September 15, 2022 ~ Written by Amy
One does not “visit” or “tour” this museum. To enter through the doors of this somber
building is to “feel”. Whether or not
tears show on your cheeks as you travel the dark corridors of this massive place
or not, you will weep inside if you have a soul.
There are myriad of rooms, lighted only enough for safe
passage through, that depict the atrocities done by humans, to humans. Thousands of photos, news articles, recorded
voices, and artifacts attempt to explain the incomprehensible.
Passing through the rooms is chilling, horrifying and sorrowful.
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| Burning Jewish books |
I am not a historian, and will not attempt to educate with
this post, but rather share some of the photos that we took.
Jarret, Tabitha and I spent three quiet
hours, but if time, as well as physical and emotional energy permitted, we
could have been there for twice as long.
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Caption: Youngsters were exposed to Nazi ideology from and early age.
These children are reading The Poisonous Mushroom, and antisemitic picture book 1937? |
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In order to create a "Perfect Race", physical characteristics were measured and compared.
Here swatches of hair are being used to see if this woman's is acceptable or not. |
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| Eye color and nose width are taken into account |
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| Size and shape of head |
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Following Kristallnacht, November 9-10, 1938, where Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues
were freely smashed and vandalized, Jewish people were required to pay for the destruction. |
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| Scrolls of the Torah, thrown from a synagogue |
Wording on large plaque on photo below: "The Reinhardt and Winterstein families were among the Sinti and Roma (Gypsies) persecuted by the Nazi regime. In 1936 the Criminal Police began registering all "Gypsies", including Gabriel Reinhardt, who was subsequently classified as "full blooded Gypsy". Several years later his family's "Gypsy" orchestra was banned from performing.
In 1942, Gabriel and his fiancee, Theresia Winterstein, had to apply for special permission to marry, which was granted under the condition that she be sterilized. Pregnant with twins, Theresia agreed to the stipulation. The infants, Rolanda and Rita, were taken for "scientific" studies to the Wurzburg University Clinic, where Rolanda died, and Theresia was sterilized.
In 1944 other members of the two families were deported to the Auschwitz killing center."
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| Cart used by "Gypsy" families |
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| Display: "Who Was Responsible?" Political Leadership ~ Doctors and Law Enforcement |
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Etched into a glass wall of a walkway, the names of thousands upon thousands
of Jewish towns and villages that were totally obliterated. |
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| Anne Frank |
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| Ghetto wall |
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| Tools of the trade were brought into the ghettoes. There was a hope that if you made yourself useful to the Nazis, your life may be spared. This machine was used to sew Nazi uniforms. |
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| Train car used to transport the condemned to the concentration camps |
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| Cart used to haul belongings to a concentration camp |
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| Three-story bunk from concentration camp |
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| Model (and those in the following photos) depicting the gruesome killing process |
Crematory
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| YOU ARE MY WITNESSES ~ Isaiah 43:10 |
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I have been reading fiction based on fact and a couple autobiographies written by survivors of the ghettos and death camps. I don't know why, but I just got interested in it a while ago. I don't remember titles or authors now, though. A horrific time.
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