Haley Coffey: A Chilling Perspective

It’s with a heavy heart that I am writing about my experience at the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie, Illinois. At the beginning of the day I was very excited to go somewhere new. I was on that high that nobody ever grows out of when they go on a school trip. I had never been to a place like it before and always had dreamt of going somewhere like it. As we pulled up I told myself to soak everything in and really be present. I want to discuss three key main parts that really stood out to me on my visit. 

The first was a video of a survivor that talked about her life in a ghetto. She described her wedding day and an act of selflessness that gave me chills and an overwhelming feeling of hope. She said she noticed a friend becoming extremely thin. She later informed us he had saved several bread rations and traded them for a pound of sugar. The man gave the married couple the sugar as a gift. She said none of them had seen sugar for months and months because it was so expensive. How could someone be so generous at such a horrifying time?  There was still love and compassion even when it was so hard to feel those things. 

Another place that really put things into a shocking perspective was the exhibit where an actual cattle train was opened for us to step into.  It was insane how tiny it was. It was also very dark and dull. Imagine filling this small box with 80 other people for days without food or water; it's nearly inconceivable.

The third left me with watery eyes and a lump in my throat. It was a room with a single television in it. The walls were nearly 20 feet high. On these walls there were murals of dirt. This large mural was the side of massive graves. The floor was carpet. The carpet was occupied by the pattern of dirt. Dirt surrounded us. It felt like you were in an enormous grave. On the television a series of videos and photographs played.  They were clips of prisoners digging their own graves. Photographs of lifeless bodies in the holes also filled the screen. It was so weary in that room I had to leave because I had chills. Unsettling is the only word to describe it. My experience was truly life changing and I recommend a trip to the museum to anyone who would like a true understanding of history.