Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center

One of my Facebook Friends had an extended discussion about the new Museum. I opposed its creation and construction because I felt that $45 million of Jewish money could have been better spent. There are two outstanding Holocaust museums in Washington and Jerusalem. There is another at Auschwitz. I don't think we needed to spend all that money so schoolchildren could have a field trip--to a Holocaust museum. Not something to look forward to! I don't think we need another monument that shows Jews to be victims. That's not my idea of the Jewish model to emulate and aspire to. And no, I don't think the neo-Nazis' attempt to march in Skokie in 1977 is a good enough reason to justify spending $45 mil to build a Holocaust museum. Duly noted: I'm not a survivor. None of my ascendants are survivors or martyrs. I just don't think it would have been such a big deal if they had marched. I attended the museum's grand opening ceremony on April 19. Guess what? A mile away, there were Nazi protestors. (All seven of them.) They had the right to stand in the freezing rain, do their stupid salute, and look ridiculous. And they could have done it in 1977. We shouldn't need a new museum to answer them. The answer to neo-Nazis is more Jews standing proud and tall--like at Walk with Israel today.

My friend decried three significant details of the new museum that seem to detract from the uniquely Jewish character of the Nazi Holocaust: no mezuzahs, open on the Jewish Sabbath (but closed Mondays May-June '09), and a non-kosher cafeteria. Furthermore, the museum (from what I understand) goes to great lengths to compare the Holocaust to other attempts at genocide.

How absurd. Interestingly, I just read this is in direct conflict with the message of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, a Holocaust museum that insists the Jewish character of the Nazi Holocaust is unique. Unfortunately, some museums and some educators attempt to de-Judaize the Holocaust in two ways. They compare the Holocaust to other attempts of genocide. It really doesn't compare, and a justification is "beyond the scope of this post," if I may say so. Another way is to point out that Holocaust victims included Communists, homosexuals and others. Yes, but. As far as the Nazi oppressors were concerned, non-Jews were a "while we're at it" secondary goal. The whole point of the construction of the work camps and death camps was to murder Jews and make the European continent Judenrein, free of Jews. The Germans could have won the Second World War, or at least a conditional surrender, without the Holocaust. When they were clearly losing the war, they could have held on to power if they had stopped committing massive amounts of war-related resources to finishing their Final Solution. Contrary to common teaching, the Nazis did not campaign against the Jews in an effort to seize power. The Nazis seized power in an effort to murder Jews. God, would people please stop twisting history? And I'm not going into how gay the German High Command was, starting with the Fearless Leader himself. An organized campaign against homosexuals within the Reich would have decimated the German military.

So maybe the Illinois Holocaust museum doesn't want people to think of Jews when they think of the Holocaust. That sounds like a terrible thing to say, but maybe that's the whole point.