8/23/2009
After the Fair Lane Mansion tour, we found ourselves in a bit of a time crunch for the event that I had planned the whole trip around: a visit to the Holocaust Memorial Center to see a Holocaust survivor share her experiences. Unfortunately, there was some major construction being done on the highways, large chunks of which were shut down. Luckily we had the GPS or we never would have figured out an alternate route, but even so we wound up being over a half-hour late. Luckily, we weren’t the only people to face this problem, so the events of the day had been delayed and we arrived just as the tour was starting.
This museum is very impressive, however, because of the delay the tour guide had to rush things to get back on schedule so it turned into a “Look at the monkey. Move on” situation, where we wished we could have explored a little bit. In all honesty, I wouldn’t recommend the formal tour – in fact, we broke away from the guide a couple of times to look at the exhibits ourselves. Our tour guide seemed like a nice man, and he was a retired surgeon – we know that because he nonchalantly mentioned it every couple of minutes.
Although the tour was rushed, the meeting with the Holocaust survivor was well worth the trip. Although the Motown Museum was the most fun we had on our trip, meeting this lady was definitely the most worthwhile. Her name was Mania Salinger, a Polish native who had spent 1939-1945 in various concentration camps, including Auschwitz. Wow. That’s the entire war. It was an eye-opening experience. After she spoke to the group we bought a copy of her book which she autographed for us. Laura and I talked to her for a little bit and she even gave me her email address if I wanted her to come visit my classroom. A beautiful woman.
These are the kinds of experiences that are making these trips worthwhile. This is something Laura and I started to think about when we visited Columbus, Indiana where it was apparent that many of the buildings were disappearing, and even our two-hour search for Cincinnati chili. You kind of assume that things like this will always be there, but they may not be. Time marches on. By the time Daniel gets to be my age, people like Mania Salinger will be all gone. Don’t wait, folks. A Holocaust survivor speaks every Sunday at this museum. Go listen to what they have to say.
This is right down the street from me, I drive past it almost every day! I've been contemplating checking it out, now I think I will !
ReplyDeleteThat's great to hear. It's funny how we sometimes don't notice great places that are right in our backyard. I used to live in the Cleveland area and I never visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. People come from all over the world to see it, but I never thought of it. When you live close to a place you don't think of it. I wonder how many New Yorkers have never seen the Statue of Liberty? Anyway, let us know what you think of the museum. We'd be interested in other opinions of the place.
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