Holocaust Museum exhibit

The Spy Museum and the Newseum aside, all of the prominent museums in DC are free, which is probably why I was dragged to so many as a child.  My favorites were the National Gallery of Art, because of its breathtaking Calder mobile, and the National Museum  of Natural History, because there were two glass elevators in the jazz cafe that were great for playing tag.  I didn't appreciate the emotional effect a museum could have, though, until I visited the Holocaust museum.  The permanent exhibit of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is huge, spanning three floors and covering the entire history of the Holocaust.  The whole experience is overwhelming, but there are certain points where the impact is especially visceral, and it's not uncommon to see people quietly crying to themselves.  For me, there are three moments that stick out especially: the glass case with the Torah scrolls destroyed on Kristallnacht, the room with walls covered in photographs of Holocaust victims, and the displays of personal belongings of concentration camps victims.  I was at the museum with my Sunday school class, and it was in the room with the shoes, watching my friend's dad cry and my friend comfort him, that I felt the jolt of a personal connection.  Whereas previously I had been morbidly fascinated with the Holocaust, walking through the museum really drove home the reality of the situation - that we're not so far removed, that this had happened recently and not years and years ago.  On the ride home I felt tired, that same tired you get after a funeral, and I didn't really do anything for the rest of the day.  While I generally prefer my museum experiences to be educational without being emotionally devastating, this exhibit speaks to the impact a museum can have on how we perceive history and how important it is, to bring in the reading on "The Price of Freedom," that the information presented is as complete and accurate as possible.