tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post7623731072735570683..comments2024-03-10T20:46:19.274-04:00Comments on In the Middle: At the Holocaust MuseumCord J. Whitakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06224143153295429986noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-63397027203723842812007-07-27T08:56:00.000-04:002007-07-27T08:56:00.000-04:00Eileen, those shoes are arresting. A friend told m...Eileen, those shoes are arresting. A friend told me she was keeping all emotion at bay in the museum until her eyes alighted on an elegant shoe in that amalgamation. All of a sudden she imagined that a woman had, at one time, dressed for an evening on the town and found herself in a concentration camp being robbed of her clothing. That individuation brought the tears.<BR/><BR/>srj, I do admire him for wanting to go to the museum. I admire him for not leaving immediately. He had a very hard time with it, and right now is in the other room reading <EM>Maus</EM> to wrap his mind further around the event. Thanks, too, for bringing the discussion to a modern Germany that lives with these memories. PS my own Jewish blood is diluted and pre-Holocaust as well (the Jewish part of my family fled Lithuania in the late 1800s and settled in upstate Maine).Jeffrey Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17346504393740520542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-31209860129988741212007-07-25T15:09:00.000-04:002007-07-25T15:09:00.000-04:00How moving. My own kids turned away from such exhi...How moving. My own kids turned away from such exhibits unable to take them in for more than a few moments. So your son has been very brave - especially given his personal connection to it all.<BR/><BR/>Maybe your next foreign trip should be to Germany or Austria? In Vienna many of the pre-war apartment buildings have lists of their jewish occupants posted on memorials by the entrance - so their past is anything but hidden - it is layered into the everyday fabric of the city (though I have no doubt that like most cities there are many 'covert operations' too). My jewish blood is much more heavily diluted than yours (and predates the Holocaust), but I did grow up in a world where so many adults said that the 'only good German is a dead German'. It has been cathartic recently to catch up with modern German culture, history and landscapes and to see my own teenage children forging an entirely different world view. Yes, EJ, they like clothes shopping - but like most teenagers they care passionately about all kinds of other stuff too - turning away from the exhibits - refusing to buy into the museum culture kind of shows that - don't you think? <BR/><BR/>sorry I have not had time to read all the other great posts - maybe one day ...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21165575.post-772011628836332442007-07-25T13:21:00.000-04:002007-07-25T13:21:00.000-04:00For me, it will always be the mound of shoes--all ...For me, it will always be the mound of shoes--all turned gray over time--that really stop me in my tracks at the Holocaust Museum. I'm actually planning to take my daughter there next week when we are visiting family in D.C., but as she is a wholly disaffected teenager who believes she is oppressed because I won't put her on my cell-phone plan, I cannot say ahead of time what effect the Museum will have on her. She will maybe say it is "cool" and "sad" and then immediately ask where I am taking her for lunch and can I buy her some clothes at Old Navy. Oh well. Please enjoy your children before they hit their teenage years as much as you can!Eileen Joyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13756965845120441308noreply@blogger.com