Why is there a Holocaust Memorial Museum in the USA (D.C.)?
The holocaust did not take place in the USA.
The victims were not US citizens. Sure, some of the survivors later immigrated to the US, but so did other victims of the war from other countries (France, England, Poland, etc).
The US did not take part in it. The US entered the war for other reasons before the holocaust started. The only way the US was involved in the holocaust was because their fighting helped end the holocaust and free the victims. Although, it has been speculated that if the US had not entered the war, there wouldn’t have been a holocaust.
Thus, it seems like a strange event for the US to memorialize. It seems like holocaust memorials belong in Europe and Israel, but not the USA. Is there any other memorial in the US dedicated to non-US citizens whose hardships occured in foreign countries? I can’t think of any.
If the US is going to memorialize holocaust victims, why not memorialize the other victims of WW2 (French, English, Slavic, Chinese,…)? Why not memorialize the South East Asians who suffered in the Vietnam war? I don’t see a difference.
Most likely because the US has a very large Jewish population. I’ve heard (that means I can’t substantiate it ) that the US has a larger Jewish population than Isreal does. Anyone out there confirm or deny that? I’m getting ready to go up north and am too lazy to do any kind of net search on the issue (hey, just being honest). Besides that, why not have a museum to remind all peoples what a tragic and horrible the Holocaust was?
Ever heard the saying “Those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it”?
There are a lot of people in the U.S. who need to be informed about the horrors of the Holocaust who will not have oppurtunities to examine Yad Vashem (That’s the one in Isreal, which I toured) or any of the sites in Europe. (And recall, being Jewish does not preclude one from being French, English, Slavic, etc.) I believe something on the order of 6 million Jews (and others) were killed during a relatively small time frame. One may argue that if there is a memorial to victems of the Holocaust, there should be memorials/museums for the victems of various other atrocities. You may be right, but the absence of interest/funding for others does not make it less appropriate/desirable to have this one.
… thing… a tragic and horrible THING the Holocaust was. Whoops!
Cheese, where did you hear that thing about the Holocaust not happening if the US hadn’t entered the war? I haven’t heard that before. It seems that Hitler had already started the persecution of Jews with the resultant camps and killings long before the US was involved.
First, people like Simon Wiesenthal (sp?) have done an excellent job of educating people about the Halocaust. The promise to not let people forget, has been well kept.
Second, The American Jewish community is reasonably influencial and civicly active. They readily contribute to causes that are important to them.
The Cambodian, Central African, and Albanians communities in America do not have the similar numbers or wherewithall to bring that kind of attention to their past suffering.
I must say however, that I wouldn’t be surprised to see a memorial to the victems of 1915 in Fresno, where there’s a large Armenian community. There’s probably a famine memorial somewhere in one of the Irish-American neighborhoods on the East Coast.
I agree, but I also think that the Holocaust is a reminder of the degree and breadth of evil that mankind can visit upon it itself, and it should be remembered for that reason, regardless of the ethnicity or religion of the victims, and regardless of where it occurred. And I think many believe it merits special remembrance because of its enormity, in terms of the number of people killed and the ways in which they were killed.
My understanding of the history of World War II is that the removal of Jews and other “undesirables” was well under way before the Americans joined the war in late 1942. Like BunnyGirl, I would be interested to hear about the theory that holds that the Holocaust would not have occurred if the Americans had not intervened.
I agree with all of you. I think there should be a Holocaust Memorial Museum in all the countries in the world, to remind us of the atrocities and horrors commited. To think it was human beings, just ordinary boys who took part in it is apalling. I once saw a television show where an army officer said, “give me a boy, any boy, and I will turn him into a killing machine”.
There are actually people who think it all a lie, a hoax. We need this reminder so it will never happen again!
Unfourtunately, I don’t have the census data in front of me, but I am fairly certain that the US has the largest Jewish population in the world. Yes larger than Isreal even. This point is the most likely reason for the propensity of memorials in the US. Not to mention that fact that Americans love Memorials, Museums and the like. We haven’t had enough history to realize that remembering every aspect is fruitless and impossible. If China and Italy etc. had memorials remembering every notable event in their history you likely wouldn’t be able to walk through town without bumbing into one.
The fact that still stands is that this memorial is one that deserves all the respect and reverence it can get. Regardless of curcumstance there should be a international memorial to assure that it doesn’t occur again.
The facts expressed here belong to everybody, the opinions to me. The distinction is
yours to draw…
Every now and then somebody tries to erect a monument at one of the “gas chamber” camps, and somebody else protests, for one reason or another. The last time I read, I think it was a cross being erected, and Jews (?) protested. Search newspaper archives.
