The Holocaust Memorial Museum: An Emotional Roller Coaster

I first visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on a field trip in 8^th grade. I don't remember much about that trip, because to be honest, I was a self involved teenager more interested in hanging out with my friends. However, my visit to this museum did have an emotional impact on me, to what effect I would not realize until I visited it with my family several years later. This museum is not just about the Jews. Many groups of people were persecuted during the holocaust and this museum shows the horrors they lived through. A person cannot leave this museum without shedding tears, because this museum truly is an emotional roller coaster but it is important as well, and every person should visit it.

In order to avoid having to navigate the crowds and visit the museum twice, you should pay for your pass online, ordering it a few days before your trip. Once you do have your pass, make sure you are in the appointed place and the right time. The crowds can be a bit overwhelming at first, but the trip is definitely worth it. Try to distance yourself from the crowds a bit, taking your time, reading the signposts and really getting into the whole experience. We need to understand the mistakes made in the past, so we do not repeat them.

In the main exhibit area, you'll see how people lived under Nazi control. It is horrific, mind blowing, graphic and may make some people uncomfortable, but it is a period in history that all of humankind needs to know about. This is robbery, slavery, and murder on a large scale directed at those the reigning power used as a false common rallying point to further the cause of the reigning power. If the queue to visit the main exhibit is too much for you, go see the side exhibits. There is a wonderful exhibit on how one young boy lived in the Jewish ghetto. It's mostly hands-on, with buttons and walk through exhibits and really gives you a good idea of what this little boy had to go through in this concentration camp.

Another emotional exhibit is the walk through the gas chambers. As you step into the gas chambers you hear voices, people pleading, stories of the people that were killed during the holocaust and you can actually feel what these people must have felt during this time. This was the most emotional part for me, and I was crying the entire time. To know that people could have done this to other people, just because they were of a different race or religion is saddening beyond belief.

A good aspect of this museum is nothing is made up for plot purposes. All of the exhibits and stories are based on real life events. We can experience, as closely as is possible, what people that lived during the holocaust went through. It is gloomy and heartbreaking, but it also makes us grateful and thankful that we live in the world we do today.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is a must see for everyone, history buffs, immigrants, for people from all social and ethnic groups. We have to understand our past if we have any hopes of preventing such things from occurring again. Small children may not like the museum, as most of them will not understand it, nor why the adults they are with are crying, but for older teenagers and adults this is a wonderful place to visit. It offers a glimpse into the human psyche and lets us know what true suffering is, as well as helping us understand our past mistakes so that they do not happen again.