The Place Where Silence Shouts the Loudest

So, with it not being fall around here (on the weekend we got up to 32 out), I needed a place that was going to be more on the cooler side of the thermostat which hopefully would not be too busy. So I look in my trusty and handy guide book and what kind of slightly jumps out at me - the Holocaust Museum.  A classmate of mine went a couple of weeks ago and said that it is uber depressing (I don't see how they could make it cheerful of a place) but highly informative and interesting.  And, on the plus side, it read that they keep the museum on the cooler side as they want to preserve all the artifacts.  Perfect!!! To the Holocaust Museum I go (http://www.ushmm.org/ if you want to check it out online). 

Here is some background knowledge for you guys on this wonderfully informated, uber depressing and nicely chilled 4 floored museum.  The Museum first opened April 26, 1993 and since then it has had nearly 30 million visitors.  There is a whole schwack load of information to absorb when there - more than 12,750 artifacts, 49 million pages of archival documents, 80,000 historical photographs (which were probably my favorite), 200,000 registered survivors, 1,000 hours of archival footage, 84,000 library items and 9,000 oral history testimonies. The tone of the museum was also quite amazing - if you know me at all, you know that my ipod is forever in my ears; however, I could not bring myself to listen to music while I was there (firstly because some videos had sound to them and secondly, it just felt wrong to not listen to the silence and hear the people sniffling (because of the air conditioning or tears, I don't know) but for those 3some hours, I did not listen to a single song). 

When you first enter the museum, you pick up an 'Identification Card' that you can keep with you which tells you a story about a real person who lived during the Holocaust.  There is a stack for women and a stack for men.  I, because I have some of my sister in me, took both.  Sadly, neither person in my identification cards made it through the Holocaust alive.  I wonder if anybody did in those cards.......So, after you pick up your card, you are shuffled into this elevator that feels like a steel cage, and you watch a video of the prisoners in the concentration camps, something that will basically tell you how the whole tour is going to be.  Once you get off the elevator, the first picture you look at is a picture of the bodies dumped at the Ohrdruf Concentration Camp.  I knew right then that it was going to be a very somber, yet somewhat enlightening experience I was about to have. 

Another thing, if you know me, is that I am a quote fanatic and this place was full of them.  I drained my phone battery from trying to write them all out on my notepad since we were not allowed photos (which reminds me, all of the photos you will see below did not come from me - I googled them and took them from other peoples sites).  So instead of telling you the history of the Holocaust and the timeline of what happened, which we learn in school and you can easily Google and Wikipedia, I will just share with you some of my favorite experiences and readings while I was at the Museum. 

One of the first quotes I came across was from General Dwight D. Eisenhower on April 15, 1945 which said: "The things I saw beggar description ... the visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were ... overpowering... I made the visit deliberately in order to be in a position to give first hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to 'propaganda'".  It, along with the first picture of the concentration camp, foretold the visitors what exactly they would be looking at, reading about and experiencing. 

 

A prayer that was said on the Jewish Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) in 1938 was as follows:  "Our history is the history of the grandeur of the human soul and the dignity of human life.  In this day of sorrow and pain surrounded by infamy and shame we will turn our eyes to the days of the old.  From generation to generation God redeemed our fathers and He will redeem us and our children in the days to come.  We stand before our God; we bow to Him and we stand upright before man". 

 

The shoes was probably one of my favorite areas.  It was just this room with all shoes from victims of the concentration camps.  The quote that is above the shoes is as follows:  "We are the shoes, we are the last witnesses.  We are shoes from grandchildren and grandfathers from Prague, Paris and Amsterdam and because we are only made of fabric and leather and not of blood and flesh, each of us avoided the hellfire". 

This quote from Elie Wiesel was close by the shoes:  "Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children, whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget those flames which consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me, for all eternity, of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never."

 

Another one of my favorite parts was there two rooms that just had pictures going up to the roof; pictures from 1890 to 1941 of more than 100 families.  Just standing there, looking at all the different photos was breathtaking.  The history behind those pictures is astounding.  Just looking at the photo now takes me to a quote that I read from Harry S. Truman on February 25, 1946:  "There are left in Europe 1,500,000 Jews, men, women and children whom the ordeal has left homeless, hungry, sick and without assistance.  These, too, are victims of the crime for which retribution will be visited upon the guilty.  But neither the dictates of justice nor that love of our fellowman which we are bidden to practice will be satisfied until the needs of the sufferers are met". 

