Museum Impressions
The museum I attended was the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which is located at 100 15th Street (Raoul Wallenberg Place) Southwest in Washington D.C. It is part of the National Mall. I was initially struck by the size of the museum itself, and the many labyrinth-like passages, rooms, and corridors it contained that were all related to some different aspect of the Holocaust. I had known that the museum existed and had heard stories about many of the horrors of this particular time period, but I was a little surprised at how much history was preserved and at the number of people who were present on what was just a routine day at the museum.
One of the pieces that I spent the most time looking at was the cover of The Secrets of the Wise Men of Zen, which was displayed in its original German language in an exhibit in the lower level of the Gonda Education Center. This...
The cover of The Secrets of the Wise Men of Zen was simple enough, containing blue text in a colorful, calligraphy print over a sand colored background. To my surprise, a Star of David (which is a symbol of the Jewish religion), is prominently featured on the upper portion of the book, while there is a symbol of the earth and hands shaking on the bottom. However, it was amazing to see the cover of one of the documents that has been so influential in propagating anti-Semitic sentiment throughout the world. The exhibit featured the covers of several other versions of this text, of course, but it was incredible to see the first one to appear outside of Russia -- which helped to fuel the translation and appearance of the…
