Micah Corps' Response to the Holocaust Museum

Today, the Micah Corps was fortunate to get to travel to the National Zoo as well as the Holocaust Museum. At the Holocaust Museum, each member had a very different and emotional response to the subject. While it was hard to get through, we have decided to each post a paragraph explaining a bit about our experience there.

Elena's Response

After a long walk, finally we got to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. It was interesting how since the moment that we got out the elevator the darkness of the building reflected the sadness of this part of history. We got to see the roots and the impacts of this event. Poverty led people’s minds in wrong directions, at least I think so. But, one thing that I do not get is how evil people can turn once they have power. They were the authorities and they didn’t practice justice. And just as people, they should love their neighbors. All we have to do is follow what Micah 6:8 says, “To act justly, love kindness, and walk humbly with God”.

Elizabeth's Response

At the Holocaust Museum today, I was very moved by much of the museum. However, I found I had two experiences where I felt the most emotion and connection to the history. There was a roomthat contained the shoes of the victims. I had been told about this room by a friend before going, but I was unaware that it would cause so much emotion in me. There were so many more that I thought there would be! The shoes were the sole reminder of the people. The first thing I noticed on entering the room was the smell; leather so powerful it was almost overwhelming. This smell has always in the past made me very hapy but today it had a sobering effect. It made me realize that the people that were killed during that time, were just that, people. They were not stories that were told to us, but real living breathing, shoe-wearing people. The quote on the wall behind that shoes really solidified that. It was from Yiddish Poet Moshe Szulsztein, entitled We Are the Shoes. It said "...because we are only made from fabric and leather, and not of blood and flesh, each one of us avoided the hellfire." This line really struck me because it is the truth. Those shoes were not living humans, they were object, so in my mind, they are disposable (better to recycle), however, instead of the shoes being taken and burned, the humans were. This whole experience was incredibly sobering, however, I feel it has reinforced my belief that every person should be treated with the utmost respect, whether they are someone you like or not. I think this is especially important on our justice journey this summer because all of our topics relate to those who are not being treated with the respect that they deserve. We must always remember that children, immigrants and those impacted by poor environmental stewardship are all people just like us, no matter what they believe or where they are from.

Jonathan's Response

Today was one of those days that makes you very humble and thankful. After all we experienced and learned it was humbling and terrifying to learn about the systems in place that allowed for all of those that died in the Holocaust. Quite frankly, I was overwhelmed by the Holocaust Museum. I have written reports on the Holocaust, read books on the Holocaust, and watched many movies/documentaries on the Holocaust, but none of it truly prepared me for all the things I saw and heard at the museum. The reason I felt this way is because it is hard to comprehend the biggest and most tragic event in human history. After digging into social justice issues this summer in the Micah Corps and visiting the museum assures me that justice is something that must always be pursued. 

Katie's Response

Going into the Holocaust Museum...I didn't really know what my reaction would be to everything we were about to see. We got in an elevator to go up to the three floor permanent exhibition and when we got out of the elevator we were greeted by a black wall. It was simple and just had a quotation on it along with a picture, but right then could immediately feel a weight on my shoulders. I honestly didn't think that I would get too emotional because already knew what had happened during the Holocaust from school- I didn't think any of it was going to be a surprise. I had seen pictures of some of the horrific things done to the prisoners but they rarely had captions underneath of them to tell the story of those pictured. There was a wall toward the beginning of the exhibit which had various pictures on it of prisoners. One was a man looking straight into the camera and the caption said that the picture was taken shortly before the man was murdered by the Nazis. There were also pictures of prisoners being lined up for execution in a wooded area. This really got to me because when the picture was taken that moment was frozen in time and it was as if, by reading the captions, I knew their fate before they did. My gut instinct told me to help them but when common sense came around and I understood there was nothing that I could do...that gave me an inexplicable feeling that I hope I never have to endure again. At another part of the exhibit, there was a box car which was used to transport prisoners to one of the concentration camps. The way to move on through the exhibit was to walk through the car so I did. When I got inside the rail car I was so overcome with emotion that I couldn't move. The gravity of the situation was too much- I was standing where so many others had helplessly been before, crammed into this tiny car unaware of their fate. I could see them and hear their cries... I think that will be a memory that will haunt me for a long time. The only part of the exhibit that I really knew about was the room of shoes and the display about hair so I was anxious to see what those were really like. The shoe exhibit was shocking, but what really got to me was the hair. Now, it was just a panoramic picture of the multitudes of hair taken from the prisoners before or shortly after they had died. What impacted me, though was what they used the hair for- mattress padding, car bumpers, and a ton of other things. My first and pretty much only reaction to this was, "These were real and meaningful human beings and they killed them but kept their hair?!" What I mean is I don't understand how these human beings were just tossed aside like garbage yet their HAIR was important enough to keep. My final thought is from a "movie" they had which showed pictures of the medical experiments they did on the prisoners. One doctor ordered 80 of them to be killed so he could do experiments on them. The pictures shown at first were of experiments they did on live people..but then they showed pictures of limbs and abdomens in piles and that is when I had to walk away. It was..and still is..unfathomable to me how those people were treated like they were disposable! The people in charge acted as if the prisoners were there for them to do anything they desired...even if that meant killing them so they could tear apart their bodies. Things like this make me lose so much faith in the human race- how can we treat our brothers and sisters like that? We are all God's children and because we were all made in God's image we are ALL EQUAL. I just can't comprehend how someone could have thought otherwise. And I guess it is one thing to not like someone because they are different than you..but to torture and murder them? I just don't understand. However, the fact that (even though it took a while) other countries came into the picture and were physically fighting against this cruelty makes me believe that there are people who will step up to fight for what is right when the time arises.

