Touring the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum on a sunny, Super Bowl Sunday was worth every minute this past weekend. Guided by a knowledgeable and compassionate historian, Haley, we walked through a huge swath of the 20th Century. From the rise of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi Party) following WW I through the decades after WW II, we learned how, why, and when the Nazis exerted their power. That unstopped power resulted in over six million Jewish deaths under Nazi Rule. Millions of others–Poles, Slavs, Roma, Saki, homosexuals, the mentally and physically handicapped, resistance fighters, and more–were also killed. The museum’s artifacts and interactive displays, including many audio and visual recordings of St. Louis survivors of the war, are beautifully and respectfully laid out throughout the new space of the museum. The concluding message of the experience was strong. The Nazis gained their initial strength through a propaganda of lies that still spreads antisemitic beliefs today, “a popular component of much conspiracy thinking, widely disseminated on the internet and social media.” We must speak up and act against any hatred targeting someone or a group of people. Do not stand by and watch, as generations before us did.
