Holocaust Museums

Yesterday, on April 19, 2009, thousands attended the opening of the new Holocaust Museum in Chicago Illinois. President Barack Obama says that when school children visit this Holocaust Museum and education center, they will expand their learning and that they will see that “there is no greater obligation than to confront acts of inhumanity” (Associated Press). Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and former President Bill Clinton spoke at the Sunday opening. The new Holocaust Museum cost about $45 million to build and is 65,000 square feet. “The new museum is considered the largest of its kind in the Midwest. It houses more than 2,000 Holocaust survivor testimonies” (Associated Press). I am pleased to see that there is yet another Holocaust Museum in the United States. One may wonder how there is yet another museum to hold Holocaust remembrance artifacts. I would have thought that all of the other Holocaust museums in the world would have already possessed these artifacts. This just proves how massive the destruction of the Holocaust was and that there are piles upon piles of documentation and artifacts that have been preserved and can be put on display. This Midwest museum will allow Midwesterners to be exposed to something that they may not have been aware of beforehand. I have visited various Holocaust museums including the museum in Washington DC and Yad Vashem in Israel. Although both museums were moving to see while I was there, I was most impacted by the museum in Washington DC because I remember seeing videos of children, piles of shoes and glasses, and a room called “Daniel’s room.” Nevertheless, all individuals, Jewish or non Jewish should visit a Holocaust museum at some point in their lives.