 

Another interesting part of the museum was a Karlsruhe freight car, which was one of the several that deported the Jews.  In this tiny space, nearly 100 victims were packed in, not knowing where they were going to go.  There were two different types of camps that they were getting shipped to:  either the Death Camps where they got gassed right away (Chetmno, Betzec, Sobibor and Treblinka) or the Extermination/Slave Labor Camps where they basically got worked to death (Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek).  This car was unbelievably tiny that I could not fathom putting 100 people in it. 

 

So the last, wonderfully spectacular part of the Museum was when I got teary-eyed.  It is called the Hall of Remembrance.  You walk in to, and this is mind boggling, even more quietness than the rest of the museum.  There is a guard who just walks around the area and you see candles lined up along the walls.  In the middle is an eternal flame that says the follow:  "earth gathered from death camps, concentration camps, sites of mass execution and ghettos in nazi occupied Europe and from cemeteries of American soldiers who fought and died to defeat Nazi Germany".  Just standing there, lighting a candle, and thinking of everyone who died during that time was such a powerful feeling. 

Okay, so hopefully I didn't just totally depress you and get you all sad and whatnot, although it is a very morose subject.  I wouldn't hesitate to tell people to go there just to see everything and read everything.  There is a sound booth where you can sit and listen to survivors tell their story, which is enlightening and inspiring.  You get to see children's toys and drawings, children who made it through the Holocaust.  There are uplifting things to see there, but it is shrouded by the misery and sadness of the word Holocaust.  That being said, I am going to leave you with one final quote, this one from Albert Einstein:

"A desire for knowledge for its own sake, a love of justice that borders on fanaticism, and a striving for personal independence -- these are aspects of the Jewish people's tradition that allow me to regard my belonging to it as a gift of great fortune.

Those who today rage against the ideals of reason and individual freedom and who seek by means of brutal force to bring about a vapid state-slavery are justified in perceiving us as their implacable enemies. History has imposed on us a difficult struggle; but so long as we remain devoted servants of truth, justice, and freedom, we will not only persist as the oldest of living peoples, but will also continue as before to achieve, through productive labor, works that contribute to the ennoblement of humanity."

Have you ever heard of a Fishing Cat? The Cuban Crocodile? African Pancake Tortoise? If not, you can see them all at THE ZOO!!!!

I finally (after close to a month of living here) had the chance to start striking things off the Washington To-Do/To-See List. How to pick what to do is probably going to be the hardest part as there is so many things to do and see that it will be hard to figure out what *exactly* to explore that day.  But, with it being a Sunday and me feeling a little homesick, I decide to tap into my life back in Calgary which meant, drum roll please, I WENT TO THE ZOO!!!! I can tell you that the Zoo will be a common ground for me; and no, it is not because I belong there (for all you people that had a joke on the tip of your tongue).  First and foremost, it is free, which is awesome.  Secondly, there is so much to see and learn while there that it will take me lots of trips to probably see every animal there.  Also, the metro ride there is pretty simple as I don't need to get off my line and the area of town that the zoo is in is one to go explore further (I think it has a Vietnamese place which is something I have been trying to find as I have been craving salad rolls and bubble tea).  I was like a kid in a Disney store when I was walking up the path and into the zoo; it was so exciting to be finally doing something, and that something being the zoo!!

 

So just a bit of some background for you guys on the zoo- it was founded in 1889, covers about 163 acres and holds 2000 animals from 400 different species.  If you want a more detailed list of all the animals, click here:  http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/exhibits.cfm. I don't even think I could list all of the different animals that I saw as my mind was going miles a minute just looking at everything.  I was like a squirrel - everywhere I looked there was something different to see and I am sure I back tracked a lot to make sure I got to see every exhibit.  I originally decided to forego the Bird House as birds free to fly in enclosed spaces and me do not go hand in hand (something I picked up from my dear mother hahaha) but I thought that if I was going to do the zoo, I was going to see every part of it. 

I really do not know where to begin in telling you about my experience there.  It truly is one of those things that you need to experience for yourself, but I will try to guide you through my time of being there, show you some pictures that I took (I took around 244 pictures so I won't post them all hahaha, but I will eventually get a picture of every animal there) and some write ups (courtesy of probably Wikipedia hahaha) of some of the animals that I have never heard of before.  And you will have to pardon my comparison to the Calgary Zoo as that is the only zoo I have ever been at before. 

