United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Like Pelagialucia I was an emotional wreck visiting this place. and i’m getting choked up just writing this. When you walk in, the atmosphere is overwhelming and beyond moving. especially to have family lost to the holocaust, I had to sit and cry. I was bawling this place is so moving. They have the sweetest employees including an older lady who just walked up with a box of tissues and gave me a huge hug as I cried after finding my Great-grandmothers name on the list from Auschwitz. And even the people who dont have family lost, they feel this connection being there. I had people come up and give me hugs and you could see the emotion behind their eyes. I had to leave after because I was such a mess, but I keep feeling this pull, wanting me to come back. like I have to finish what I had started by going back and going through the rest of the Museum.

If you visit, no matter who you are, take a friend or family member who you can use for support and visa-versa. you’re going to need a shoulder to lean on when you go through here. Its beyond moving and one of the most important landmarks in the DC area.

I’ve only been once. It was a 7th grade school field trip to coincide with our reading “Anne Frank”. When we went (about 12 years ago), they gave us each an identification booklet with the name/photo/personal history of an actual Holocaust victim. The museum was separated into 3 stories and you go from the ground up with each level representing a different time during the war. Your ID booklet follows along with the 3 levels. Each page pertains to a floor level which tells you what happened to that person during that time. I remember getting to the end of my booklet at the 3rd level to discover that the woman, whose last name was Katz, was killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. They do not sugar coat it for you, which is actually good because you get to feel the reality of what happened. My favorite exhibits were the pieces of actual barracks where the people were housed and most memorably, the piles of shoes taken from the people as they entered the camps. The shoes had a distinct smell about them, as if they had just been taken off. The museum succeeds in trying to put you in the middle of it all. I remember coming out thinking, “Wow! It’s astounding what mankind is capable of!” I want to go back and take my husband sometime soon.

Really, really interesting if you’re intrigued at all by the Holocaust.

The most impactful museum I’ve ever visited. I’ve been multiple times and always consider it worth it.

The company I worked for donated the photographs for the Museum. It moved all of us to be a part of this project. As crazy as it sounds, there was to be no retouching—digital or otherwise—of the photographs. This was to dissuade any of the minority who claim the Holocaust never existed from saying the photos were not real. My first time through changed me forever. All the major donors are acknowledged with a simple small sign at the end. And that is even more than any of them wanted. Proud doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel about people and companies who partnered to create this living memorial. If you go, and you are lucky enough to talk to a Survivor afterwards, spend the time. It is running out quickly…