Jensenn Stone: The Heavy Weight That Hangs Over Each Room

I did not really know what to expect during our journey to the museum up in Chicago, IL. There were many mixed emotions. It is neat and exciting to see all of the different pictures, videos, and memories from that time period. However, at the same time, there was also that heavy weight that seemed to hang over each of the rooms. This topic is not something that is easily discussed due to the severity of such an event and the amount of impact that it had across the world on different people.

Walking through the end of the museum, I saw the little portion that exhibited Simon Wiesenthal and some of his work during that time period. I thought it was interesting to see that part, because of the fact that we were just reading his book, The Sunflower. 

While walking through the museum, I read a story of a man. Each prisoner was to line up to be shot into a ditch. The man had lain down on top of his daughter to protect her. Some of the guards were walking around to make sure that everyone in the ditch was dead. One of the guards had stopped and stood on top of this man and that is the only reason that he is still alive. When I read this story, it almost made me tear up. It seemed that only by the grace of God was he still alive.

At the end of the visit, we heard the story of Mrs. Magda Brown. One thing that I really started to question is how long did it take her to come to terms with the things that she experienced during those years in the concentration camps. She had such a sense of peace around her that really struck me. Mrs. Brown is such a strong woman. I liked how she told each of us to remember three things from her talk with us. However, there is one point that just struck me the most. It was when she said to just simply ignore the snobby people who say that the Holocaust never happened. I personally cannot truly even begin to comprehend how a person can sit there and say that all the things that those people went through never even happened. In a sense, it is sort of mind blowing. Why would someone think that it would just be all made up?