Week 15: Research

This week I have come to know the librarians and curators at the USHMM quite well. I am currently writing my own research paper as well as helping a fellow staff member with his research. The research topic I am discussing in my personal paper focuses on how prejudice, segregation and anti-Semitic ideals have existed long before Hitler's rise to power. I am looking at past laws and regulations against the Jewish people and comparing them to Hitler's treatment of the Jews up to a certain year. My main research focuses on the struggles of the Jews up until 1941 with the implementation of death camps and the Einsatzgruppen. No event in history can compare to those years following. The museum library has more than enough sources on anti-Semitism, starting from the Roman Empire in 70 CE up until anti-Semitism today. The museum also has one exhibit section that discusses the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an anti-Jewish publication filled with malicious lies about the Jewish people. Published in 1903 the work has been instrumental in fueling the feelings of Jewish hatred and has since then been deemed inaccurate and fabricated, yet is still used today by neo-Nazis and other organizations. Attached to this exhibit is an incredible video of anti-Semitism throughout the millenniums, focusing on the Spanish inquisition, the Protestant reformation (Martin Luther preached many anti-Semitic ideals), and current events. All this research has led to my utmost respect towards Jews and their resilience throughout not just the twentieth century, but throughout thousands of years.

The other research I am partaking in involves the event known as the Orodour-sur-Glane massacre. This was just one massacre that took place in France and resulted in the death of 642 Jews, the youngest being a ten-day old child and the oldest a 91-year-old grandmother. I assisted with finding the names, ages, professions and dates of birth of each victim. In all honesty, the staff member I was working with did most of the research, I mostly helped with typing and organizing the information. This research will be presented at the museum's Day of Remembrance event, held on Yom Hashoah. Yom Hashoah is most commonly known as Holocaust Remembrance Day and takes place every year on the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising. I was fortunate and able to make an extra copy of the sheet to keep for myself.

Besides my own research, I was also fortunate enough to sit in on a fellowship program. The museum has been amazing in providing various enrichment opportunities for us interns and this fellowship program was one of them. The program I attended was given by a PhD student at American University whose research focused on the Austrian police force, specifically their transition of police law after the Anschluss. After her presentation, a question and comment panel ensued and she could hear feedback and suggestions from Holocaust scholars and historians who work for the museum. It was a surreal and intimidating experience, but an enriching and informative one as well as I was surrounded by a group of scholars all participating in intelligent and insightful conversation. I strive to one day be as well-read and knowledgeable on such topics as these men and women were.

I only have 2 more weeks left at the USHMM and will be sad to leave such an incredible institution, yet am looking forward to the oncoming years of continuous learning and growing.

Survivors and Surviving

This week I have been lucky enough to work one on one with two survivors. One survivor had a granddaughter whose name was Lauren and said until his granddaughter arrived I could fill in. His name was Henry Goldbaum and he was 89 years old. His father died before the war broke out in 1939 and his mother and sisters died upon entering Auschwitz.

The other survivor I was lucky enough to get to know was Jacqueline, when I assisted her facilitation with a group of marines from Quantico. She was born in France and her and her family moved to the unoccupied territory of France once Germany took over. They were saved by the mayor of some small farm town who kept them in hiding and provided them with false identification papers so that they may move freely through the town without question. Jacqueline's brother became depressed starting at a young age. Every member of her nuclear family had survived, but her brother committed suicide when he turned 18. Her happy ending was not as happy as we had expected.

Many of the interns here do not like participating and aiding in the survivor talks because they find it boring; however, I can't understand this. There is no boring story when one listens to a survivor speak, for each talk is one of sorrow, cunningness, miracles, and loss. To say it is boring is taking away the importance of what they have to say. We should all be lucky enough to meet at least one survivor in our lives. They've lived many lives in their lifetime and have many lessons to share, and they are a privilege to know.

As for what I did besides talk with survivors, I learned that I have gotten a handle on my reaction under stress. Today, we had three registered groups of over 80 kids each come in at once all wanting to be the first group inside. Here at the museum, we do fist come first serve with groups. If one group has tickets for 2, another for 2:30 and the 2:30 group gets here first, we would take them before the 2 o’clock group. Chaperones were not happy today and therefore arranging three groups, 2 being dreaded middle schoolers, was no easy feat. I was calm, cool and collected through it and received praise and appreciation from many of the unaggressive chaperones.

Right after handling the groups, I was directed over to 14th street where 2 lines- just as long as the group line- were forming. Everything was running smoothly until one security scanner decided to break down. We now had to figure out how to get the visitors from that broken down line over to the working line without cutting in front of anyone and keeping new visitors from entering. Between me and my boss, we got everyone inside in a timely organized manner by blocking off the working line. Once that line was through, we brought in the people from the broken line, and when they were through we opened the line back up. It was fast, efficient and I felt no stress or panic. My tolerance towards high-stress situations has improved tremendously and I didn't realize it until today.

Because it was truly terribly busy today.

Week 13: Pureness

This week, my faith in humanity was restored and I was reminded of how innocent and blind children are to race and discrimination. We received a letter in our employee break room from a mother and her 10 year old daughter, Maya. Maya was reading a book and did not understand the word Nazi. She proceeded to ask her mom what it was and her mom gave her a quick lesson on the Holocaust. Maya was fascinated by this and proclaimed that there should be a museum dedicated to the Holocaust and her mother told her about us. Now Maya happened to be a girl scout and told her mom that she would like to send the museum cookies to brighten our days. “It would be pretty sad to see that; it would be nice if they could have some free cookies after.” Today was the best morning to receive those cookies because today was the first day of a long weekend of storms. After having a few days of beautiful sunny weather, we were greeted this morning with thunder and a downpour of rain. Already being a pitiful start to the day and having to be out in the rain to pass out museum tickets, hearing that there were girl scout cookies in the staff room was the greatest news. And then reading the letter written by Maya and her mom was the icing on the cake. Maya’s pure heart could be felt by everyone.

Besides having the great pleasure of receiving that letter, I was able again to participate in another First Person event. This time around, the survivor was Irene Weiss, an Auschwitz survivor. Irene was 13 years old when her, her parents and her five siblings were transferred to Auschwitz from Czechoslovakia. In Czechoslovakia, under Hungarian ,occupation, Irene's hair was shaved when her and her family were moved to a nearby ghetto. Although, Irene attributes this to her survival in Auschwitz becuase during the selection process her mother and younger siblings were sent one way and her and her older sister were sent the other. Unbeknownst at the time, her mother and siblings were sent to the gas chambers, but the scarf worn on her head made her seem older than 13 and therefore the SS officer directed her with the older women. Her father was put in charge of transferring the bodies into the crematorium and was killed after three months of this work. What I did not know was that every three months they usually killed theses workers because the work becomes too much for the men to handle and eventually makes them mentally incapable of continuing. Her father was one of those men. Her sister survived until liberation in 1945, yet died shortly afterwards from starvation and illness. Irene was a lively woman though, and thanked me for assisting with her talk. She said I was important to her because I would go on to retell her story and therefore her family will be remembered through history long after she was dead. So that is what I am doing; retelling her story for all nine of you who actually read this blog. Below is a picture of me complimenting Irene on her fantastic outfit and scarf.

I am using this space to write what was said in Maya's letter because it was so sweet and beautiful. It is written out just as she wrote it, so I'm sorry for the fourth grade sentence structure. 

Hi my name is Maya Simons and I am reading Magic Tree House "Danger in the Darkest Hour" (World War II). Holocaust, Hitler, all the people that died. It made me feel really really bad. I thought eating cookies after seeing something sad cookies might make people feel better. 💗"

True pureness and innocence.