Week 11: Starstruck

In the past two weeks, I have been given more opportunities than imaginable. I know I say that every week, but each week continues to amaze and surprise me. Seeing as how I've worked at the USHMM for about a month now, I have found what I excel most in and where I lack skills or ambition. I absolutely adore talking to people and telling them what to do. When a group of people listen to my instructions, a sense of all-powerfulness washes over me and I feel just like Oz, the great and powerful wizard. Although I've also realized I do lack the necessary skills to be ordered by people or do favors for them. This is my pride and ego talking. Working in coat check is the worst job I've ever had, solely because my own pride won't allow me to move past the fact that I am acting as a servant to these visitors. Pride is something I have come to acknowledge and am still learning to maintain.

So enough of what I've learned and on to what I've done. Last week I was fortunate enough to receive a 2.5-hour shift working a First Person event. First Person is an event held through Spring and Summer that is both free and open to the public. The event is a conversation with Holocaust survivors, when two times a week different survivors come to recount their stories. It is hosted by journalist Bill Benson and offers time at the end for the audience to ask the survivor questions. The day I worked, I was helping Susan Warsinger give her presentation. I made pamphlets, ushered, and gave assistance to those who had questions when she finished her talk. Susan and her younger brother were smothered out of Germany after the events of Kristallnacht to Paris, France. From Paris, she fled to Versailles and spent a few months as a refugee living in the Palace of Versailles. HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, found Susan and her brother and they were given permission to go to the United States. They boarded a ship sponsored by the former first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, with fifty other children. Susan told the story with such personality and humor, that the audience couldn't help but instantly fall in love with her.

Starting from right to left:  Diane Ackerman (author),
Angela Workman (screenwriter),
Jessica Chastain (lead actress), and Niki Caro (director)

Than yesterday, an opportunity came that I wouldn't have expected in a thousand years: a movie premier equipped with stars and major Hollywood directors, screenwriters, and authors. The USHMM catered to a crowd of over 400 people who were all there to see the film premier of The Zookeeper's Wife, a new film starring Jessica Chastain about a couple who hid Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto. Not only was I able to see Jessica Chastain, but the author of the book, the director of the movie, and the screenwriter. It was a stunning and extremely inspirational all female team. We were originally told we had the chance to go the event, but we would have to work it. As the event started, my fantastic boss told us to take off our jackets and join the party. We could eat, drink, and socialize with all the attendees. When the movie started, they saved seats for us interns at the very front of the theatre. There was nothing more surreal than watching a movie about an event from the Holocaust inside the National Holocaust Museum and amongst the creators, stars, and Holocaust survivors. The movie doesn't premier until March 31 and I highly encourage anyone reading this to go and watch it. It is a truly amazing film. A taping of the brief panel discussion between the author, director, screenwriter and Chastain- which occurred before the movie- can be found on YouTube.

Thinking that my week couldn't get any better than going to a movie premier, today I had the pleasure in assisting with a survivor facilitation. This was a personal survivor presentation between Ms. Theodora Klayman and a small group of sixth graders. Susan, the survivor I listened to last week, happens to be best friends with Dora and was in the audience to listen to her speak. Dora and her younger brother were smuggled out of Yugoslavia, now Croatia, to a small town on the northern tip. One day, the Nazi's came into their home and took her whole family, but left her and her brother behind. Her parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles all perished in the ongoing years of the Holocaust. As if it couldn't get worse, just as the War was coming to an end, her younger brother died of scarlet fever. These kids were enthralled and moved to tears by her story, as was I. At the end of the facilitation, I talked with Susan and Dora for a few minutes and saw how quickly they acted like young girls together.

Very few interns have been given the chance to witness these talks and I do not know what has made me so lucky, but I thank the universe every day for the opportunities I am given.

I know I have written a lot, but would like to share one more story. Today, while doing my sweep of the Hall of Remembrance, I met a woman and her brother who were both Jewish. We began a conversation about Passover and continued to talk from there. She is what is known as a third-generation Holocaust survivor, as her grandfather lost nine of his kids in the Holocaust. Her father was the only one to survive. In honor of them, she told me that she has nine kids, one for each that Hitler took away. That was a story that really struck a chord and I wanted to share it with all of you.

