Etgar 36: Summer 2008

Arlington Cemetery: at RFK’s grave

JFK’s grave

Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers

saying goodbye to our home for the last 36 days

wow - we covered a lot of states!

final bus dance party!!

By Alana Cole

The Holocaust has never been an easy topic and for us it was equally hard to face at the end of our trip. The museum touched us all greatly.

It began with us getting a card telling you a story of a European Jew who was in the camps during the Holocaust. We crammed into an elevator where a video reinforced the horror of the Holocaust as well as a few words from a liberating soldier. Following a film of Hitler’s rise to power, we were herded into the narrow halls of the museum’s fourth floor, which explained to us the rise of Nazism. The moving display spoke not only of the 6 million Jews whose lives were taken but also of the 5 million others. On the third floor we learned about the final solution which was Hitler’s plan to exterminate all those who were not Aryan. The planks that we walked on which moved us from exhibit to exhibit felt like a bridge between the ghettos and concentration camps. The bridge was surrounded by pictures of a village and its people that no longer exists. Following this came the shoes that because they were made of leather and string, not blood and flesh, they were saved from the hell fire of the crematoriums. There was also the piles of hair as well as a barrack taken from a real camp and a model of how people were gassed. We also saw a video of the medical experiments followed by the Elie Wiesel quote “Never shall I forget that night that killed my God even if I am cursed to live as long as God himself. Never.” Across from these words lay a piece of metal used as the rack to hold the bodies in the crematorium. Tears welled up in my eyes as I stood knowing I could never live up to the 11 million lives that were lost.

I moved down the stairs knowing that I couldn’t stop even though I wanted to. On the final floor we saw the end of the war, concentration camps and Nazism, and Righteous gentiles were noted on the walls. On the bottom floor you can look back at the pictures of the destroyed village and see how many people were wiped out. I ended by going to see the eternal light display in the Hall of Remembrance and tried to remember every face I saw in the pictures.

We left the museum feeling pained and saddened from the Holocaust and one more member of the trip, Hannah Goldstein, leaving to go home. We made our way to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum as we discussed whether or not we should use information gained from the medical experiments done at the camps.

We had our choice of Smithsonians and we split up between the Art, Natural History and Air & Space Museums. They were nothing short of amazing. I went to the Art Museum. The building itself was gorgeous as were the exhibits in it. My favorite was a photo exhibit entitled “On The Beach” by Richard Misrach. They captured the solidarity one can feel at the beach even when surrounded by others and captured what the beach truly is all about.

After the museums we met with Jewish representatives of the Republican and Democratic parties. They had a debate with us as to where the parties respond to the various issues we have dealt with and why their party is the right one. They were incredibly polite but it was obvious that they disagreed with each other much of the time. We grilled them on such issues as stem cell research, abortion, health care and the size of government.

The final meeting of the day, and the trip, was with an organization called Mobilize.org. This organization works to help American youth get involved in the political process. They gave us a handbook on how to mobilize to create change and told us their stories of how they got involved. The coolest part was that Mobilize was created by David Smith when he was 22 years old. He is now 28 and left the organization because he is too old. Mobilize made us realize that we, as students, do have something to say and a right to say it. After this journey, we know what is important to us and now it is our job to make that matter to others and make a change.

We then went to dinner at Potbelly’s, which was delicious, and then went to see “Batman: the Dark Knight” at an old fashioned movie theater. One word: Fantastic.

By Rachel Podber

We woke up later today which was a nice relief after our jam packed days in Washington DC. We started the day off with a meeting at the National Coalition for the Homeless. They had three people tell us their struggles with homelessness. I found their stories inspiring and eye opening. They told us how they became homeless in the first place and how they have overcome it. We had lunch with them too which gave us more time to ask questions.

After lunch we went to the National Archives. We saw the original Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights. It was really cool to see all the documents that our country STILL refers to for every decision. They were a little faded, which made it hard to read, but it was still awesome to see the big fancy “We The People” that everyone knows.

From there we went to the Newseum. This was one of my favorite parts of Washington DC. It is a brand new museum about the news but it ranks as one of my favorite museums. The video they have about 9/11 was extremely moving and took me back to that day when I watched the news in shock with my family. They also have the blood splattered notebook and ID of Daniel Pearl, the Jewish reporter who was murdered by terrorists.

on the roof of the Newseum with a great view of the Capitol

with the Newseum’s “mascot”

After the Newseum we ate dinner at Ben’s Chili Bowl which is a famous dining landmark in Washington. The walls are lined with pictures of all the celebrities eating there. The chili was amazing.

Once we were full we went to see the comedy musical group The Capitol Steps. The actors take known songs and put funny political lyrics to them. They poked fun at everyone from President Bush (Georgie on my mind) to Barack Obama (Barack around the clock) to the war (Papa’s got a brand new Baghdad). It was definitely the hardest I have laughed in a while.

The last thing we did was see the famous monuments and memorials on the Mall at night. I enjoyed seeing the ways they chose to remember and celebrate different people and events. It was interesting to see the Korean and Vietnam Memorials and how different they are and, yet, they both are in memory of people not much older than us who gave their lives for this country.

at the World War II Memorial

Vietnam Wall

with the Albert Einstein statue