on issues of race and cultural patrimony were too informative considering the Native American exhibits I have attended, my work in an anthropology museum, and anthropology classes I have taken. Somehow, Cooper’s “The Long Road to Repatriation” provided more context and weight to the historical atrocities against Native Americans than any of my other educational experiences. To be fair, I am not a scholar of Native history, but I am certainly not uninformed, and it should not take a scholar or be a native person to understand these issues. As Lonetree mentioned, the Holocaust Museum presents a difficult subject and forces the visitor to “confront inhumanity” (106). I think the impact of this information as an educational experience in a museum would have a huge impact on current social and political tensions.

You might be wondering, Who created the museum? The Holocaust was all started by none other than Adolf Hitler. He got the idea that all jews were the problem to society. Then eventually it lead to more than the jews getting killed.

The u.s. Holocaust memorial museum was dedicated in 1993. The museum’s permanent exhibit titled the holocaust is divided into three parts. “Nazi Assault,Final Solution, Last Chapter”. Upon entrance,visitors are given a card with the name of a real person who was persecuted by Nazis or their collaborators. They are guided on a path through a three level exhibit, which contains photos, artifacts, and audio and video footage as well as large scale installations, including a polish railcar that was used to transport jews to concentration camps and visitors are allowed to board. Throughout the exhibit visitors are given a chance to learn about the fate of the individual on their assigned identity card.

After arriving and going through the security screenings, I proceeded to go down the stairs, entering the exhibit itself. Before even observing anything specific, it was immediately realized that this was no typical museum. Most people know that upon arrival, but only when you first enter the exhibit do you realize that this museum is not one that inspects the past, but one that reminds us of it.

Interestingly, the building is similar to a tepee in that there was a small window on the top of the rounded celling. Even the elevator was spacious and adorned with tribal symbols. Therefore, before one even enters the exhibit, it is clear that the narrative is one that celebrates culture. Even Atalay, a Native American author recognizes that “… the NMAI aims to ‘recognize and affirm’… Native cultures… and [advance] knowledge and understanding of those cultures” (Atalay 600). Thus creating a sharp contrast from that of the Holocaust. Despite the hardships and the genocide which befell the Native Americans, this museum has a different narrative to preserve, one rich with culture, rather than brutality. The differences displayed in architecture and design help effectively deliver each narrative because they visually and psychologically affect each visitor, adding a deeper layer to the story, effectively conveying each

In the Robyn Autry article, it mainly focuses on the national conflict of museums mainly focusing towards African American. The author travel to 15 museums around the United States that focuses towards African American. She mainly talks about how the African American were facing numerous hardships in the U.S and how the museum represents those issues to the general public. She believes the way to tell the hardship of African Americans is by exhibiting through a museum. When traveling through these museums she focused towards “centered on three traumatic episodes: capture and displacement from Africa, enslavement, and racial segregation” (Autry 64). The author of the articles wants to show that over time that museums meanings has changed over

The one thing that I wish they would implement to their museum to make it more interesting is to add more Holocaustic casted models. I got this idea by visiting the African American museum. And what set them apart was that they had a whole set of statue models on display to place a person in that mindset of being there. If the Holocaust museum would issue more life-like cast, then I think people will feel more engaged in the tour. In the African American museum, I remember the faces on the life-like models. The faces with looks of confusions, fear, and sometimes happiness. I think by adding this would bring a whole new element to the Holocaust museum. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the opportunity. I do plan on returning in the near future. Maybe not to that museum in particular, but a more official museum like the ones in Germany. I plan on traveling across the world one day, and visiting the Holocaust museum in Aw>>> is defiantly on my

The museum had many exhibits that showed how much the Jews suffered during these terrible times. The first place that we’ve seen was a hall of mirrors where photos of young children were shown and their name was called. Each one of these children was killed in the Holocaust. There were more than a million children killed in the Holocaust. These names are read without stopping

This website throws a light on the building Jewish Museum (The Libeskind Building) , located in Berlin. It was designed by Daniel Libeskind a polish-American architect,artist and professor born in 1946 in Poland. Through Libeskind’s life the kibbutz experience raised his interest for green architecture.. ‘Kibbutz’ is a communal establishment in Israel,its mostly a farming space.The museum was built in 1992 a year later after Libeskind had drawn up the design.The museums name has another name called Between the lines,this title reflects the strain of German-Jewish past.The history of the German-Jewish is integrated into the design of the building,thus taking shape of two lines which shows the cultural connections.His design for the museum was

The Museum of Tolerance has a legitimate cause that can change the world and end discrimination by encouraging personal responsibility towards ending these vices in society. Promoting the importance of personal responsibility by showing the hatred of Nazi Germany, the civil rights movement, and the violence of current warring countries illustrates the persistence of human rights abuses over the last seven decades. The dramatization also shows the individual contributions to these atrocities and the actions of a few people that accepted the challenge to change society. On the other hand, ending the suffering of children as illustrated in the exhibit is important for protecting future generations. The Museum shows the progression of the lives