Visiting museum a �powerful� experience

Before sunrise on Saturday, September 30, 45 Seton Hill University (SHU) students headed to Washington D.C. on the school’s annual trip. The primary target for most of these students was the United States (US) Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The US Holocaust Memorial Museum, designed by architect James Ingo Freed of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, uses the architecture of the building and artwork in addition to the displays in order to give visitors as true of a view as possible of the Holocaust. Freed was a survivor of Kristallnacht, or the �Night of Broken Glass.�


By Diana Geleskie,
Senior Staff Writer
Before sunrise on Saturday, September 30, 45 Seton Hill University (SHU) students headed to Washington D.C. on the school’s annual trip. The primary target for most of these students was the United States (US) Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The US Holocaust Memorial Museum, designed by architect James Ingo Freed of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, uses the architecture of the building and artwork in addition to the displays in order to give visitors as true of a view as possible of the Holocaust. Freed was a survivor of Kristallnacht, or the �Night of Broken Glass.�
Several SHU students who experienced the museum for the first time were on the trip as part of a class’s syllabus. Sr. Lois Sculco’s Memory and Hope �Senior Seminar� class had the option of visiting the museum as an out-of-class experience. Another class that included the experience was Carol Brode’s Art of the Holocaust.
The museum offers an unguided trip through the Nazi Assault of 1933-1939, the Final Solution of 1940 – 1945, and the Last Chapter and aftermath of the Holocaust. Every stage of the journey offers powerful images.
Senior Laura Fleming said, �While the photos of mass burials were the most shocking, the image that left a lasting impression on me was being able to view the objects once owned by the imprisoned Jews. Seeing the suitcases and shoes used by the people who suffered as terribly as they did was very powerful.�
Instead of the traditional museum layout, the beginning of this self-guided Holocaust revealing is in an overly crowded elevator. Groups are put into an elevator and sent up the exhibits, the close proximity adding to the discomfort of the visitors, as if they are also now a part of the display. The layout continues to herd visitors through, making staying together in a group extremely difficult. The purpose of this kind of setup is to make visitors feel a fraction of the confusion that victims of the Holocaust felt. In order to give a full and more personal view of the Holocaust, the museum gives out passports to every visitor containing information about a victim, following them throughout each stage of the Holocaust.
�I liked seeing the quotes on the wall,� said Joel Brown, a senior. �I liked seeing what people were actually saying at the time.�
�I tried to place myself in their very shoes. I can’timagine that kind of emotional and physical pain,� Fleming said.
The museum tries to offer as many different mediums to portray the Holocaust.
For senior Jenny Hill, the most interesting display wasn’tan image.
�The most interesting exhibit was sitting listening to people tell their stories, in their own words and voice, while reading along,� said Hill.
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