c. 1996 Religion News Service

(Rabbi Rudin is the national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee.)

(UNDATED) I attended the opening ceremonies of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., in April 1993, but it was only recently that I made a return visit. It proved to be a jumble of surprising, even disturbing emotions for me.

I arrived one weekday morning 30 minutes before the museum opened, and already there were many high school students and teachers waiting in line. Joining them were tourists from around the country who were excited to be in Washington.

As I chatted with the visitors, it became apparent that the Holocaust Museum, built with private contributions on government land as part of the federal museum system, has gained the”must-see”status accorded to such places as the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Smithsonian Institution, and other Washington attractions.

A staff member told me that nearly 3 million people have visited the museum since its opening, far exceeding original projections. On many days, especially during the summer, visitors need reservations.

The teachers waiting in line said a Holocaust Museum visit is an integral part of their social studies, history and literature courses. When I asked why, the answers were varied and revealing. One teacher from rural Pennsylvania said:”The Holocaust is part of American history. After all, we fought two wars with Germany in this century.” Another teacher replied:”Students need to know that life isn’t always sweet, and people do terrible things to each other.”A tourist who overheard the conversation added this observation:”My friends told me this place is scary, and I want to experience what they felt.” Another student gave a contemporary reason for visiting the Holocaust Museum:”You know, with Bosnia and all, it’s important see what happened in the past.” Once inside, I could not resist a visit to the bookstore. It was an unnerving experience. There were hundreds of books, magazines, and videotapes for sale _ all dealing with the Holocaust, including diaries, children’s books, histories, and novels.

As I looked at the extraordinary number of publications, I suddenly became aware of the droning sound of a videotape that neither the store’s staff nor visitors were watching. I stared at the grainy black and white images on the TV screen: It was a visual history of Nazi Germany and the career of Adolf Hitler.

I asked one of the salespeople what it is like to work in an environment that focused exclusively on mass murder and genocide.”At first, it bothered me. It really did. But after awhile you get used to it,”she replied.”I mean, it’s a good government job, and I’m glad to have it.” After a few minutes in the store, I became anxious, edgy, and finally had to leave. It was an unexpected reaction because, like millions of other Jews, I have been obsessed for decades with the terror of the Holocaust, the evil of anti-Semitism, and I have made several visits to the death camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau, as well as the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem.

Why did the bookstore in the Washington Museum so upset me? After all, its shelves contained much of what has preoccupied me since childhood. I could have spent hours browsing through the store, but instead I bolted for the door. Why?

I think I became uneasy because of the store’s ordinariness, its everyday prosaic quality. The pictorial story of the mass killing of Jews, my people (had I been born in Europe and not in Pennsylvania, I could easily have been one of the 1.5 million Jewish children who were murdered during the Holocaust), has become a kind of visual Muzak; background voices and unwatched images in a bookstore.

I felt badly when I left the store because I am genuinely thrilled that America has a superb museum to commemorate and study the Holocaust, and I am pleased that it is located in the heart of the nation’s capital, near the impressive monuments to Washington and Jefferson.

I am gratified that so many people, particularly students, are flocking to the museum. And I am delighted that excellent research and educational programs take place there. Thanks to the museum, the Holocaust will be an indelible and permanent part of our nation’s collective memory.

But somehow I wish that every visitor and museum staff member possessed the same obsessive and haunting passion I have about the Nazi attempt to destroy the Jews. I know that this cannot be. But still, the Holocaust was more than a”scary”event that now provides”a good government job.”

MJP END RUDIN