This is one of those places that we must be on our best behavior. It is a place of silence and respect. A place where these artifacts tell a story of cruelty and hate. But they also tell a story of hope. We have run into survivors on our trips in the past. (Not too many left) A lot of the people working there are children of survivors. So it is very disrespectful for us to be anything other than quiet and polite. If you have a tendency to giggle when you are nervous (not naming names), it will be construed as disrespect.... try to control your nerves.

On the picture above just under the H in Holocaust is an engraving in the stone wall, it is repeated as you get off the elevator on the 3rd floor where you start your journey through the museum.

You will be given a passport card of a person that was in the Holocaust. Each floor has a reading about that person. Follow their story, find out what happened to them.

The people were real. The things the Nazi's did to them were very real. People are, and have been denying that this happened.

Hitler was trying to rid the world of "The Jewish Problem." Hate destroys.

Racism, Hate, Prejudice, Genocide

• Hate-to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme hostility toward; detest

• Prejudice- unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, showing hostility regarding a racial, religious, or national group. 

• Racism- the belief that race accounts for differences in human character or abilities. The belief one race is superior to another.

• Genocide- The deliberate destruction or killing off of a racial, religious, political or cultural group.

The Holocaust

• The systematic state sponsored murder of six million Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators during World War II.

• Holocaust means whole burning, a great or complete devastation or destruction, especially by fire.

• Shoah- The Hebrew term for holocaust

• The Final Solution to the Jewish Problem- the way the Nazis referred to the murder of the Jews

Studying the history of the Holocaust should help you understand that:

1. Democratic institutions and values are not automatically sustained, but need to be appreciated, nurtured, and protected.

2. Silence and indifference to the suffering of others, or to the infringement of civil rights in any society can, however unintentionally, perpetuate the problems.

3. The Holocaust was not an accident in history. It occurred because individuals, organizations, and governments made choices that not only legalized discrimination but also allowed prejudice, hatred, and ultimately mass murder to occur.

4 Legalized Stages of the Holocaust

1. Definition (identification)- Jews had to register for identity cards and have visible symbols such as the yellow star on their clothing. This caused them to be separated from others.

2. Expropriation- The property and livelihood of the Jews was taken away. They could not hold certain jobs, live in certain places, own businesses, have bank accounts.

3. Concentration- Jewish students could not go to school, travel was restricted, could not own phones, cameras, radios, pets. Moved from the countryside to ghettos in the cities. Worked as slave laborers.

4. Annihilation- Organizing of mass killings of Jews and others. These events took place by mobile killing units and by victims being transported to killing centers.

 The decision for this to take place began on January 20, 1942 at Wannsee, a private villa outside of Berlin. Fifteen high ranking Nazis met and developed the “Final solution to the Jewish problem”. The documents they produced were used at the Nuremberg war crime trials. Hitler had already stated in his book, Mein Kampf, in which he wrote that “the final objective must be the removal of the Jews altogether”. Most of these fifteen men held doctorates from German universities. They were considered the Reich’s best and brightest.

Propaganda

• Propaganda-the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person.

• Hitler and Goebbels were experts at using propaganda. They used it to influence the German people. They directed a lot of their propaganda at children.

• Goebbels- Hitler's minister of propaganda, had a famous saying "If you tell a lie often enough, people will believe it."

The Exhibition starts on the 3rd floor and covers the things before WWII.

How many titles can you get right?

This is what I like to call Dr. Seuss for Nazi's

It is on your right hand side as you go down the first hallway after getting off of the elevator- make sure you look for it.

The Poisonous Mushroom taught kids to hate Jews.

How many of you were born hating another person?

What to look for as you go through the Museum:

Just passed the "Poisonous Mushroom" you will come upon a room that highlights "Kristalnact"- The Night of the Broken Glass." 

Just passed that is the Voyage of the St. Louis

Kristallnacht- Night of the broken glass

After that exhibit you'll finish off the 3rd floor with the Nazi Euthanasia and sterilization projects, it is just some really nice terms for murdering people with physical or mental problems so they would not be a drain on the country,