LAST FIELD STUDIES (unreal): Holocaust Memorial Museum

I cannot believe the day has come! This is so sad! Our time is coming to an end and I want to cry.

But I am so happy we ended our field studies with a bang. The Holocaust Memorial Museum was a great place to visit and a great way to tie everything together. It meant a lot for me to see this place because after being to Auschwitz-Birkenau and learning that the Hungarians accounted for the largest amount of victims, seeing a memorial dedicated to them was really quite fascinating. I was interested to hear that the reason the memorial was built was because the state felt it had to take responsibility for what happened to its Jews in the Holocaust. I was interested to hear from our tour guide that there are people in Budapest that still deny the Holocaust and even go as far as to say that the Jews did it to themselves. Of course we have people like that in America, who deny 9/11 and the Holocaust, but to have people in the country where 430,000 people were deported and murdered, denying that it happened? Thats just absurd.

I think the museum did a wonderful job depicting the events. The fact that it was set up not in chronological order but instead from deprivation of rights to genocide was really neat and it helped to really feel like you were a part of what was happening. I think its a very useful, unique touch. I wish we had more time to walk around and look at things ourselves because I could have spent hours in there reading all the stories and the captions to the photos and the quotes. However, our tour guide was very informative and I was impressed with all her knowledge. So also did a good job incorporating us into her discussion by asking us questions. I cannot stress enough how cool I think it is that we recognize names of the people we see and hear about and actually understand who they are and what they did. Its so awesome to be able to follow along in history and connect everything together because we have learned it so well! I am so happy to know Hungarian history so well- I think its awesome when we see Hero Square and Parliament in photos and videos because we see this stuff every day!

These are the original wooden pews from the Synagogue. 

Names of people who died in the Holocaust that were bring honored in the Synagogue. 

There was only 1 original picture of the synagogue left and from that they were able to restore the synagogue. 

Aside from all the cool things I learned from the tour, I thought a lot about how this visit connected to my tour to Auschwitz.  One thing that really surprised me was that I saw more disturbing things in this memorial museum than in Auschwitz. Of course it was incredibly disturbing to stand inside a gas chamber, not much could top that, and seeing all the human hair and shoes... but some of the photos and video footage I saw today was the most horrifying thing I have seen yet. There was one video that showed bodies being bulldozed into a ditch and they just crumbled and got destroyed beneath the giant machine. That was the most awful thing I have seen yet. I saw babies just hanging off of stretchers and people whose bones were protruding out of their body. Of course I've seen such things as that, but not to the extent I saw today and it was AWFUL.

It also blows my mind how every time I visit somewhere about the Holocaust I learn a million new things. I think the one thing though that I still just can't get over is that the Hungarians accounted for the biggest population of the victims. When I visited Auschwitz and heard the giant number of 430,000 Hungarians I could not believe it- I had no idea. And hearing it again today just reminded me of how awful it was for the country. If you noticed on the map, the poor VIII district really took some bad blows. I understand everything happened there first because Eastern Hungary was closest to the Soviet Union and the Nazi's did not want the Soviets to liberate the Jews.

I am excited to continue learning more, even after I go home about the Holocaust and the other history that comes from Hungary. I would like to visit the US Holocaust Museum now and see how that perspective differs from what I have seen over here. I just think it is so cool- after watching the Agnes movie about the 1956 revolution last night and then being in the memorial museum today and learning about everything that happened from the Hungarian perspective, I feel like I have actually been involved in all of this. I consider this my home and I just strangely have come to feel so involved in all these things we learn about. I have never had a great interest in history- UNTIL NOW. Now I am just so fascinated by this country and how recently it has been fighting for its freedom and I love learning about all of it. It is just so cool and I feel really connected to all of it, which is an awesome thing to realize.

Remembering the Holocaust: from the US Perspective: this is a video from the United States Holocaust Museum- interesting to see a perspective from home. The woman in it says, "memory is what shapes up. memory is what teaches us." We can see a connection to the European mindset of cultural memory and how it has shaped society, what Laszlo has spoken to us about.

I am so thankful for all our great field studies experiences, it has been great. This one is definitely a keeper.  GOOD WORK JSBP, we've done good. LOVE LOVE LOVE.