Shooting at Holocaust Museum: A War Child's Reflection

As the disturbing news of Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting broke on Wednesday, I was in my living room watching the news coverage. The details were shocking, that an 88-year-old World War II veteran gun down a security guard at the museum. The information that followed was nothing but shocking, disturbing and scary. James Von Brunn, the alleged gunman, spent years of his life as a white supremacist and as well as a felon. He was someone who fought against the Nazis, hated Jews and blacks, and entered the Holocaust Museum with a plan to cause nothing but harm.

Washington, DC, our country's magnificent capital, is filled with many educational museums run by the Smithsonian. Living in south central Pennsylvania has given me the privilege of being less than two hours drive from Washington, DC. This short distance has especially been beneficial to our local schools, making school trips to Washington, DC, common and affordable to plan. The Washington museums have been something my family has frequently visited, especially the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

My family immigrated to this country in 1995, from Bosnia, and we were war refugees who experienced genocide on our skins. The Holocaust cannot be compared, but genocide is terrible and costs civilian lives. We always understood the Holocaust on a different, deeply emotional level, as we ourselves understood what it is like to go through a war and to live through the atrocities committed.

I remember my first trip to the museum, with my fellow schoolmates in particular. We were in 9th grade, and our history teacher spent weeks preparing us for the trip, as well as teaching us about the devastation caused during the Holocaust.

Several specific memories have always stayed with me. The first one is when all of the students were handed ID cards, with real information of real people who lived during the Holocaust. As we went through the exhibits, we were told to turn the pages of our ID cards in order to learn what happened to the person whose information we were holding. Some of the ID cards were for children, many of them our age. Sadly, at the end of the exhibit, many of the ID cards indicated that the person was killed and did not survive the Holocaust.

I also remember how hundreds of young teenagers, in a public place no less, were so well-behaved. We all understood that we were entering a special place, and that our attitudes and our behavior had to be respectful. I was impressed by how well my fellow schoolmates handled themselves, but for me the experience was deeply emotional.

I remember how all of us were horrified to see the crematorium exhibit, with the ovens where Jewish people were burnt. One particular exhibit, the large pile of shoes, caused all of our students to start crying. We sobbed, as the shoes represented something so real, and a physical attachment to the victims of the Holocaust.

Walking through the Holocaust museum brought back memories of years of my life spent in a war zone. Labor camps, killings, genocide, women and children brutally murdered, it all came back, and the memories that will never be erased, caused me to have deep respect for the museum.

I will never lose my (horrible) memories of being a war child, and having to fight to survive. My family has been affected, and forever changed by war. I believe this is why my family has always spoken out against those who deny the Holocaust. How do you deny that the Holocaust happened? The world should be committed to not allowing such an atrocity to happen, never again.

The Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting made me feel sad, and angry. Angry that there are individuals out there who think like James Von Brunn, or agree with his hateful views.

The Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, has always been a place that I deeply respect. As a war survivor, I have felt a deep emotional connection to the museum that stands to educate people about the horrors of war and the horrible things that happened during the Holocaust.