Think about what you saw

This morning we spent a gruelling few hours at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Early on we watched a highly informative video on the background to the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party.  We walked through many exhibits which chronicled the impact on Jewish people’s lives of the Nazi parties tyranny.  I was bought to tears by photos of the people being taken off to be shot and by the gas chamber exhibits. I was uplifted by the heroism of people who helped and by the resilience of the survivors.

It makes me ask some hard questions. How can some people be so inhumane? What did the poor Jewish people ever do to deserve this treatment? What would I have done if I was there? Have we really learnt anything from history? What should we be doing about the current refugee crisis? How can we make sure this and other humanitarian tragedies do not happen again?

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum – Dwight D Eisenhower personally visited and attests to the autrocities

Holocaust Museum – 1938 Conference to solve jewish refugee crisis in Germany – not my problem said Australia and all other developed countries

Holocaust Museum – in May 1939 Jews escaping “night of broken glass” board a ship carrying them to Cuba with correct documentation but are not allowed to land they then try the USA but are also rejected – they return to Belgium, Holland and UK – many are later killed in the holocaust

Holocaust Museum – Viennese Jews waiting in line to get correct immigration documents to get into USA and other developed countries – document standards raised to make them too hard to get so they don’t get out

Holocaust Museum – being taken away to be shot – a quarter of 6 million died this way

Holocaust Museum – LA newspaper 1938 – Nazi’s warning about what will happen if Jews are not taken by developed countries

Holocaust Museum – Pictures of people from a village where everyone was killed

Holocaust Museum – 5,000 jewish people saved by this French protestant priest and his wife

Holocaust Museum – Swedish diplomat saved the lives of nearly 100,000 Jewish people in Hungary – disappeared when Soviet Union took control at the end of the war.

Holocaust Museum – the Danish people treated the jewish people in their country as part of their community – when tipped off that a round up was going to happen the Danes ferried the Jewish people to neutral Sweden – most Danish Jews survived the war

Holocaust Museum – People who helped the Jews

Holocaust Museum – People who helped the Jews

Holocaust Museum

Holocaust Museum

Outside the Holocaust Museum

Daughters of American Revolution Museum

Daughters of American Revolution Museum

Glenn gets up close to the White House (in the White House museum)

Andrew Jackson monument in La Fayette Park