Room Six: World Response, Resistance, Rescue at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
This is the sixth room in the museum.
"The Museum’s main passageways display images of front pages of Los Angeles newspapers from the Holocaust era. The headlines indicate significant information was available to people about the events of the Holocaust as it was happening. For the most part, however, the world chose not to respond to the information available. In the period before Hitler’s invasion of Poland the European and U.S. governments sought to appease, rather than confront, the Nazi dictator. Countries refused to increase the number of refugees they would admit. Hitler gained credence for his view that no one wanted Jews when he allowed the U.S.S. St. Louis to leave, full of people trying to escape. In spite of its efforts to land in many ports in the U.S. and South America, no country allowed it to. The Pope also failed to speak out against the inhumanity, persecution and slaughter. Efforts to oppose the Nazis’ policies were sporadic and isolated. Few countries acted as did Denmark organizing national efforts to save Jews. Few individuals spoke out. One small group of students, known as the White Rose, lost their lives for doing so. Only a handful of diplomats with the power to help did so; several Museum exhibits retell their stories. And while the Garden of the Righteous outside the Museum celebrates the citizens of European countries who acted to save Jewish lives, the numbers of such people are incredibly small in comparison with the millions who did nothing. Some Jews found ways to avoid deportation and formed partisan or resistance groups. Museum exhibits discuss their efforts. The Warsaw ghetto uprising, the only successful citizen revolt against the Nazis, may be the best known.”
"The Museum’s main passageways display images of front pages of Los Angeles newspapers from the Holocaust era. The headlines indicate significant information was available to people about the events of the Holocaust as it was happening. For the most part, however, the world chose not to respond to the information available. In the period before Hitler’s invasion of Poland the European and U.S. governments sought to appease, rather than confront, the Nazi dictator. Countries refused to increase the number of refugees they would admit. Hitler gained credence for his view that no one wanted Jews when he allowed the U.S.S. St. Louis to leave, full of people trying to escape. In spite of its efforts to land in many ports in the U.S. and South America, no country allowed it to. The Pope also failed to speak out against the inhumanity, persecution and slaughter. Efforts to oppose the Nazis’ policies were sporadic and isolated. Few countries acted as did Denmark organizing national efforts to save Jews. Few individuals spoke out. One small group of students, known as the White Rose, lost their lives for doing so. Only a handful of diplomats with the power to help did so; several Museum exhibits retell their stories. And while the Garden of the Righteous outside the Museum celebrates the citizens of European countries who acted to save Jewish lives, the numbers of such people are incredibly small in comparison with the millions who did nothing. Some Jews found ways to avoid deportation and formed partisan or resistance groups. Museum exhibits discuss their efforts. The Warsaw ghetto uprising, the only successful citizen revolt against the Nazis, may be the best known.”
Works Cited:
"Virtual Tour - LAMH." Virtual Tour - LAMH. Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust , n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2017. <http://www.lamoth.org/exhibitions/virtual-tour/>.