Monday, July 5, 2010

Day 1

Today I met my fellow travelers, we of the 2010 Holocaust & Jewish Resistance Teachers' Program, also known as the American Gathering.

We assembled at 2:00 P.M. in a classroom at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to become acquainted, go over procedure for the trip, and begin our study.

Elaine Culbertson and Steve Feinberg are trip coordinators and will accompany 25 teachers from around the United States.

We focused today on artifacts and photographs in the permanent exhibit, making notes on those that made the greatest impression on us as we toured, and then discussed them as a group in the classroom and after dinner.

The biggest impressions seemed to be from those exhibits that tell a personal story: one rail car, shoes, a pair of eyes connecting to our souls from a photograph. I made a comment about the exhibits that illustrate the frightening rationality of the Third Reich, for example, official government posters that illustrated racial identity.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, is a travel day. A long travel day. After meeting again in the morning at the museum, we assemble at 1:00 P.M. in the hotel lobby for the ride to the airport. From Dulles we fly to Frankfurt, lay over for a bit, and then go on to Tel Aviv, where we arrive at 3:00 P.M. local time Wednesday. There is a seven hour time difference between E.S.T. and the time in Israel.

So far, so good. You may not hear from me for a couple of days.

1 comment:

  1. Sid,
    Thank you for the personal insight and information. Too many of us have no idea of the despicability of this whole event. Thank you for caring and sharing.
    Mark Belsaas, 60
    New Carlisle, IN USA

    ReplyDelete