27-01-2025
'The inhumanity that humans are capable of' on display in Holocaust exhibit at WWII museum
SOUTH KINGSTOWN – In the beautiful Rhode Island village of Wakefield sit dozens of symbols of evil, weapons used in mass murder.
The International Museum of World War II has many disturbing reminders of the deadliest conflict in human history, but none are more haunting than those in the section containing remnants of the Holocaust.
There's a uniform worn by a concentration camp prisoner; an empty can of Zyklon B, the gas that was used to kill innocent civilians, and a signed letter from Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the Holocaust.
Thomas Brassil, the museum's director of educational programs and operations, said, "It's really important" to have such items on display "so we can learn from them."
"Whenever talking about the Holocaust, it's very difficult to wrap your mind around it, and so having these items here for you to see shows the inhumanity that humans are capable of and a reverberation of the motto of the Holocaust: 'Never forget,'" Brassil said.
In observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, the World War II Foundation will show its film "A Promise to My Father" at the museum. The 2013 documentary tells the story of Israel Arbeiter, a Holocaust survivor from Poland whose parents and younger brother were killed in a concentration camp. (The foundation has added a second showing for Jan. 29 because its 50-seat theater got overbooked.)
As part of the free event, Tim Gray, founder of the foundation, has urged guests to visit the museum's Holocaust exhibit. Here are some of the items they will see:
A uniform worn by a prisoner at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The gray and white striped pajamas and hat were worn by a young boy who worked as a cobbler at Auschwitz making and repairing shoes for the guards and other Germans, according to Gray. "He would be a cobbler for as long as he could work," Gray said. "If he got sick or something else happened so he could not work, he would be immediately sent to the gas chambers."
An opened, empty can of Zyklon B. The pesticide released hydrogen cyanide and was used by the Nazis to murder more than a million people in gas chambers. According to Gray, prisoners were herded into rooms for what they thought were showers.
"After penetrating the lungs through inhalation, Zyklon B caused in its victims excruciating pain, violent convulsions and, finally, a heart attack," according to "Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away," a traveling exhibition about Auschwitz and its historical implications.
A signed letter from Adolf Eichmann, whom Gray calls "the architect of the Holocaust." A leading member of the Nazi Party, Eichmann was in charge of organizing mass deportations of Jews to ghettos, concentration camps and extermination camps, according to the Wiener Holocaust Library. In the June 1944 letter to a friend, Eichmann refers to his busy work schedule and upcoming meetings with members of the Hungarian government and representatives of the German Railroad Administration. Is it likely that those meetings were to arrange transportation of prisoners? "Very likely," Gray said.
A bag of coffee beans. Brassil said it might seem like an "odd item to have in the collection." The bag of coffee beans came from Block 11, a building at Auschwitz where the Nazis did some of their "worst experiments" and first tested Zyklon B, Brassil said. Coffee was given as a reward to "capos," prisoners who also acted as guards at the camp, Brassil said.
A program for German Day at Madison Square Garden. On Oct. 3, 1937, "20,000 people poured into Madison Square Garden for a pro-Hitler rally," Gray said. "That just goes to show you, again, that antisemitism wasn't just limited to Germany. Standing beside a case holding the program, Gray said, "To me this is an example of or a reference point in history, where you say, 'It can't happen here.' Well, it did happen here."
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Take a look at the Holocaust exhibit at Wakefield's WWII museum