Week 9: Reflections

This week marked my first week interning without a staff member present to shadow, and if I've learned anything from it, it is that school groups are just the worst. It makes me so thankful that I dropped my education minor and I now fully understand why professors choose to teach college rather than high school or middle school. One of my main jobs is handling large student groups who come to the museum to see our permanent exhibit. When I first orient them, I try to remind them that they are in a memorial museum, and that it is a place to remember, reflect and pay respect to those lives lost in the Holocaust. Although for some reason, students seem to equate this with talking loudly, leaving behind trash, and running in exhibit spaces. I've quickly learned that there is only so many times one can reprimand a group of teenagers. This is probably the most frustrating job that I am in charge of, yet can occasionally be fulfilling. When those occasional students break off from the group and take their time to explore and really understand the exhibit, they leave with a completely different face than those who do not. This I guess can go back to my blog from a few weeks ago about my goals; that if I can change one person's view on history and society, I will have fulfilled my definition of greatness.

And sometimes it happens.

Today though, I was fortunate enough to receive a tour of the Some Were Neighbors exhibit from the curator who created the temporary exhibition. Susan Bachrach, a historian who has been with the USHMM for over 20 years, gave a two-hour tour explaining the reasoning behind setting up the exhibit as she did and how she acquired its artifacts and information. Ms. Bachrach explained how hundreds of hours were spent obtaining the information and stories of the perpetrators, bystanders, and victims with the goal of expanding the Holocaust narrative beyond the basic knowledge of Nazi perpetrators. There were many other people besides those a part of the Nazi party who participated in discriminatory acts, sold out their neighbors or friends, and went against their fellow countrymen. However, the exhibit also shows those who did support and/or aid Jews and other targeted groups. One way Susan set up the exhibit was comparing the act of one man with the act of another. In one area of the exhibition, there is a panel describing the story of one police officer who saved his Jewish neighbors, and one police officer who shipped his Jewish neighbors off to the ghetto. One police officer said he was following orders, while the other said his job was to protect the innocent. This dichotomy between the two officers is just one of many examples throughout the exhibition space. Another part of the exhibit, that I find to be the most interesting, is the murder by bullets section. This area is designated to recalling the murderous acts of the Einsatzgruppen and discusses the number of people who died by bullet, rather than of Zyklon B poisoning, disease, and starvation experienced by those in the camps. It's a different take on victims and perpetrators of those outside the ghettos and camps, that many people tend to overlook or briefly acknowledge. 

The museum this week has been crazy busy as Spring breakers and field trips leave us running out of tickets for the permanent exhibition by early noon. With all the people and large groups entering at a single time, the next few months are going to be a test of my patience and my ability to handle responsibilities under stress. 

Week 8:Knowledge

I finally started my internship! It's been a long couple of months, but the wait was worth it. This internship and the USHMM is everything I hoped for and more. This week we have been going through training and orientation, where we were told what our actual jobs are going to entail and given briefs about different departments in the Museum and how they all work together with visitor services. Our main jobs include seven tasks: Passes, ticketing, groups, rover, closing, coat check, and elevator talks. However, we also aid in informing the public about other resources and exhibits the Museum has to offer besides just the main primary exhibit. The primary exhibit is a self-guided chronological tour that starts on the fourth floor and works its way down to the second. The fourth floor exhibits Nazi persecution, the third floor the Final Solution, and finishes with liberation and resistance on the second floor.

USHMM has so many other exhibits and resources that it offers though, besides just the primary exhibit- including a temporary They Were Neighbors exhibit, a Cambodia exhibit, and a face to face video opportunity to talk with a Syrian refugee in real time. This week we were given a tour of both the exhibits, and the new knowledge I have been acquiring is astonishing. I personally didn't know anything about the Cambodian Genocide, yet was completely floored by it. Over two million civilians died in the course of four years, which compared to the Holocaust doesn't seem like many casualties. However, the Holocaust and World War II went on from 1939-1945 and spanned across most of Eastern and Western Europe. Cambodia is a small country in Asia where two million equaled 1/4 of the entire population. This is just the basic knowledge they introduced us too, so I can't imagine how much and what else I will learn in the next three months. Another training we underwent was working with the virtual reality section of the From Memory to Action exhibit. The Museum actually offers a 360-degree virtual reality experience that tells the story of a Syrian refugee and his son. The father narrates the story and the setting constantly changes from his refuge home, to his town that was destroyed, to an overview of Syria, to refugee markets, and so many other places that one can hear, see and feel as if they are there with him. It was my first time test running virtual reality and it is extremely disorienting, where I almost fell of my chair a few times.

