Transcript United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum
Why?
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“Bring to life the brutality of the
Holocaust and movingly illustrate the
terrible fate of Jews in World War II
Nazi Germany.”
Goals
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“Document, study, and interpret the
history of the Holocaust”
Memorial to millions of Jews killed in
Holocaust
Committee on Conscience:
genocide research
The beginning…
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October ’78
President Carter – Holocaust
miniseries
Consults advisors
Result:
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60-member commission formed
Chairman: Elie Wiesel,
Holocaust survivor
Controversy
No need for memorial:
U.S. was not involved in the Holocaust
vs.
“There has to be a place that generates a
pulse continuously about these kind of
issues [oppression].”
- Mark Talisman, founding
vice-chairman of museum
Plans made…
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Congress approved project - 1981
Architect chosen: James Ingo Freed
Freed witnessed Kristallnacht as young
boy
Moved to United States
- Studied architecture
- Worked on many notable
architectural projects
Freed’s vision…
“The intent of the building is to
be a resonator of your own
imagery, of your own memory.”
Freed’s design
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Visited Auschwitz and designed the
museum with institutional concrete –
glass, steel, stark, gray
– like a concentration camp
Hexagon shape –
like the Jewish star
Outside vs. Inside
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Exterior: clean lines,
like nearby buildings
Interior: sometimes
“claustrophobic,” sometimes
“soaringly majestic” to elicit
emotional response
Upon entering…
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Each visitor receives a different card
– each card shows a different Jewish
person involved in the Holocaust
Four Floors
Trace history of Holocaust
4th floor – beginning :1933-1940
Early years of Nazi rule
Exclusion of Jews from society
and buildup to World War II
Third Floor
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“Final Solution”
1940 – 1945
Concentration camps, killing centers,
ghettos, transport boxcar
Second Floor
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Hall of Remembrance
Post-war years:
resistance, rescue, liberation
First Floor
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Hall of Witness:
Testimony of Holocaust survivors
A reminder of WHY
“We must make sure that from now
until the end of days all humankind
stares this evil in the face…and only
then can we be sure it will never
arise again.”
- President Ronald Reagan: Remarks at the site
of the future United States Holocaust Museum,
October 5, 1988