Adam's Response

The walk through the holocaust museum was extremely moving. To see actual shoes of the prisoners, to walk through one of the boxcars that was used to transport the people to the camps, to hear the testimonies of living survivors, was emotionally crushing. It is unfathomable that some human being could put so many other people through such an ordeal. After looking at all of the exhibits, my knowledge of the holocaust has been changed for ever. Even though it was difficult to take in everything seen today, I still believe this was one of the best experiences I could possibly have had while in D.C.

Tori's Response

Today was eye-opening for me. Although many people have heard of the Holocaust, and perhaps even studied it intensely, it is not often that we apply the happenings back then to what goes on in our current world. It is more likely that we will reflect on the past and feel sympathy for what happened to the persecuted. This is exactly what I had always done. Today, however, something else struck me. Perhaps due to my work in social justice through the Micah Corps, or perhaps simply because of the timing of this message, I was illuminated to the idea that in order to prevent those persecuted during the Holocaust from dying in vain, I needed to change my way of looking at the world today. Even in my daily life I see acts of injustice on a smaller scale. One of the most disappointing realizations I had today was that people all over the world during the time of the Holocaust had the notion and even concrete evidence that Jews and other minorities were being brutally persecuted in Eastern Europe, however, a vast majority refused to act, and often to even believe that such an atrocity was going on. One of the exhibits showed a poll taken in the United States at the time of the Holocaust. 95% of Americans felt that the atrocities happening toward the Jews should be stopped, however 77% voted that visas should not be granted to Jewish refugees. This lack of taking action in a time where our brothers and sisters in the world were in pain is incredibly sobering. However, there were stories of joy and courage, in which strong-willed, compassionate, otherwise everyday common people helped to save Jews and other persecuted peoples, risking their own lives in the process. God calls us, like these people, to take action against the 'least of these' just as Jesus did.

"...Then the righteous will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and gave you drink, a stranger and took you home, or naked and clothed you?’ And the king will answer, ’I tell you this—anything you did for one of my brothers here, however humble, you did for me."

-Matt. 25:37-40

This quote stuck with me today. A Jewish Holocaust survivor in a documentary at the museum was telling a story of a 10-year-old Jewish boy who he watched over throughout the years of the Holocaust. He said that one day, the boy asked him,"What is a Jew? And why am I here?" The man started to choke up as he told the rest of the story. He said that he told the boy he was circumcized...that he was a Jew. The boy didn't understand what that meant, so the man told him he was born Jewish, and that was simply who he was. The boy was still perplexed so he replied,"That's why I'm here? That's why they killed my parents?"

It is vital to remember that all people are made in the image of God, and our visit to the Untied States Holocaust Memorial Museum was a great reminder of what can happen when we lose sight of that.

Micole's Response

Today we visited the Holocaust Museum. The minute I hit the fourth floor, I felt the heaviness. I have read and watched much on the Holocaust, but I never cease to be impacted by the whole thing. How could we let this atrocity happen? I walked around reading the information, seeing the pictures, and watching the videos, frequently on the verge of tears. The Holocaust was started by one man who had hate in his heart and thought certain people matter less than others. Sadly, that hate is a very real problem in our own country. Gays. Mexicans. Uneducated. The poor. Regardless of what you believe, there is no denying that these groups and many more are often looked down on.

At the end of the tour, there was a room with recent and current genocides that are happening around the world, and the question was posed: What will you do to help meet the challenge of genocide today? Honestly, I don't know what I can do about those genocides. But I thought of the marginalized people here in our own country. I was still overwhelmed by the responsibility to do something. As a teacher, I believe I have the opportunity to make a difference and effect positive change in my community. So what will I do? I will address hate and discrimination in my classroom and teach love and acceptance. It may seem small, but every year I have the chance to teach love and acceptance to 30+ students. That love and acceptance has the potential to grow in place of hate and discrimination.