This week I was also able to listen to one of over sixty Holocaust survivors partnered with USHMM. The interns and I received a private facilitation with Marty, a Czech survivor of Auschwitz and Mauthausen who lost his parents and six of his eight siblings. His story is one of miracles, as blind luck saved him from death more than once. He spoke about how one day him and some other inmates were forced to dig tunnels when an explosion went off in the tunnel he was working on, yet he was outside going to the bathroom while it happened. Seventy people died in that tunnel and he was the only survivor of the work group. This is just one miracle he received during his time imprisoned.

We lastly got to go on a tour of the architecture of the Museum, so if any visitors ask about the design or layout we can provide them with a clear answer. A few fun facts about the Museum include the architect James Ingo Freed who went to the camps in Poland to get inspiration for the layout and design of the four buildings of the Museum, the Hall of Remembrance which is a six sided building representing the six sides of a Jewish star, and a stream of lights on the floor of the Hall of Witnesses which has a gap in the middle. One interpretation is that this line of lights represents a timeline where the lights missing include the years 1933-1945, where mankind is said to have perished. The lights continue after 1945 when humanity returns to the world. Below are a few pictures of some of the architectural points I mentioned, including a model of the Museum and the gap in the lighting.

This week was the end of our training and so starting next Wednesday, I will be a fully independent intern working alongside an amazing and encouraging staff inside a memorable and monumental memorial of those who've lost their lives to genocide.

Week 7: Sanity

I have finally arrived in Maryland and visited the museum for the first time on Tuesday. I had my badging appointment to meet with Mr. Luke Leyh, my supervisor, at 10 AM. Setting my alarm for 5:30, I awoke with my cousins as they began to get ready for school and I for D.C. At 7:30 AM, I left for the Greenbelt metro station to catch the green line to L'Enfant Plaza. A drive that was only supposed to take thirty minutes took almost an hour, for D.C. rush hour begins at 6:30 and goes until around 8. I took I-95 as it was the easiest way to the metro station, but also the most heavily trafficked. After finally arriving at Greenbelt with an hour and a half to get to the Museum, I boarded the yellow line heading to Franconia-Springfield. I originally planned on taking the green line, but hopped on the first metro cart I saw. Luckily, it had similar stops as the green line and I was still able to get off at L'Enfant Plaza.

Interesting fact: It is named L'Enfant Plaza after Pierre L'Enfant who designed the layout for the streets of D.C.

Before heading onto the yellow line though, I had to get my metro card. One cannot board or exit the metro station without it. It costs $2 and acts as a gift card, where you can put any amount of money on it and refill it when it's running low. I did the math and leaving from Greenbelt to L'Enfant and back, plus parking, cost a total of around $6. It is $1.75 one way, and over $2 if you board during rush hour, which unfortunately I did. It also costs $5.10 to park at Greenbelt station. L'Enfant Plaza was the twelfth stop on the line as it took about thirty minutes to arrive, leaving one hour to walk to the Museum. The walk was very simple, as the Museum is right next to the Washington Monument and therefore if one were to head towards the monument, which is not easy to miss, then the Museum will be right beside it. I took Independent Ave all the way down to 15th Street and arrived at the back entrance of the Museum. The walk took about fifteen minutes and I made it 45 minutes early.

After going through security and telling the information desk about my appointment with Mr. Leyh, I was introduced to Mr. Wylee, another one of the intern supervisors. He informed me that he was the man to get to know for connections. He said he would love to help me meet people and explore opportunities, I just have to put in the effort. I figure he will be a good person to get to know and stay in touch with. I was then brought to the employee lounge and met with another one of the Spring interns, Bernice. After introductions ensued, we filled out some basic paperwork and then met with Mr. Leyh. Right off the bat, Mr. Leyh proved to be welcoming and joyous. He led us into another room for our fingerprinting and badge picture, then introduced us to some other staff members and gave us a tour around the Museum, seeing as both Bernice and I have never actually been before. The thing I found most interesting about the staff was that they were all very loud, outgoing and humorous. I assumed that with it being a Holocaust Museum, the atmosphere of the employees would be quiet and somber, but that was not the case. They were still respectful and helpful to the visitors, but were not shy of jokes. The atmosphere was more comfortable and laid back than I had expected, for Mr. Leyh said that no one can work in a depressing atmosphere without becoming depressed themselves. This was their way of staying sane in a place that taught about the insane.

