Material Culture Essay Essays Examples

The artifact that will be the center of the proposed Holocaust Museum that will be placed in Cedar Rapids would be the red scarf carrying the symbol of the Nazi Group, otherwise known as the swastika flag. As a primary consideration, the target population, which is a small Jewish minority in the Cedar Rapids area, only has limited knowledge about the Holocaust and the horrors that their Jewish ancestors suffered from during the Second World War in the hands of their German conquerors and persecutors.
So, the author of this paper and the proponent of the Holocaust Museum in Cedar Rapids is proposing the use of the use of this symbol because firstly, it was the same symbol and artifact that a lot of Jews who were being transported to the different labor and concentration camps prior to being subjected to forced and hard labor, torture, and murder looked at. During the war, it can be remembered that German troops marched all over the most populated cities in Europe carrying the emblem of the Nazi Party. It would therefore be safe to suggest that if there is a symbol that would be so hard for the Jews living during that time to forget, it would be the Nazi Party’s coat of arms.
It is important to note that the purpose of using the proposed artifact, which is a red scarf carrying the symbol of Nazi Germany is not to romanticize the rise and fall of the German Empire. Rather, it is to commemorate the sufferings of the Jewish people under the brutal hands of their conqueror.
Today, Jews can now look at the symbol that their predecessors have so much feared and dreaded without having to feel threatened and anxious about their safety. As they visit the proposed Holocaust Museum in the Cedar Rapids Area, they can look down on the German people who wronged their ancestors and contemplate what had been and what could have been. People from both sides live in a totally different world now, one that is more stable, peaceful, and forgiving.
Another important thing to consider about this proposed artifact is that it is not meant to promote racism against the present-day Germans for the things that their predecessors have done in the past but rather to commemorate how a conflict between two races (Jews and Germans) that has been identified as one of the highlights of the Second World War came to an end with the death of millions of Jews and by the end of the century, the death of millions of German soldiers as well, especially with the fall of Berlin.
For the target population which would be the largely uninformed Jews living in the Cedar Rapids area, it would take time and effort for them to realize the true meaning of the Swastika symbol. For those who already know what it means, they may feel hostile, angered, and even offended just by the sight of it. However, the purpose of the establishment of the Holocaust Museum and the featuring of artifacts related to that historical event (i.e. the holocaust), is not to stir conflict but to re-establish peace and harmony.
Specifically, its purpose is to serve as a reminder to the Jews and basically every museum visitor that even the hottest of conflicts shall come to pass and there would come a time when peace and prosperity would overshadow all the negative events that happened during the periods of conflicts. The strongest evidence of that would be the existing relationship between present-day Germans and Jews.
The Jews suffered a lot during the Holocaust. However, they should know and be educated that the present-day Germans should not shoulder the blame for their ancestors’ terrific experiences. If anything, they should be considered as victims—although they were on the side of the aggressor.
This is because they were essentially used by a dictator to further his plans towards world domination and paint a complete and perfect picture of his genocidal tendencies and realities. Together, both the German and Jewish people were able to overcome that hurdle in their respective histories.
Both of them suffered heavy casualties in the end of the Holocaust Period and the Second World War but they were able to make it nonetheless. The museum artifact that is being proposed to be the centerpiece in the planned Cedar Rapids Holocaust Museum should perfectly symbolize that.
Since the target population would be composed of a lot of students (who easily get bored), a video presentation of the most significant events that happened during the holocaust would be presented, together with the contents of this paper (i.e. the purpose of the artifact, what it meant, and the message that the curator of the museum wants them to receive and understand).
It is important that for every curated material (i.e. video and presentation) is being shown, the losses of both sides should be identified. This is because if the museum management would only air the losses of the Jewish side during the said event, it would only stir negative feeling and emotions against the other side.
In that case, the purpose of the newly-established museum would not be for education anymore; that would essentially transform it into a propaganda machine designed to sow anger and vengeance. This is something that the museum management should prevent from happening.
The main reasons why the information about the proposed museum artifact was decided to be presented using a combination of textual and video presentations are: firstly, it tells the true and unbiased story of what really happened during the holocaust. Museums should never be used for propaganda.
These buildings are meant to educate students and so the last thing that the management should do is to spread misinformation and the wrong perceptions about the parties involved in the Holocaust. Sure, at first glance it would turn out that the Jewish people were the victim. However, giving a closer look at the real outcomes of the war would show that even the German people were victims too.
Secondly, this is the most educationally creative way of presenting a rather boring (at least based on the perception of most students) topic (i.e. the holocaust and other related events during the Second World War) to the target population which are the students. The museum management should aim to make the presentation more stimulating because otherwise, the students would not pay attention to the information being presented.
In summary, the two critical factors and choices that the author of this paper considered when it comes to the delivery of information were the following: the quality of being truthful and unbiased, and that of being stimulating by way of being educationally creative. By combining these two variables, the people who would visit the museum would be able to successfully know more about the history of the Holocaust.