There is an old fellow that lives nearby, who has the numbers tattooed in his arm from when he was a prisoner in a German POW camp.
Since judaism is a religion/belief system and not necessarily an ethincity or racial category there’s no reason why one shouldn’t be in the US. I know “why not?” seems like a pretty smart-alecky answer to a “why?” question but the US does have a significant jewish population.
In case someone has not noticed, there are many people and organized groups afoot these days seeking to deny the holocaust ever happened. Their motives are many and varied, but I say any tragedy of this magnitude cannot be denied by men, or forgotten in the least. Holocaust memorials are a simple way of putting the evidence on display for all to see. Questioning their existence in this, or any other country belies an underlying attitude “is this stuff really important anymore?” to which I reply, Yes, your damn tootin’ - your lives and the lives of your descendants may depend on it. Next time you hear “we didn’t know” or “they were just following orders,” just trot those people over to D.C. and take a look at what happened as a result of the very kind of national apathy your question betrays.
The most memorable, touching, important thing I personally have ever seen is the obelisk outside of Auswichtz that says, simply, “Never Forget.” I don’t care why the Holocaust Museum is in the U.S., but I think it’s an honor that it is.
You know what? There’s a Slovak History Museum in some G-d-forsaken place in the mid-West-- Oklahoma or something. I know this, because my mother was one of the Slovak/English interpreters when it opened. I have a photo of her standing in between Pres. Clinton, and the president of Slovakia.
I am willing to bet there are more Jews in the US than Slovaks.
(Yes, there are slightly more Jews in the US than in Israel, however, Jews make just about 3% of the US population, and more than 85% of the population of Israel.)
And there is a museum of African art in the US. And the last time I checked very nearly all of what is on disply at the Museum of Natural History in DC originated outside the US. Maybe the Smithsonian should disassmble the Egyptian exhibit, not to mention the rocks and gems-- most of those diamonds are imports.
I’m sorry and I know your heart is in the right place, but it is absurd to say that the Allied didn’t do much to stop the Holocaust. Fact is there was nothing that could be done short of ending the war. And unlike in todays media saturated society the common American, and likely any Allied state, had very little knowledge of what went on there. Not to mention that at that most of the Eurpoean countries were pretty conserned about not being wiped off the map. I don’t think you can fault countries for putting their survival above that of the Jews. Especially considering that if they didn’t assure themselves of survival Germany would have won and the Jews would be in a rough spot.
The facts expressed here belong to everybody, the opinions to me. The distinction is yours to draw…
I’m sorry and I know your heart is in the right place, but it is absurd to say that the Allied didn’t do much to stop the Holocaust. Fact is there was nothing that could be done short of ending the war. And unlike in todays media saturated society the common American, and likely any Allied state, had very little knowledge of what went on there. Not to mention that at that most of the Eurpoean countries were pretty conserned about not being wiped off the map. I don’t think you can fault countries for putting their survival above that of the Jews. Especially considering that if they didn’t assure themselves of survival Germany would have won and the Jews would be in a rough spot.
The facts expressed here belong to everybody, the opinions to me. The distinction is
yours to draw…
Ok, I’ll say this and then stop because I’m getting off topic.
What I meant by that statement was that the concentration camps, train lines for transporting Jews, etc where not considered to be targets of much importance during the Allied attacks. We knew where many of these camps were, but we weren’t fighting the war to save Jewish lives, we were fighting it to stop German aggression. An excellent idea, I admit, but it’s not the same thing. I don’t argue that the preservation of your country comes first, but I have to roll my eyes when someone says we fought WWII because of the Holocaust. The camps that we took were taken more or less because they were on German held territory, not because we were heading there to save Jews. We did know what was going on. Hitler made no attempts to hide the fact that he was trying to remove the Jewish population although I will admit we didn’t realize the entire situation until later. But the Nuremburg Laws were passed in 1935. In 1939, Hitler publicly announced that “the result… [will be] the annihilation of the Jewish race of Europe.” It’s not as if we had no clues as to what was going on. The end result is much like the American Civil War. Yes, the slaves were freed which was a good thing no matter what, but saying the North fought the war because of slavery is foolishly inaccurate. Although, I guess it does make it sound more noble when taught in 5th grade history.
"I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.
Papa, can’t compare Armenians who were killed by Turks and a famine in Ireland. As far as a museum goes, I don’t know who said “Those who don’t know know history are doomed to repeat it”. But all great leaders are historians. Therefore, museums!
) that the US has a larger Jewish population than Isreal does. Anyone out there confirm or deny that? I’m getting ready to go up north and am too lazy to do any kind of net search on the issue (hey, just being honest). Besides that, why not have a museum to remind all peoples what a tragic and horrible the Holocaust was?