The United State Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is truly like no other museum in the world. Unlike the world-renowned Smithsonian collection, it is not an endless display of fun and fascinating artifacts that students can quickly explore. It is an entirely different experience but one with the potential to change a student’s life.

As a Tour Leader, you have to make a lot of difficult decisions regarding time allotments, especially when it comes to museum time. For example, at the Smithsonian, most will choose 2-3 museums and allot approximately 1.5-2 hours in each, permitting the students to choose particular exhibits of their interest. The Holocaust Museum is not a museum you want students to rush through.  

Avoiding the biggest tour mistakes

The two biggest mistakes student tour groups make with respect to the USHHM are:

1. Not allotting enough time for the Permanent Exhibit- requiring students not only to rush through it, but also preventing them from experiencing the other powerful exhibits; and

2. Not going to the USHHM if they were unable to secure Permanent Exhibit tickets (these tickets are often difficult to secure in peak tour season and may be challenging to fit in a packed itinerary).

There is no question the Permanent Exhibit is one of the most powerful and moving exhibits in any museum in the world. A person could easily spend a week or more in the exhibit alone.  The true impact of the Permanent Exhibit, however, can be lost if a student has to rush through it because of time constraints or perhaps they are not yet mature enough to grapple with the issues. The point to consider is that some of the groups that reported the most life-changing moments at the museum didn’t even go to the Permanent Exhibit but instead allocated their time to the museum’s other hands-on exhibitions.

The Museum’s other exhibits are specifically aligned to students of all ages and maturity levels and thus have the potential to impact students in a deeper and more meaningful way. Additionally, many take far less time and are easier to fit into a crowded itinerary.  Below is a list of other exhibits to consider at the USHMM, along with ideas about incorporating some pre- or post-trip supplemental lessons.

 

Remember the Children: Daniel’s Story

Daniel’s Story is the Museum’s primary exhibition program for young people and their families. The exhibition tells the story of one family’s experiences during the Holocaust from the perspective of a boy growing up in Nazi Germany. A brief film introduces the exhibition’s narrator, Daniel, and the story of the Holocaust. Visitors then enter realistic environments where they can touch, listen to, and engage in Daniel’s world as it changes during the Holocaust. The exhibition design is based on historical imagery gathered from family photo albums, documentary sources, and pictorial diaries of the period.

Daniel’s diary entries, which serve as the exhibition’s primary text, are based on the wartime writings of young people and the memories of some of those who survived. At the end of the exhibition, students are invited to review important facts about the exhibition and the Holocaust and to express their feelings or write down their thoughts.

The exhibition was created with the help of a team of experts and has been reviewed by child psychiatrists, educators, and museum interpreters. Since its inception, it has remained one of the Museum’s most popular experiences.

Location: First Floor, Anne and Isidore Falk Gallery

Tickets: None required

Plan to Spend: 30 minutes

Recommended: Ages 8 and up

 

Americans and the Holocaust

This exhibition examines how the Great Depression, isolationism, xenophobia, racism, and antisemitism shaped the American response to Nazism and the Holocaust. It explains how much the American people knew at the time and asks why rescuing the Jews was not a priority for the majority of Americans.

Location: Lower Level, Sidney Kimmel and Rena Rowan Exhibition Gallery

Tickets: Not required

Plan to Spend: 45 minutes

Recommended: Ages 11 and up

 

The Survivors Symposium: Meet a Living Holocaust Survivor

Depending on the dates of your tour, a very special and unique option is available to sit in on a lecture by an actual survivor of the Holocaust.  Within the next generation, it is likely that all of the remaining survivors will no longer be living.  This is an incredibly distinct and rare opportunity for your students to hear the real-life experience of someone who lived through one of the darkest times in the history of the world.  It is now possible to reserve tickets for these events and guarantee space for an unmatched learning experience. Approximately 90 minutes | Passes / Reservations highly recommended

 

Burma’s Path to Genocide

This exhibition explores how the Rohingya became targets of a sustained campaign of genocide. In 2017, violence against the Rohingya in Burma, also known as Myanmar, forced some 700,000 to flee for their lives. Many remain in neighboring Bangladesh today. The exhibition features audio, video, photography, and first-person testimony. Guest curator Greg Constantine, a photojournalist, has been documenting the community since 2006.

Location: Second Floor

Tickets: Not required

Plan to Spend: 30 minutes

Recommended: Ages 11 and up

 

American Witnesses

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In April 1945, young Americans serving in the US military encountered the Nazi concentration camps. Few, even those hardened in battle, expected such a shock. “I do not know words that are strong enough or expressive enough to describe the horror I saw in those few days,” one US Army Signal Corps photographer wrote to his family.

The special exhibition American Witnesses highlights the experiences of American men and women who saw first-hand evidence of Nazi atrocities. Using their oral and written testimony, photographs, and film, it explores their reactions and efforts to expose and document Nazi crimes and to nurse starving and ill prisoners back to life.

The exhibition includes an audio tour, which visitors can access through mobile phones. A transcript of the audio tour is also available.

There is graphic content that may not be suitable for all audiences.

Location:  Lower Level (Concourse)

Tickets: Not required

Plan to Spend: 30 minutes

Recommended: Ages 13 and up

 

One Thousand and Seventy-eight Blue Skies

One Thousand and Seventy-eight Blue Skies displays individual images of the sky photographed above every known Nazi concentration camp and killing center across Europe.

Between 1933 and 1945, the Nazi regime used these sites for imprisonment, forced labor, and murder. They played a central role in the mass killing of groups targeted by the Nazis, including the murder of six million European Jews. These camps were among more than 42,000 places of detention controlled by the Nazis and their collaborators.  

Blue Skies invites us to reflect on the expansiveness of the camp system and the experiences that unfolded during the Holocaust under 1,078 patches of sky.

About the Photographs

Photographer Anton Kusters traveled throughout Europe between 2012 and 2017, taking these images. He relied on research completed by this Museum to locate each camp. Each photograph is stamped with the GPS coordinates of its location and the number of victims who entered that camp.

Location: Second floor

Tickets: Not required

Plan to Spend: 10 minutes

Recommended: Ages 8 and up

 

Preparing your students before visiting the USHMM

In speaking with some of the top Master Guides in DC and even the Board of Directors of the USHMM, the biggest piece of advice is usually, “Students need to be more prepared for the Museum.” This is probably more true of this particular museum than any other because 1) the complexity of the exhibits being seen in a limited amount of time, 2) the emotional impact of the material, and 3) the real potential the experience has to impact a student if the experience is properly planned.

By “preparation,” these guides are not simply saying ‘did the students study WWII and the Holocaust at school?’ They are going to an entirely other level of suggesting the students should be prepared for the exhibitions themselves so they can anticipate the activities and be prepared to fully reflect on the images, sights, sounds and smells of what they are about to witness. The educators at the Museum have compiled very compelling resources to assist you in this process.

http://www.ushmm.org/information/plan-a-visit/exhibitions-and-activities

http://www.ushmm.org/educators/teaching-materials

http://www.ushmm.org/learn/students/the-holocaust-a-learning-site-for-students

Consider assigning some of the materials to groups of students before the tour to give them ownership of the experience. Perhaps use the resources at a pre-tour meeting or the hotel the evening before. The biggest point is to find the ideal exhibit for your group and prepare your students for the visit, and you will likely find that this trip to the USHHM was your best one yet. For more information or questions about what exhibit may be best for your particular group, please contact your Tour Coordinator, who will be able to advise you.

 

**This article was updated on 10/9/2024