The Holocaust: A Museum for Tolerance

"The museum bears witness to the horrors of the Holocaust, but it also tells the stories of heroes who took action and serves as a reminder to all that we must never forget what happened to prevent it from happening again."

-- Holocaust Museum Houston, Visitor Guide

I have no direct familial link to the Holocaust.  I remember from my earliest knowledge of it, however, that it held some deep meaning for me.  Past life?  Perhaps.  Anyone that knows even a bit of the story can understand how the horror of it could follow a soul throughout the ages.  If it is, in fact, a genetic memory, it is a memory of a parent or of a young child.  It is the photos and stories of the atrocities against the children that inflame me with a rage and sadness I find difficult to hide.

As with the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C., I have always desired to visit the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.  I have yet to do this.  On my recent journey, however, I was able to visit the Holocaust Museum Houston.  I was impressed by the way they focused as much on the heroes as on the horror; the way they plant the seed of tolerance by showing the results of intolerance; the way the exhibits steer you toward a desire to be an "upstander" as opposed to a bystander; a rescuer as opposed to a perpetrator.

As expected, when I came upon the "shielded" display of more graphic photos concerning the children, my composure collapsed.  As much as I wanted to look away, I could not.  As much as I was feeling the tears in my eyes, it was overcome by the anger and hatred for a people that would visit this on other beings.

It was a special day at the museum and we were able to get in for free.  I put a wad of cash in the donation box.

For those that have never been to a museum commemorating this horrific part of our history, I recommend it.  For those young people that are intelligent enough to understand how our liberal educational system changes history to meet their own agenda to depict a kinder historical world, I recommend you see the truth for yourself, with your own eyes, and with an ope mind.  Do not just drink the bullshit flavored kool-aid our schools would force on you.

I thought the Simon Wiesenthal Center would be an interesting visit.  I have found there are at least 148 centers and museums for the study of the Holocaust, and similar atrocities, in North America alone; 148 centers that remind us not to forget.  148 centers that say this really happened.

At the end of the exhibit they ask a question which I have tried to address in my posts on the Holocaust:  What have we learned?  I could have written their answer to this question.  Basically we have learned very little.  We still have these genocidal lunatics in recent history and today as evidenced by Cambodia, Rwanda, Syria, and the latest kidnapping and rape of 300 young girls taken from a Nigerian school by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram on April 14, 2014.

Addendum, August 12, 2014:  I felt motivated to update this post with the latest atrocities being visited upon the world by ISIS.  ISIS does not rate the label of a 'terrorist" group.  These are true genocidal lunatics that behead anyone not in line with their misguided beliefs to the extent of cutting five year old children in half.  They proclaim Islam as their faith.  Islam should be ashamed of this claim.  Islam should take a stand for what is right and moral.  Islam should try preaching the peace of Muhammad.  Islam should wash their own laundry and stop expecting the rest of the world to step up.  Cowards behead innocent people.  Cowards rape and murder innocent women and children.  Cowards stand by and watch their own people, people of their own faith, get murdered and say nothing.  Cowards let someone else fight their battles.  Once again, Islam, you can hear the cricks in the silence of your response.  

Why do we not learn the lesson of the past?  We don't teach the "accurate" past anymore for one thing.  Our schools fail us as much as our media.  News is no longer guided by the truth.  If it were, we would hear the outcry of the peaceful Islamic groups that decry the terrorist killings of innocents in the name of Allah.  The news media chooses not to print this truth and I, for one, fell victim to the lack of reporting to assume that no one in "peaceful" Islam had the balls to cry foul.  It turns out that many have voiced outrage.

I hesitate writing a more detailed review of the center due to my emotional "attachment" to the theme.  Suffice to say their presentation was marvelous for a relatively small museum.  The staff was helpful and very friendly, including security at the entrance.  If you are ever in Houston I would recommend a visit.

As a side note, as I was walking through the exhibit, I was confronted by a young lady that pointed to my Retired Air Force cap, shook my hand and gave me an envelope.  At the end of the exhibit I stepped to the side for some privacy and looked at the envelope.  On the front was a simple "Thank You."  On the inside was a small card that read:

"Dear Hero,
I've often wondered how to show my sincere gratitude and appreciation for one who has sacrificed so much so I can be free.  Thank you for your service and all you have given so I, my children, and future generations will be free.  May God bless you and keep you always.
With love and prayer,
Rebecca"

When put in context of those Jewish and non-Jewish heroes in WWII that did so much to save so many from extermination at the hands of the Nazis, whatever I sacrificed pales in comparison.  I have always considered myself a patriot, not a hero.  Many of my comrades in the other services that have been witness to, and victim of, serious combat and have come back from it with wounds that will never heal, have voiced the same feeling.  We do what we do because we are Americans.  We do what we do because we believe it is the right thing to do.  We do what we do because it has to be done.

I cannot help but think how much this card is a statement of gratitude to all peoples of good faith that would stand-up for those that cannot defend themselves.  For Rebecca, I give this card to all of those that have given so much and repeat her heartfelt statement, "Thank you for your service and all you have given so I, my children, and future generations will be free.  May God bless you and keep you always."

I have attached several links to visit for more information if you are interested:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Wiesenthal

http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/pp.asp?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&b=6212365#.U5RkJ_ldVBl

www.remember-us.org/pdfs/holocaust-centers.pdf