October 31, 2003

Road Trip - Day 27: Neewollah* in D.C.

Oh, the inhumanity!

I wish I was teasing, but sadly, I am not. Today we visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C. I had seen many pictures and movies, etc. on the Holocaust, but the exhibit at this museum was beyond anything I had seen before. While the content was extremely graphic, it was, amazingly enough, tastefully done. The most graphic footage was situated such that one had to actively peer over a chest-high wall to see it. While I had become somewhat de-sensitized to the pictures of the living human skeletons that were rescued in 1945, and even the photos of the naked dead bodies piled high, some of the other footage was so much worse I almost could not watch.

As one quote from the period following the liberation stated, "...exaggeration would be nearly impossible." That's how horrific it was.

But as I said, it was truly tastefully done. In a situation like this one, where the atrocities are so shocking and inconceivable, it would be easy to play upon those most horrible scenes to escalate the natural feelings of empathy and outrage of the viewer. But those who designed this museum did not go down that road.

One of the most moving exhibits was a room full of shoes. Shoes that had been taken from the men, women, and children who were victimized, traumatized, and killed. Another startlingly moving exhibit was an actual train car that had been used to transport the Jews and others to the camps. It was situated such that we were able to walk through it to continue our tour of the museum.

Another exhibit had shelves filled with their belongings. Many of them, apparently having been fooled into thinking they were merely being moved from one location to another, had packed their bags with those things most precious to them, along with other items used in everyday life, like hair brushes and tableware and umbrellas.

And no, in case you're wondering, we did not take the kids into the main part of the museum. I think they could've gone through it, but we opted to spare them the experience at this young age. Once again, however, the museum council had covered this very important "base", having prepared two sections for younger children outside the main exhibit area. The first was "Daniel's Story", the first-person account of a teenaged boy as told through his journal. This exhibit started out showing how Daniel was a boy just like all the other boys, he had a family, a home, games, toys, a school, and friends just like everyone else. Then room by room we were shown how his world began to change, from the beginning where the Jews were labeled with the Star of David and segregated from the rest of society, then on through the end, finally, when he and his family were moved to the ghetto, then put on trains and sent to concentration camps.

Daniel's story had somewhat of a happy ending. He was reunited with his father after the war. But tragically, his mother and sister were killed.

The second age-appropriate area was an exhibit dedicated to the life and story of Anne Frank. Also very well done.

When we arrived, Joel took the kids through the Daniel and Anne exhibits while I went through the main exhibit. Then when I finished, the kids took me through those exhibits while Joel went through the main exhibit. Zach and Jenna both thoroughly enjoyed playing tour guide, taking Mom through the exhibits they had already seen. :-)

Anyway, it was a moving experience, and one none of us will soon forget.

Later in the day, after we had lunch at the food court in the Ronald Reagan Building, we walked over to the Ford's Theater. We arrived in time to hear the last few minutes of a presentation by the park ranger. She told us about how the theater had been sold to the government following the assassination of President Lincoln because the public was outraged at the thought of it being re-opened for business-as-usual. The government then gutted the place--can you imagine?--and turned it into an office building. Sometime later, after the roof caved in, the government decided that perhaps they should rebuild the theater as it had been at the time of the assassination.

After the presentation we walked up the stairs and saw the re-constructed balcony box where President and Mrs. Lincoln sat that fateful night with two of their friends, peacefully watching a play.

Since we had just read all about that, the kids were really excited to see where he had sat.

Across the street was the house where they had taken the President that night. Knowing they would be unable to save his life, they at least wanted to make him as comfortable as possible, instead of carrying him over the rough unpaved streets of the city to get him back to the White House. We didn't go in that house, however. Too many people had flocked over there the moment the presentation was finished.

Following that, we hopped the Metro (subway) back to the hotel to rest for awhile before driving the kids to Alexandria, Virginia. It took a considerable amount of time yesterday, but Joel finally tracked down a harvest celebration at a Christian school there. Zach was dashing in his Anakin Skywalker costume we put together, complete with braid and light saber. Jenna was pretty as a picture in her medieval princess dress. We forgot to pick up some ballet shoes to complete her ensemble, so she had to wear her sneakers. No matter, even ballet shoes could not have made her more beautiful tonight!

Both the kids had lots of fun playing all the games at the festival. The church/school was similar to other bible churches we've attended. The most obvious difference was the ethnic diversity. At least half those in attendance were African Americans, though there were plenty of white people there as well. But we also saw a number of middle-eastern Indians, too. We decided the mix was probably representative of the population in this area.

Although no one went out of their way to make us feel "at home", no one treated us as outcasts, either. The most fun part for Joel and me was the cake walk--even though we didn't win. (Like we needed a cake!)

Anyway, it was a full day, and ended up being a long one too. It was after 9 p.m. by the time we got back to our neck of the woods and found a place to eat dinner. We ended up eating next door at the Holiday Inn's top floor restaurant, The Vantage Point, where we got a birdseye view of the city while we ate.

Tomorrow we head for Lynchburg where we will spend a couple of nights. We are planning to stop at Arlington Cemetery and Monticello on our way out of town since we haven't had time to see them yet.

BTW: "Neewollah" is "Halloween" backwards. Our church in Texas celebrated this holiday by "turning Halloween around for Jesus." We liked that so much, we've adopted it in our family.

Second, today is Joel's re-birthday! He is 15 years old in Jesus today. So Happy Re-Birthday, Joel!