Holocaust Museum Review

By Marley & Vida

Mel Mermelstein

Holocaust Museum of Orange County

Art Through Pain

At the holocaust museum I learned about what really happened to Jews during World War II, which opened up my mind about the real events that killed more than six million jews and a countless number of other people who were the “enemies” of the Nazis.

The group I was chosen to be in walked down a blank hall into a small room. On the floor was a big rectangle of tape that almost filled the entirety of the room. Then our tour guide told us to get in the rectangle of tape and asked us what we thought it was the size of. No one guessed correctly, but the correct answer was the carts used to deliver more than one hundred jews at a time to concentration camps. The tour guide then proceeded to tell us the terrible things that happened to jews when they arrived at these camps. Including the terrible ways that killed many of them, like cramming something like a bathhouse with jews, and using the showerheads and pesticides to kill mass amounts of them.

When our tour guide was done talking about the concentration camps she told us about a brave man named Mel Mermelstein who survived these camps and was able to, despite his trauma, bring back items found from Auschwitz, the concentration camp he survived. As my group walked through the room, we were not only able to see and hear about what really happened during the holocaust but feel it too. We were able to feel the bowls used to serve sand soup, the electric fence that was slowly destroyed by the weather over time, and the ashes of people like Mel’s parents and siblings who sadly weren't able to survive. On the wall hung the colors of badges each type of person the Natzi’s called enemies, got. Today to think of how so many innocent people, just trying to get through life were killed, just because of their beliefs or looks, makes me sad and angry.

After the exhibit a lady, a second generation survivor of the holocaust, told us the story of her parents and things they had to go through as jews. Even before they were sent to a concentration camp she told us about how her parents went through things such as being treated unfairly, the change of their passports, and the rule of having an additional middle name that showed they were jewish. We saw the stars that jews were required to wear and the hand righting of her grandma that also survived the concentration camps. The lady told us about how grateful she was to get to share her parents stories, and help us learn about the holocaust.

Overall I am glad I was able to expand my knowledge of the holocaust and the terrible things that happened to mostly jews, just because of what they believed in.

By Vida

At the holocaust museum I learned about what really happened to jews during World War Two, which opened up my mind about the real events that killed more than six million jews and a countless number of other people that were the “enemies” of the Nazis.

The group I was chosen to be in walked down a blank hall into a small room. On the floor was a big rectangle of tape that almost filled the entirety of the room. Then our tour guide told us to get in the rectangle of tape and asked us what we thought it was the size of, no one guessed correctly, but the correct answer was the carts used to deliver more than one hundred jews at a time to concentration camps. The tour guide then proceeded to tell us the terrible things that happened to jews when they arrived at these camps. Including the terrible ways that killed many of them, like cramming something like a bathhouse with jews, and using the showerheads and pesticide to kill mass amounts of them.

When our tour guide was done talking about the concentration camps she told us about a brave man named Mel Mermelstein who survived these camps and was able to, despite his trauma, bring back items found from Auschwitz, the concentration camp he survived. As my group walked through the room we were not only able to see and hear about what really happened during the holocaust but feel it too. We were able to feel the bowls used to serve sand soup, the electric fence that was slowly destroyed by the weather over time, and the ashes of people like Mel’s parents and siblings who sadly weren't able to survive. On the wall hung

the colors of badges each type of person the Natzi’s called enemies, got. Today to think of how so many innocent people, just trying to get through life were killed, just because of their beliefs or looks, makes me sad and angry.

After the exhibit a lady, a second generation survivor of the holocaust, told us the story of her parents and things they had to go through as jews. Even before they were sent to a concentration camp she told us about how her parents went through things such as being treated unfairly, the change of their passports, and the rule of having an additional middle name that showed they were jewish. We saw the stars that jews were required to wear and the hand righting of her grandma that also survived the concentration camps. The lady told us about how grateful she was to get to share her parents stories, and help us learn about the holocaust.

Overall I am glad I was able to expand my knowledge of the holocaust and the terrible things that happened to mostly jews, just because of what they believed in.

By Vida