Frommer's EasyGuide to Washington, D.C. 2019 by Elise Hartman Ford

Author:Elise Hartman Ford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: FrommerMedia
Published: 2018-10-09T16:00:00+00:00

I recommend my usual strategy for tackling a visit to an overwhelming museum: Start with a general guided tour, then ask your guide what exhibit or artifact is most meaningful to her. Or, if you have a particular interest, say, in what life was like in ancient Israel, head there first. In fact, a number of themed guided tours focus on one area or subject, such as “Translating the Bible into English,” each lasting an hour and costing an additional $8. I signed up for the highlights tour, whose designated top hits include Julia Ward Howe’s original draft of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, written in 1861; and a fragment of a first edition of the Gutenberg Bible, circa 1455. My guide’s personal recommendation was the “Impact of the Bible” section on criminal justice in America, specifically its collection of personal anecdotes, including that of a man in jail for life who nevertheless has found peace within himself through his newfound understanding of the Bible, and the tale of a jury that relied on Bible verses to find a man guilty of murder and deserving of the death sentence. Provocative.

The Bible Museum is Smithsonian in size and scope, but a different animal altogether. This is a privately funded facility, whose founders and primary funders are the evangelical billionaire Green family, owners of the chain of Hobby Lobby arts and crafts stores.

400 4th St. SW (at D St. SW). museumofthebible.org. 866/430-6682. Suggested donation: Adults: $15, children 12 and under: $10. Daily 10am–6pm. Closed Thanksgiving, Dec 25 and Jan 1. Metro: Federal Center SW.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum MUSEUM The Holocaust Museum documents Nazi Germany’s systematic persecution and annihilation of 6 million Jews and others between 1933 and 1945, presenting visitors with individual stories of both horror and courage in the persecuted people’s struggle to survive. The museum calls itself a “living memorial to the Holocaust,” the idea being for people to visit, confront the evil of which mankind is capable, and leave inspired to face down hatred and inhumanity when they come upon it in the world. A message repeated over and over is this one of Holocaust survivor and author Primo Levi: “It happened. Therefore it can happen again. And it can happen everywhere.” Since the museum opened in 1993, more than 43 million visitors have taken home that message, and another: “What you do matters.”

You begin your tour of the permanent exhibit on the first floor, where you pick the identity card of an actual Holocaust victim, whose fate you can learn about in stages at different points in the exhibit. Then you ride the elevator to the fourth floor, where “Nazi Assault, 1933–1939” covers events in Germany, from Hitler’s appointment as chancellor in 1933 to Germany’s invasion of Poland and the official start of World War II in 1939. You learn that anti-Semitism was nothing new, and observe for yourself in newsreels how Germans were bowled over by Hitler’s powers of persuasion and propaganda. Exhibits tell stories of desperation, like the voyage of the St.

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