Germany’s Holocaust Monument in Berlin occupies 4.7 acres near the Brandenburg Gate. The information center, or Ort was added late in the project’s development is beneath the monument. When the monument first opened to the public in 2005, it was criticized as too abstract and that it took Berlin too long to erect a memorial to the victims of the Third Reich, which used Berlin as its capital. Some feel that the monument should include more symbolism that is religious and was not “Jewish” enough; others felt it was not sufficiently inclusive of the other victims of the Holocaust. Criticisms of the information center are that it is not visible enough, and centers on the Jewish victims of the Holocaust and is not sufficiently inclusive of the other groups who suffered under the auspices of the Third Reich. However, the information center does include information on the Roma, the systematic starvation of Soviet prisoners of war and the attempts at rebellion in Treblinka and Warsaw.
In the United States the National Museum for the Victims of Slavery was first proposed in 1993 by L. Douglas Wilder, who is himself a descendant of slaves and is also the first elected governor. Originally conceived as a museum, park and garden on a 38-acre site located along the Rappahannock River in Richmond, Virginia the museum project has not received sufficient funds for construction. In 2008, a garden was constructed and a statue installed. Unfortunately, since that time tax and other financial issues forced the project into foreclosure.
The American Indian Genocide Museum is a smaller more mobile memorial. With its center in Houston, Texas it offers traveling exhibits to schools, museums and libraries.. Other Native American Museums such as the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center in Connecticut have information on the systematic persecution of Native Americans documented in exhibits such as Pequot Lives: Almost Vanished along with their exhibits on 18,000 years of Native and natural history.
References
American Indian Genocide Museum . (2004). American Indian Genocide Museum . Retrieved 2 16, 2012, from American Indian Genocide Museum : http://www.aigenom.com/index.html
BBC News. (2005, 5 10). Berlin opens Holocaust memorial . Retrieved 2 16, 2012, from BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4531669.stm
Deutsche Welle. (2012). Holocaust Monument Dedicated in Berlin. Retrieved 2 16, 2012, from Deutsche Welle: http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,1564,1579615,00.html
Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center. (2012). Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center. Retrieved 2 16, 2012, from Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center: http://www.pequotmuseum.org/
Schwartzberg, N. (2009). Jewish Travel in Berlin Germany: The Holocaust Memorial . Retrieved 2 16, 2012, from Off Beat Travel: http://www.offbeattravel.com/jewish-travel-berlin-germany-holocaust-memorial.html
Walker, d. (2008, 3 18). National slavery museum project stalls. Retrieved 2 16, 2012, from USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2008-03-18-national-slavery-museum_N.htm
Ward, M. A. (2011, 10 8). Dreams for National Slavery Museum Caught in Bankruptcy. Retrieved 2 16, 2012, from Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/02/us-museum-slavery-idUSTRE79100120111002
