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In August of 2000, I had the opportunity to go to Washington, D.C. for a child care conference. I rode to D.C. with a girlfriend of mine, Bonnie Giles and we went a couple of days early so that we would have the chance to do some sight-seeing. It was the second of many opportunities to visit there - the first being with Mom, Nancy and Aunt Rachel.
One of the places we visited was the Holocaust Museum which is a must see for anyone visiting that city. You need to set aside several hours to work your way through the museum and view and listen to the many displays.
The "Tower of Faces" is a three-floor-high segment of the permanent exhibition at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum devoted to the Jewish community of the Lithuanian town of Eisiskes, which was massacred by units of the German Einsatzgruppe and their Lithuanian auxiliaries in two days of mass shootings on September 25 and 26, 1941.
The exhibit consists of approximately 1,000 reproductions of prewar photographs of Jewish life. The photographs in this exhibit document the life of a Jewish community that existed prior to the occupation by the German Army in the last week of June 1941. On the eve of the Jewish New Year in September 1941, the community was ordered to surrender all its valuables. The following morning all Jews were ordered to assemble in the main synagogue and its two houses of study. Another 1,000 Jews from two neighboring towns and crowded into the three buildings. For the next two days the 4,000-4,500 Jews were held without food or water. On the third day the killing action began with the mass shooting of all the men at the old Jewish cemetery. The next day the women and children were taken out and shot near the Christian cemetery. Only 29 Jews escaped the slaughter.
Display of concentration camp prisoner uniforms.
Detail of the scale model of crematorium II at Auschwitz-Birkenau on display. This model, which is a recreation of the sculptor's model that has been on display in the State Museum of Auschwitz for many years.
The railcar is one of several types of freight cars used to deport Jews to ghettos and concentration camps.
A collection of valises belonging to Jews who were deported to death camps, that are displayed at the base of the railcar.
Detail of the "Murder of the Handicapped" segment, featuring a register and photographs of euthanasia victims.
The shoes, about 3,000, taken from the Jews before being gassed at the killing centers.
I don't know how anyone can leave the museum without being affected by what they've seen.
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