 

I am a cat person; always have been and probably always will be.  So one of the first animals I get to meet at the Zoo is called a Fishing Cat.  Never heard about them; never had an inkling that they even existed.  But alas they do.  Sadly, I never saw one actually go 'fishing' for food, but just to see them was quite interesting. 

 

What is interesting about this cat is that they will attract fish by lightly tapping on the waters surface with their paws, mimicking insect movements.  Then, when their prey is close, they will DIVE (yes, a cat diving into water) into the water to catch the first.  They will also apparently swim underwater to prey on ducks and other birds.  Their paws are slightly webbed to let them scoop their prey out of the water as well to help them swim underwater.  Their tail is flat, kind of rudder-like, to help them steer underwater.  I really really hope one day I will be able to see it actually diving into the water or something like that. 





So next stop I see is the Asian Small-Clawed Otters.  Holy canoly, these guys are like cockroaches - freaking everywhere.  They seemed to be tinier than the North American River Otter (which is what the Calgary Zoo has) and I am going to take an educated guess and say that they have longer claws than the American Otters.  But seriously, the exhibit was over run with them. 

So I go walking and walking and more walking and I find myself in the American Trail, which consists of animals like a beaver (which I sadly did not see), seals and sea lions, the bald eagle, and also, and this is pretty cool, grey wolves.  What is cool about the grey wolves are that they actually came from the Calgary Zoo!!!  So it was like I was back at home when I saw these two wonderful animals.  I am hoping their transition to Washington has been more stable than mine has been hahaha. 

 

The Zoo also has an aquarium type area, invertebrate house and reptiles/amphibian place as well.  There were many different types of fish, crocodiles/alligators, reptiles, frogs, coral and sting rays a plenty!!!  In this area is also the creepy crawler type things like tarantulas (I hate that psychological feeling that when you are looking at things like that you have this sensation that something is crawling on you/over your feet - I am pretty sure I visibly shuddered when I was taking the pictures) and so many different types of snakes.  I finally saw what a Rattlesnake looks like up close and I hope that is the one and only time I get to see one (except for behind very thick glass where it can not get out). 

 

So while I am walking throughout the zoo, which I would like to know just how much I walked that day as it seemed to be a lot of walking,  I am noticing that it is becoming more and more the 'Zoo of the Turtles'.  I seemed to have been seeing turtles is every area of the zoo.  According to the website, there are 15 different types of turtles at the zoo - crazy. 

 

Oh, there is also a kids part to the zoo - you know, the kids farm type area with farm animals and all those wonderful creatures.  I had to laugh because they had cows in an area, and people were actually stopped to see and look at the cows.  I keep forgetting that I live in a very city-type atmosphere and that maybe some people have never really seen a cow out in the 'real' world.  I know that there is a girl in my classes that has never seen a moose before. 

One really interesting part of the zoo is what is called the O-Line; it is the Orangutan Transport System.  It consists of 8 50-foot high towers that goes from the outdoor orangutan yard at the Great Ape House to the outdoor orangutan yard at the Think Tank.  The line is supposably usually accessible for the Orangutan's between 11am and 2pm.  Now, and if you were thinking what I was thinking in that what stops the Orangutan's from climbing down and experiencing the zoo with real people, the surrounding grid and whatnot are electrically charged, so that will stop the Orangutan's from climbing down and people climbing up.  Sadly I never got to see the Line being used, but I am hoping that one day I will (if statistics play in my favor hahaha). 

 

I could go on and on and on more about everything that I saw, but I think I will stop.  I will definitely be going back to the Zoo more times to get the full experience and to be able to see everything and read about everything and all that educational stuff.  There are programs there that you can watch and learn about the animals (I think there is one at the Seal exhibit that I would like to catch).  When it all boils down to it, you need to come and experience this zoo for yourself to be able to see everything, and it is free, so why wouldn't a person??

 

With this I leave you to your everyday life and hope that this small escape to the National Zoo in Washington was a good break for you.  Stay tuned for all of my next adventures that I am going to have - there will be a crapload for you to read, laugh out loud too and smile at.  With that said, I will leave you with this kick ass picture I took, which is probably one of my favorites from this trip. 

 

The Golden-Headed Lion Tamarin