Skokie is a small town in Illinois. I had never even heard of it until our trip with our History class last week. In this town, there is this huge building that is just beautiful and looks like it keeps extending into the sky. Inside, however, there are some not so beautiful pictures. The building houses the Holocaust Museum of Skokie, Illinois. One finds here feelings of sadness, betrayal, heartache, and even some happiness towards the end.
As you first step into the dark room with sliding doors, you can still see a reflection of the light from the outside while watching a short film from survivors of the Holocaust, but as soon as the doors close, it feels as if the room goes black and you only have the reflection from the television; it put me into the perspective of the Holocaust. As we walked through, we heard the voices of the survivors and we saw many artifacts and pictures of those that lost their lives. For example, the part that gave me the biggest heartache was when I saw a little pink baby outfit on the wall in a case. The small baby had been murdered by the Nazis. They felt that women and children could not work and would not be of use, so they killed them first without any thought.
There was also a real cargo car that was used in transporting Jews to concentration camps; you were able to walk in it and see the actual size. The Nazis managed to fit hundreds of people in this small cart. When I stepped foot onto it, I felt like the walls were closing in on me and could not even imagine being in there with hundreds of others traveling many miles just to await your death. It makes me irate that another human could do so much harm to others, with no guilt or shame. This was an experience I will not forget anytime soon.
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