Visiting the Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC

Of the many museums in Washington DC, the Holocaust Memorial Museum was one of my favorites. The museum peaked my interested mostly because the Holocaust is a commonly studied subject in high school. Though I may not have caught every detail in my younger day, I did remember enough that the Holocaust Memorial Museum could fill in the gaps of detail that I did not remember. Therefore, this was one of the few Washington DC Museums where I spent the time reading the descriptions. The museum’s permanent exhibit covers details from the story behind Adolph Hitler, to the spread of his power, to the fall of his power, to the trials afterward, to what is still happening in today.

Compared to other museums, the Holocaust Memorial Museum was my favorite because it is simple to follow with a combination of video, recovered items, and short descriptions. From the free ticket entrance, there is a short introductory video followed by exhibits designed to guide guests through the same path that snakes through three floors. The historic photographs are overlayed with arrows that describe the details of the picture. The only negative aspect of the directed path is that some hallways were both interesting, but too narrow causing a bottleneck of people. Other than that, completely informative.

The Holocaust Memorial Museum itself is amazing. It has a unique look on both the inside and the outside. Since I visited during the high season, passes were required to enter the permanent exhibit. We arrived around 10am, and got tickets for 11:30. While we waited for the permanent exhibit, there was another exhibit for kids that followed the diary of a young boy as he lived and survived the Holocaust.

In addition to Holocaust related exhibits, the museum pushes people to action to other acts of genocide around the world today that get less attention. From what you learned about the Holocaust, what are you doing to prevent it from happening again?