Cultural Pluralism

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nCultural Pluralism

nIntroduction

nThe Holocaust was the organized, bureaucratic, state driven persecution and execution of six million Jews by the Nazi administration and its agents (www.britannica.com, 2014). The Nazis, who rose to command in Germany in 1933, held that Germans were superior while the Jews were inferior on the basis of race, therefore being viewed as a foreign threat. During the holocaust period, German authorities also sidelined other groups because of alleged racial subordination (www.britannica.com, 2014). Other groups were maltreated on ideological, political, and behavioral grounds including socialists, communists, and homosexuals. Consequently, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum was established to provide for the records, study and interpretation of the Holocaust account. It devotes in assisting leaders and citizens globally to confront discrimination, avert genocide, enhance human dignity, and reinforce democracy. The paper will give an outline of the general experience, new ideas and perspective learned in the museum (www.britannica.com, 2014).

nOverview Experience in the Museum

nI arrived at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and I took the industrial steel elevator to commence the tour on the fourth floor. However, for a moment it seemed as confining as the railroad boxcars that led many Jews to their execution. As I eased the way, through the history the exhibitions narrate, it weighed on me heavily. At the staircase to the museum, a video describes what happened during Holocaust by a camp rescuer who was from a US Army. One wall has a picture of a general making his way into a camp. On the other floor, there is a demonstration that narrates how Adolf Hitlers came to the reins of power and how the Nazi regime continuously exploited the Jews. The quasi-sciences of appearance and eugenics portrayed the Jews as if they are not human being, while considering Aryans race as the superior race.

nA bridge that stretches the forecourt far below is a particular wall that has names of European town that got affected by the Holocaust. Another surface directs people to the most important part of the museum where snapshot stories were being taken in Ejszyszki, which are emotionally intense. The photos capture the vast number of Jews where their persomal informations were revealed. There are also depictions of men and women full of anticipation, and grandfathers by the sides of their grandsons, were destroyed. After going down the elevator to the third floor, I came across a German track vehicle, which was rented by the Germans that is believed to have led Jews and the minority races to the camps.

nIn the museum, I came to a point where I passed under a re-invention from Auschwitz which is a well-known, iconic symbol, from Birkenau (www.foxnews.com, 2009). When I was there, I realized obstructions high to an extent that kids cannot view and artifacts and images detailing the dreadful, and in somewhat impractical medical procedures being operated on the convicts (www.foxnews.com, 2009).

nLesson I Learned of Cultural Diversity

n In the past, I had come across books talking about Holocaust, but now I understand the reality, and I had an imaginary of the worse. The museum elicited many emotions in me to a point where it immersed me in the experience of the Holocaust. It made me wonder if put in the same situation what would happen, but the museum did not answer all those questions but instead it provoked more. I also learnt the cultural diversity can be used for the wrong reason due to bad leadership. However, if we can embrace it positively, it can build a healthy society based on good values and principles (www.foxnews.com, 2009).

nPerspectives

nFirst, the Jewish population felt that God had forsaken them and, therefore, failed to protect them from the brutality, and made it possible for execution of the majority of Jews in Europe. The Holocaust has changed my beliefs as a Christian about the Jews. That whole experience made me more tolerant in different cultures and provoked me for being less ethnocentric when viewing others in the world. There are the stone blocks from the Mauthausen quarry giving an indication to how prisoners were compelled to work and sometimes pressed to their deaths by Schutzstaffel guards.

nNew Ideas Learned in the Museum

n I realized democratic institutions, principles, and human rights are not given, nor are they automatically maintained, rather, they are nurtured, appreciated and preserved (www.shmm.org, 2015). I came to know that silence and triviality to the suffering of others, or to the infringement of human rights in the world, can, irrespective of intention. The boxcar, which has been acknowledged by experts as the same type that was used to transport people to concentration camps shows the firsthand account of Nazi brutality. The Holocaust was not an accident in history but intolerance and prejudice that brought about mass murder (www.shmm.org, 2015).

nEvaluation

n I would like to recommend another student to visit this museum because there are many experiences connected to this site (www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org, 2008). I can encourage Remember the Children exhibition which narrates Daniel story and is meant to explain in detail the Holocaust to middle school and elementary pupils. Although it is a fictional child based on a collection of real stories about youngsters during the Holocaust, it will enable the student to appreciate the importance of freedom and serenity. The student being more or less at the age range that those children were, will resonate with the difficulties that were experienced.

nConclusion

nIn conclusion, the Holocaust is a painful experience that the Jews went through and there should never be any tolerance to it in the present world (www.shmm.org, 2015). Leaders across the globe must work together against hatred and more so discrimination based on tribe or race. The Holocaust museum is very instrumental not only as a reminder of what happened in the past but also as a memorial where people can pay their tribute to the unsung heroes (www.shmm.org, 2015).

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nReferences

nwww.jewishvirtuallibrary.org,. (2008). United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Jewish Virtual. Retrieved 7 August 2015, from United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Jewish Virtual … https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/…/Holocaust/…

nwww.ushmm.org,. (2015). United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 7 August 2015, from http://United States Holocaust Memorial Museum www.ushmm.org/

nwww.britannica.com,. (2014). United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 7 August 2015, from http://United States Holocaust Memorial Museum – Britannica.com www.britannica.com/…/United-States-Holocaus..

nwww.citywalkingguide.com,. (2015). Interesting Facts About the Holocaust Museum. Retrieved 7 August 2015, from Interesting Facts About the Holocaust Museum https://www.citywalkingguide.com/washingtondc/holocaustmuseumfacts

nwww.foxnews.com,. (2009). RAW DATA: Facts About U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 7 August 2015, from http://RAW DATA: Facts About U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum … www.foxnews.com/…/raw-data-facts-about-us-holoca