I met a staff member who was an intern in 2015, graduated college in 2016, and then became a part of the staff this year. Working in a museum is not something I envisioned myself doing after graduating, however the atmosphere and positive attitude I experienced made me second guess my career path. I was only there for about an hour and yet they already made a significant impact on me.

Leaving the museum, I retraced my steps back to the L'Enfant metro station and caught the green line to Greenbelt. Driving back to my place, I made it just before rush hour. For some reason, it begins at 3:30 in the afternoon here and goes until 6. My orientation begins next week, and though the trek to the museum proves tedious, getting to work there would be completely worth it.

Week 6: Greatness

Tomorrow I leave to start my journey to D.C. It has been a trying past few weeks waiting for this opportunity to begin, and I am almost to the starting line. Tuesday I am scheduled for my first badging appointment where I will meet Mr. Luke Leyh, my supervisor for the moment being, and will be fingerprinted and given my very own Museum identification. That day will prove to be my first test run on the metro.

I have discussed in great detail the steps I have taken to receive this internship, but have yet to discuss why I chose this program, or perhaps even what I hope to gain from this internship. This week I shall discuss my aspirations and motivation.

When I was little, my grandfather always told me I was meant for great things and that I was going to do something important with my life. I spent a lot of time growing up thinking about what I could do to achieve this seemingly unattainable expectation of greatness, and recently have just begun to figure it out. To make a difference or be great does not necessarily mean one has to be paraded for their achievement or must go through a great feat to obtain said greatness, but could be as simple as learning and passing knowledge onto others. I have become enlightened, if I may say so, to the realization that knowledge is great and powerful, no matter how cliche that sounds. Interning at this museum allows me the chance to continue my studies being surrounded by scholars, victims, archives, evidence, and a number of other resources primary and secondary; having the Library of Congress only a few blocks away as an added bonus. The knowledge gained from this internship will prove to be more knowledge than I can ever hope to gain in a classroom; no offense to the UCF faculty reading this. 

However, academic knowledge is not the only type of knowledge I hope to acquire, working in a professional atmosphere, surrounded by many types of people, and situated in our country's capital will also- I hope- teach me many things. And I hope to take these new skills and education with me to spread the word about how dangerous discrimination, prejudice, racism, and any other type of injustice is to people and society. If I can have one person listen to what I have to say and leave with a different perspective than when I first met them, I believe that to be a great act. That person will than in turn change someone else's perspective. In hindsight, it is not just one person whose life I can impact, but a chain of individuals who will hopefully walk away with a new found respect and dignity towards all types of people. I believe this to ultimately be what teachers and professors strive to do every day, and I hope accomplish their endeavor. I know my life was changed by a very special high school teacher, Mrs. Rheingold, whom I took my first Holocaust class with. She encouraged me to volunteer at the Holocaust Museum back home and signed me up for my first trip to Poland and Israel. She impacted me and the way I view the world, and I hope to be that impactful someday.

This internship can open up so many new doors for me, and the people I'll meet and the wisdom acquired will be far greater than I can imagine. I hope to share this passion for justice and equality with everyone I come by. To be surrounded by an entire community of like-minded peoples is going to be quite the adventure.

Week 5: Transportation and Accommodation

     It is one more week until I leave and the butterflies have started to flutter. I am still in the process of planning transportation to and from the Holocaust Museum, trying to decipher the different lines and stops. Also, my family and I have weighed our options about how we plan on arriving. Plane? Too much luggage. Auto train? Too expensive. So we decided that the best option was to drive up in my car. We went to the Mini dealership to make sure my car was fit to drive the fourteen hours and replaced my tires with the proper tread necessary to drive on ice and snow. My mom said she would ride up with me and then fly back. So we decided we would drive straight through the night without stopping and get there by the 19th of February. That would give me a week to practice mapping out the routes from Maryland to D.C. 

