The Holocaust Museam Report - Essay Example

?Overcoming Hatred Hatred is a learned behavior that can be observed and recognized from an early age. Although most individuals can understand explicit actions of hate and abuse, cultural differences can make it much more difficult to observe and curtail. Humans have and will continue to gravitate towards others who share similar beliefs and political, ideological, and cultural symmetry. This behavior, on a macro-level, can be influenced by others who have power and control beyond the norms of human cruelty. Prejudice can be overcome through awareness and by teaching others cultural sensitivity. The Holocaust Museum in Houston, which is free to the public, directs attention to the Jewish Holocaust and its cultural impacts, with respect to the Jewish population that survived in Europe during WWII. The Museum, through static displays, brings history alive by explaining how the Nazi Party inflicted mayhem and cruelty out of sheer feelings of hatred and abhorrence for the Jews. The museum also takes great care to explain that women, elderly, and over one million children were killed in cold blood, in order to take revenge for the alleged support rendered by some European Jews to the enemies of Germany during WWI. It is believed that nearly six million Jews were massacred by different means during these twelve years, and that other cruelties were inflicted upon other racial communities. Between 1941 and 1945, five to six million Jews were systematically murdered by the Nazi regime, its allies, and its surrogates in Nazi-occupied territories. Yet, despite the extraordinary scale and intensity of this genocide, its prominence in recent decades was far from preordained. Hatred can be overcome only if an honest, non-political approach is used towards those who may be affected or who may instigate the violence. Hatred, undeclared violence towards others left unchecked, can lead others to disregard their understanding of their own humanity. To dislike somebody or something is understandable; however, to do so in such an intense manner to somebody or something that evokes feelings of anger, hostility, or animosity, is wrong. To know hatred, there first must be an understanding of what forms of hate can influence our actions and the effects on history. Once hatred is identified through education, solutions can be implemented to intervene and negate such actions. The Jewish Holocaust, a depressing subject, helps to shed light on the darkness of humanity in the modern age. Although other holocausts have occurred throughout history, it is often the victor of such tragedies who writes history. Thus, such tragedies are often relegated through time, and their long-term impact can be eroded. The museum helps to educate and serve as a venue of histories past. Most individuals have never seen a dead body in person in a non-clinical setting. Imagine witnessing such an atrocity as someone being murdered. Try to comprehend this tragedy and multiply it by six million. This idea, with the use of pictures and the personal accounts displayed in the museum, illustrates this dark chapter of humanity with the use of personal details and artifacts of the Jewish-American immigrants who survived. The efforts by the museum can only help to teach, in a non-partisan way, what has happened and could continue to happen if efforts to stop such tragedies are not undertaken. As the WWII generation can no longer tell their story due to old-age, the Holocaust Museum will speak on their behalf for many years after their voices fall silent. The Holocaust Museum demonstrates the overall history of the solution through the logical sequence of Jewish migration. The museum displays explain that it is not easy to order a fighting soldier to take 25 innocent prisoners and kill them. Social, political, and religious ideological understandings must be in place to activate such atrocities. Throughout history, evil persuasion has influenced others to act inhumanely. Although such instances are rare and difficult, history has proved that genocide has occurred throughout the centuries. An example of mass murder after WWII would be the Khmer Rouge, who took the lives of at least 1.5 million Cambodian people. More recent examples of genocide have occurred in Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Only with direct, objective efforts can humanity hope to accept the understanding of others, which may lead to future political intervention once such actions have occurred. Social and cultural awareness can effect changes in what we believe and how we perceive others. However, economics will always play a significant role when dealing with other ethnic groups and populations. Recently, the human population exceeded seven billion people. Earth, with its limited resources, can only support a finite number of people. Changing climates, political agendas, and the cultural shift to other growing national economies will only serve to shift political interactions between nations. National alliances and treaties can and do buffer quick, irrational shifts. However, the United States, politically and militarily, did not intervene in Rwanda even though such atrocities were known and understood. Long-term conflicts will always set the environment for future atrocities. The greater challenge is curtailing other nations from creating such environments to avoid such tragedies in the future. The most dynamic artifact displayed in the Houston Holocaust Museum was the uniform of a Jewish concentration camp survivor. To keep such an artifact, after all that has occurred and due to the mere age of the uniform, has an indelible impact on a personal scale. Usually, there are only photographs that describe artifacts of a personal nature. To view the very small, striped cloth in person was truly astonishing and will be long remembered for many years to come. This attention given to the Holocaust by the museum, through the use of video testimonies and artifacts, will survive over time to further remind humanity that such atrocities should never happen again. Read More