Holocaust Museum

During our last visit to Washington D.C., also for a NAEYC conference, my love took our two youngest children to the newly dedicated Holocaust Museum while I attended workshops all day. It was such a moving experience that this visit I wanted to make the stopover and my love was willing to return and further investigate the museum. This time our children were at home allowing us to investigate the confines of museums and art galleries unhindered by cries of “Can we go now?” or “What’s next?” Although my love insisted that both children were quite cooperative and our daughter especially enjoys a casual pace when exploring museums and galleries taking time to read many of the displays and fine print posters.

Despite December being the off season for tourists visiting the D.C. area I took no chances and went online to secure some tickets for touring the Holocaust Museum on Tuesday. Sunshine and a mottled blue sky met us as we exited our hotel room and headed out for the day’s adventure. After a stop at Mc D’s for coffee and a breakfast biscuit we made our way to the convention center and then on toward the oblisque and Capital Mall area where we hoped to locate the Holocaust Museum with ease. With camera in hand we passed building after building rich with Roman and Early American design. Despite wanting to “blend in” and not look like a tourist I had to stop several times to photograph some interesting buildings. If I lived in the area I’m sure I’d be doing a more thorough study of many downtown D.C, buildings. There was barely a street corner that didn’t have an old church or Greco-Roman columns stretching skyward creating an inviting, majestic entry into a bank, church, or government building.

My heart leapt as we turned a corner and caught sight of the granite face of the Washington Monument slicing through the morning sky. Several times I had to stop and gaze up at the obelisque as it rose surrounded by the snowy grounds as people from all walks of lives rushed passed me. With only one detour to get reoriented we found our way to Holocaust Museum and made our way past the guards and metal detectors. With tickets and guidebooks in hand we decided to visit the exhibit called “Daniel’s Story” first. This exhibit gave us a view of the Holocaust from a child’s standpoint. As I watched the transformation of this child’s life from his simple home in Poland to the ghetto’s of Warsaw and eventually the barbed wired horrors of a concentration camp, I could see why this display freaked out my then fourteen year old son when he visited it with my love.

All in all we spent over four hours pouring through the display information, watching the videos, walking past countless movie, photographic, and written records of unthinkable atrocities that were conducted in the name of national security, purity of race, and world dominance. Over and over again I asked myself “How could this have been allowed to happen? Why was there no public and political outcry?” But of course we al know that despite the pledge to never let this atrocity happen again it has and continues to occur throughout the world. It was a quiet and somber atmosphere as even the children felt the impact of this place.


Getting out into the sunshine and splendor of our nation’s capital lightened our spirits considerably. I made my love stop several times to photograph me with the majestic Washington Monument climbing the late afternoon sky in the background. Daylight doesn’t last long in these short December days so we reluctantly made our way back up 14th Avenue, caught New York Ave and headed back to our hotel room before night descended altogether. Even as strolled the downtown streets I couldn’t help marveling at the varied architecture of the city. Truly I could wander those streets for weeks studying the history of the buildings alone… never mind their content!

Eventually we found our way past the row houses, several twinkling with holiday décor, and then on past the neighborhood McDonalds and the corner liquor and grocery store. Soon we were snug inside our hotel room, releasing tired toes from cramped quarters and feasting on canned turkey sandwiches and canned mandarin oranges with walnuts and raisons for dessert. What more can one ask for after a long day immersed in the images and stories of concentration camps of Nazi Germany and then the winding trek back home. Despite our best efforts to remain conscious for the late evening news and weather report, local news comes on at 9 & 10 p.m. at home, we were soon slumped over and snoring through all the latest in murders, fires, bank robberies, and scandals… seems like the fare for news be it MN or DC. It mattered not to our exhausted minds and bodies what the news told… we were lost in our own dreams and nightmares. I seem to remember dreaming that night of being caught in the snare of Nazi Germany, and ever being chased toward one horror or another. Fortunate for me, I was able to waken from MY nightmare.


Next, a tale of visiting the Kennedy Center and our foolish notion of being able to walk there from our hotel. That must wait for another day. Until then thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. Be well. Achieve excellence. Take care of each other… the alternative must never be lived again.

“Just as a snake sheds its skin, we must shed our past over and over again.”
-Buddah