US Holocaust Memorial Museum

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Washington DC
US Holocaust Memorial Museum
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The US Holocaust Memorial Museum is an important place to take your teens to learn about history and how dangerous certain ways of thinking can become. The exhibits, as expected, are very depressing, but important. Your ticket reserves you a one-hour slot in which to start your visit, but the museum still gets pretty crowded at the adult exhibits.

For children, there is an excellent and beautiful area about a child named Daniel. Kids walk through his old neighborhood, and then the ghetto and concentration camp where he was sent. Kids really get a feel for how drastically his life changed. There is a short video at the beginning and end. It will make you cry, but it is appropriate for kids, and very important for them to see. There are many interactive things for kids to do in the Daniel area, and this area is not very crowded. In the rest of the museum, kids can visit the memorial room upstairs and light a candle, and see the children's art tiles downstairs.
You can also point out to your children how interesting and meaningful the architecture of the building is. It is made of materials that remind of concentration camps or imprisonment, and it is crooked in many spots, speaking of uncertainty. 
The rest of the exhibits, however, are definitely not appropriate for children.
After, walk ten minutes west along the breezy Tidal Basin to the incredible Thomas Jefferson Memorial. Or walk eight minutes north across the National Mall to the National Museum of American History.

Continue to directions...

Side courtyard of the museum.

Daniel exhibit.

No jews allowed sign.

Dear Diary, Stores owned by non-Jewish families are open, but we can't shop in them...

Look inside Erika's suitcase.

Dear Diary, My mother says we must hurry with our suitcases. We are being sent to a ghetto far away...

The ghetto was a dreary place.

Rotten turnips for sale in the ghetto.

Hole to look through- the children's area is interactive.

The dreary room in the ghetto.

Dear Diary, This is our secret hiding place! We hide a radio in here...

Dear Diary, It's so crowded in here with my family! It's our kitchen and bedroom and bathroom all in one.

Barbed wire.

Look in the cookie box. This is Daniel's nice house before he was sent away.

Daniel's house in Germany was so nice compared to the ghetto.

Erika's cookies, in her nice house with Daniel before they were sent to the ghetto.

Look in the drawer of Daniel's desk in Germany, where he had a nice house before he was sent away.

Looking up at the impressive architecture.

Looking down at the bottom lower level.

Unique architecture.

US Holocaust Memorial Museum, as seen from across the Tidal Basin.

Directions

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum is located at 100 Raoul Wallenberg Pl SW, Washington, DC 20024. It is on the southern end of the National Mall, west of the middle of the Mall.
Entrance is free. You need tickets, but you can get them at the desk if you come early in the day. Otherwise, the tickets reserve you a time so you won't come when it's full, so it's good to get them in advance.
If you're driving, you can park at the Tidal Basin Parking Lot at Maine Ave SW and walk five minutes to the museum. Google maps seems to be able to find this parking lot if you type in 1500 Evens Maine Parking, Washington DC or 1511 Maine Evens Alley SW, Washington DC.

map

Click on map for interactive view

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Last Updated: Wed, 04 Jul 2018 00:16:10 GMT

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