     Upon our arrival in Maryland, I already have accommodations at my aunt and uncle's house. Though they live in a house with their daughter and two grandkids, they have furnished their sunroom into a bedroom. I have been informed that I will have to use the kitchen bathroom, and shower in the same bathroom as the three other guests; so mornings and evenings may prove difficult. However, it is free housing- and seeing as how I still have to pay rent for my college apartment- it is the best option. Many interns on the internship Facebook page have asked for roommates as they plan on living either in apartments or on the GW campus. Seeing as how housing prices in D.C. are super expensive, I'm curious to see how this will work. I will update in a future blog any information I hear about the living situations in D.C.

     With transportation to Maryland and housing all figured out, the last thing left to do is figure out the best way to get from my aunt's house to the Museum. Many have suggested that I take the metro, however the metro has various lines and colors and routes and it proves to be more difficult than expected. Being a native Florida girl who has never had to take a train anywhere, this is going to be one of the most challenging first steps toward my internship. Once I arrive in Maryland, I plan on doing a practice run to rehearse what stops to take and how to reach the museum once the metro arrives in D.C. Though I have most everything else planned out, once I figure out how the metro works, I will be all set to start my internship in the blustery, busy district that is the nation's capital. 

Week 4: History of the Museum

Seeing as how I am getting closer to starting my internship, I will spend this post discussing the history of the museum I will be spending the upcoming months at. All of this information can be found on the Museum's website if interested in researching more about it.

In 1978 under President Carter, an organization was created called the President's Commission on the Holocaust. This was headed by Auschwitz survivor, famed author and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Elie Wiesel. A year after the commission was created, a proposal to create a memorial was pitched. The memorial would have three parts to it: a museum, an educational foundation and a Committee on Conscience. The mission of the Committee would be "To alert the national conscience; influence policy makers, and stimulate worldwide action to confront and work to halt acts of genocide or related crimes against humanity." The Committee was officially created in 1995.

Before construction of the Museum, containers of ash obtained from the death camps and the Warsaw Jewish Cemetery were buried under the soil to remind the public about what the Museum stands for. The street the Museum can be found on was renamed Raoul Wallenberg Street, after a Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust by providing safe houses and passports to those escaping Nazi occupied territory. The architect of the Museum, Mr. James Ingo Freed, was himself affected by the Holocaust. Him and his family were expelled from Nazi Germany in 1939, James being only eight years old at that time. In 1990, during construction of the Museum, two milk cartons containing "pledges of remembrance" from survivors were buried under where the Hall of Remembrance stands today.

On April 26, 1993- fifteen years after the proposal- the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum opened to the public. The Dalai Lama was the first visitor to enter the museum. Four days before the opening, a dedication ceremony was held which included guests such as the Israeli president, Chaim Herzog, President Bill Clinton and Elie Wiesel. Unfortunately, Mr. Wiesel passed away last year; however, his experience- published in his book Night- is read and remembered in classrooms all throughout the country and his story will continue to be told.

The mission of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is "To advance and disseminate knowledge about this unprecedented tragedy; to preserve the memory of those who suffered; and to encourage its visitors to reflect upon the moral and spiritual questions raised by the events of the Holocaust as well as their own responsibilities as citizens of a democracy." This mission is still relevant in today's society, with democracy and morality coming into question within our own government. Though Elie Wiesel and many other survivors since the opening of the Museum have passed, the area is a testament to all they endured and a reminder of what happens when prejudice and hate envelop a country. I am counting the days until I can be apart of such an important institution. 

History.com. A+E Networks, 2010, www.history.com/topics/wallenberg-raoul. Accessed 2 Feb. 2017

"Mission Statement." USHMM.com, www.ushmm.org/information/about-the-museum/mission-and- history.  Accessed 2 Feb. 2017

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "History of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum." Holocaust Encyclopedia. https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php? ModuleId=10005782. Accessed on 2 Feb. 2017.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "Committee of Conscience." Simon-Skjdot Center for the Prevention of Genocide. https://www.ushmm.org/confront-genocide/about/committee-on-conscience-members. Accessed on 2. Feb. 2017