Get what I mean? I love walking. I walk everywhere in New York. It's my thing. I suppose. If you see a really small looking girl that looks like she's ten, but acts 37 and see a really tall, pale, beautiful guy right next to her, most of the time, it will be B-Hat and I. We walk everywhere as well.
But anyways, I am trying my best to get the hang out of it. Yesterday, I could go on the Georgetown GUTS bus and get dropped off at Dupont Circle. Walk about ten or so blocks and I'm around the Smithsonian museums.
Yesterday, I went to the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum. I was trying to find the American History Museum (by the Smithsonian), however, I stumbled upon the Holocaust Museum. I checked to see if there was any price and since it was free, I rushed to get inside. I was amazed. I knew I needed to have really thick skin to enter since the Holocaust was SUCH a depressing point in our history, it wasn't fair for these victims to suffer.
I got to see pictures of the victims, how they died, how they slept, it was just really sad. According to contrary belief, it was not just Jewish people who were affected. Also, homosexuals, communists, the disabled, mentally ill people, Roma (gypsies) and Jehovah Witnesses. It was ridiculous how these Nazis treated these people. You wouldn't imagine the damage that they've done. Hitler really made a name for himself in Germany. If only he wasn't appointed as chancellor, I wonder what would have happened.
I was able to see actual artifacts from the Holocaust. Many shoes from the victims, clothes, belongings, luggages, even some bricks that were present in one of the Ghetto communities. The pictures of the dead were horrific, as well. Nazis even used members of the concentration camps for medical experiments. They would submerge them into freezing cold water (water that most of us could not be able to function in) and see how the person would react. They did this because they wanted to see if German pilots, in the future, could survive this. Obviously not, idiots.
Gas chambers was one of the saddest things that I saw. The Nazis told members of the concentration camp that they were going to be taking a shower. There would be signs around the walls that say being clean is good (or something like that.) Then, the members of the concentration camps would all get naked and then in groups, they would enter the "shower." Little did they knew, the Nazis were inserting carbon monoxide through the shower.
I saw an "operating" table, where, after the members of the concentration camps were doused with carbon monoxide, Nazi officials would look at their teeth to see if they have any gold so they could send it to get money or something like that. In addition, Nazis would shave off the hair from the victims either before they died in the gas chambers or after. They would send the hair to many companies who would use the hair for various purposes such as stuffing pillows, furniture, etc.
An artist made a diorama of the gas chambers. From how cramped the families were while they got naked, to going inside and suffering. It's ridiculous. As what Dwight Eisenhower said in a letter to his wife on September, 1944, "God, I hate the Germans..." He meant the Nazis, of course.
I really want to go and check out the concentration camps now. I saw the actual sign from Auschwitz that sit upon the gates that say, "Arbeit macht frei." It means "Work makes one free" or "Work Liberates."
Yesterday, I also got to use my foreign-language character to some young girls who saw a Bible that read "Die Bible" on the cover. They were freaking out, thinking the Nazis wanted the Bible to die. Rest assured, I came up to the girls and told them "Die" meant "The" in German. They were relieved. Guess my nerdyness can come in handy, even at illustrious museums.
Here are some pictures that I found on the internet from the Holocaust. You can get a grave idea on how depressing this topic is.
(Gas chamber in Auschwitz)
In this photo, you could see finger-nail markings from the victims trying to get out.
