There’s a museum here in Los Angeles that I have been wanting to visit for several year. This week during the 4^th of July festivities, I made the trek up to West LA to check out the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Museum of Tolerance.

Since I had recently visited Israel, I was not shocked by the strict security of getting into the museum. Cars and trunks are check, metal detectors and x ray machines are used, and you are not allowed to use cameras, cell phones, or other electronic devices. It did remind me of my recent trip to Israel with all of the security measures. But once inside the museum, it was an enlightening and fascinating exhibit.

If I had to describe the "history of humankind" in the simplest terms I would call it a battle between "Hate, Ignorance and Greed" versus "Resistance, Struggle and the Fight for Freedom." My visit to the "Museum of Tolerance" made me realize that the persistent conflict between these two has caused history to repeat itself in countless cruel ways. The Museum of Tolerance addresses two main themes that humankind is guilty of committing: racism and prejudice (focusing on America) and the history of the Holocaust during World War II (the notorious example of "man's inhumanity to man"). My overall experience at this museum in West Los Angeles left me saddened by the overwhelming amount of racism that has pervaded our world. Racism is bred out of "hate, ignorance and greed" and it leads to self-destruction. Racism has divided and conquered people because it seeps into our everyday thoughts, our actions, socioeconomic and political life, our basic survival. It has, and probably always will be a personal issue that we cannot escape. All of this may sound dismal, but it's a truth that we must face and especially challenge.

The first section of the museum I entered, called the "Tolerance Center", gave an historical account of racism in America and how it exists today. Interactive exhibits of talking wooden heads and videos of social scenes showed people attesting to stereotypes and biases. Among the many harsh words and phrases that were spoken, there were those like, "They're taking all our jobs," "You know all they're good at is Math", and "Why don't they go back where they came from." Another exhibit, titled "Images that stay with us?" addressed how media impressions we received as children influence us.

The last two features of the "Tolerance Center" that stood out were the interactive television screens covering the L.A. riots and a gigantic computerized wall map titled, "The Other America." These two exhibits showed that "hate" and "corruption" are still very prevalent in our country. From "The Other America" I learned that a very large number of "hate groups" span the entire U.S. It was frightening to realize that these white supremacists weren't so distant as they seemed to be and also the fact that some were titled under "church" organizations. There were also computer terminals that showed the plethora of “hate groups” on line. White supremacy, anti gay, Mexican supremacy, African amerircans against whites, men superior to women, Islam versus Christianity, it was amazing at the number of hate groups. I have to admit, I went in with my own bias thinking that most of the hate groups would be white, straight, male…but surprisingly hate groups know no bounds. There is a hate group for everyone. It's ridiculous the way that some people believe their race is superior than others. It's crazy when you think about it because there is no single homogenous race. This leads me to the second part of the museum, the part that struck me the most: the tour of the history of the Holocaust.

At the beginning of the Holocaust tour each visitor received a photo card containing the real-life story of a child impacted by the events. The child I had was named Richard Benguigui; he was a six-year old whose mother was captured and deported to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland. Richard and his brothers were sent to a children's home that was run by Germans. The museum guide told the group that in the end, after witnessing the events, the fate of our child would be revealed. I felt a bit uneasy and depressed about this idea.

The Holocaust tour was not only an educational experience for me, but it was also "very moving, emotional and deep." As we entered the dark and cold corridors, images of swastikas and Adolf Hitler's rise to power covered various exhibit scenes. I knew very little about Hitler, besides the fact that he could be personified as the devil himself, a Nazi leader responsible for the murder of millions of people. What I learned was that Hitler was a demagogue who exploited people's fears and desires. He blamed the Jews for the problems of German society and began the propaganda that laid way for Jewish persecution. The German population found Hitler to be very captivating. I had to ask myself, "How could a person have so much hatred for an entire group of people that never did him any harm? How could so many people buy into his
hateful words and ideas?" As the tour progressed I noticed that images of Hitler and mention of his name disappeared altogether. It was almost as if he was no longer needed because the movement to destroy the Jewish people progressed by itself. It was supported and unquestioned by too many people -- Germans and non-Germans, leaders and common people, the young and the old.

The museum guide brought up the question, "Who was responsible?". Later I learned that the answer to this was larger than Hitler himself. The reenactment of the conference where leaders decided on the "final solution to the Jewish question" gives testament to this. I was struck at how they spoke about Jews as non-humans, like dispensable animals for the slaughter. It was here afterwards that the tour devastated me more -- it was the beginning of the Holocaust and the mass-killings. Seeing the countless images of innocent people suffering and dying left me speechless. I wondered how the museum guide could stand repeating the same stories over and over.

Before visiting the museum I never gave thought as to how other countries were reacting to the events of the Holocaust at the time. I learned later that the Holocaust was "internationally ignored", countries such as the United States initially refused to let Jews immigrate for fear of "importing a race problem." Many reasons for acts like this were for economics, but basically other countries were just as impacted by the racism as the Germans.

After millions of Jewish people had already died, the United States was one of the countries to come in as "rescuers." This was the same country that refused them to begin with and also one that was imprisoning their own American citizens on U.S. soil, these were the Japanese Americans in internment camps.
As the tour came to an end two questions appeared on a screen: "Who was responsible?" and "Could it happen again?". It was the fault of more than one man, but of many people, countries and leaders who could've questioned the events and taken immediate action. In the words of the museum guide, "Everyone was responsible." This made me think about racism today and how we should challenge its destructive impacts. Racism is such a complicated issue and I can offer no final solution. Like those everyday people during World War II who did challenge the Holocaust, I think it really starts with the individual. Everyone has a choice to question the pre-existing ideas about those "who are different."

In the end I finally discovered the fate of six-year old Richard. The children's home that he was in was closed down and overtaken by a German decision. On May of 1944 Richard and his brothers were murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. He was one of the 1.5 million Jewish children killed in the Holocaust.

As I left the museum, I could not help but remember some of my trips to destinations like the battle of Gallipoli, the camps at Auschwitz, the battle fields of Belgium, Manger Square in the West Bank, and the countless other historical sites I’ve been to and realize that we keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

I highly recommend a visit to this museum not only for it’s historical value and interest but also it’s provocation in making you think about the world and about yourself