Ortiz 1

Erik Ortiz

English 113B

Professor Lawson

May 12, 2017

Project Space Essay: Analysis

The Museum of Tolerance

One of the most horrifying consequences of racism in the 20th century was the Holocaust.

The rise of a dictatorship led to millions of Jewish deaths and the Jewish were also not the only

group of people targeted. An organization of armed forces was the most powerful form of

opposition that Jews had against the Nazi forces. Fights in the streets erupted with Nazi soldiers

pushing back the Nazi forces. The hatred not only came from high authorities but also citizens or

even a friendly neighbor. All of that history is taught to this day and almost any piece of

information of what occurred during this tragic event lies in the Museum of Tolerance. The

Museum of Tolerance shows that although anti-Semitism was directed towards Jewish society

during WWII, those same cultural prejudices exist today towards both Jewish people and other

ethnic groups, and we as a society need to be on guard against the type of prejudice and hate that

could lead to another holocaust or genocide.

The Holocaust bought upon one of the worst historically made events. Many people to

this day fear this type of event would occur again. Many of these racial prejudices still exist and

have been implemented onto other people of different races. The sight of a man or woman

wearing a turban or a hijab right away scares off someone giving the impression that he or she is

a terrorist or even the sight of a dark-skinned man with a thick moustache mistaking them for a

Mexican that many see as job thieves or rapists. Many people express these stereotypes to these
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types of people and falsify information of them. The recent rise of these racial decimations is due

to the recent inauguration of the president. During the entire campaign of the recently

inaugurated president Trump, racial slurs and lies have been thrown around too many and have

been looked down upon. Much of society compares Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. Already most

of the executive orders that Trump has passed, have been of no help to many people as they see it

being the total opposite. Only a month and a half into his presidency, he is having immigrants

who have lived here their entire life deported and taken away from their loving families and their

jobs to help support their families to be treated unfairly and proceeds to label immigrants as

criminals. Trump stated during the election, Theyre bringing drugs, they are bringing crime,

they are rapists. These terrible remarks caused mass riots and protests in the streets to occur at

tremendous rates as people are furious of this small glimpse of what many see as the beginning

of a possible dictatorship. The Museum of Tolerance describes Adolf Hitler rising to power with

his first remarks as Jews being evil. As many were deported during to the holocaust to

extermination camps, being treated less than equally or fairly still appears today as not only

immigrants but other cultures are discriminated upon and treated as those during the holocaust.

The Museum showed videos of Hitler and the formation of his dictatorship as it tore other

countries apart. As these racial prejudices affect society not only in the past but also today, the

Museum of Tolerance manages to break these issues by associating these different cultures

together.

Politically, the United States has been heading for a downfall as its communities are

falling apart and the two political parties are not representing the people accurately. Similarly,

during the Holocaust, many of the surrounding countries such as Ukraine or Czechoslovakia

encountered many faults into their political system as well. The country of Germany that
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supported the Holocaust as the Dictator enforced laws that took lives of other people but their

own. Many used to see the United States government as a representation of its country and now

the government has been overrun and is made up of about 65 percent of the republican party

which proceeds to follow under Trump. Not only do people see the government as corrupt but

also law enforcement. As during the Holocaust, the Museum managed to show how corrupt their

government was as well as their military and law enforcement. The museum of Tolerance

simulated a video for a group of people to show how their police were manipulated by Hitler in

order to grant officers power over their community. The Museum of Tolerance also gave an

opportunity to people to become a court and question an officer and a victim of a shooting and

choose who was at fault. It showed a whole cut scene of the situation and gave questionnaires to

people to side with the victim or police officer. Being able to do this, it bought groups of

different cultures together as a community to help each other understand who was wrong and

who was right with their personal thoughts and explanations.

The Museum of Tolerance affects the people who visit emotionally. Being shown the

pictures of children that were murdered and hearings stories of how some of them barely even

survived hurts the hearts of many people. An interview was conducted with a woman who

survived this tragic event and participates at the museum to tell her story. She was asked a very

simple question which was asking for her name and she turned away and started to walk away as

she started crying. The hateful remarks this one woman has received in her past, to this day not

only still haunt and hurt her, but scar her. This is the same pain that many cultures still receive

today and as it may not seem that hurtful to many, they are human beings just as any other

person. When people finish touring the museum, they feel saddened by the fact that those same

racial discriminations that they are shown in the museum exist today.
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Racism affects society and tears apart communities socially and corrupts the political

system. As countries were very much hostile to Jews, they tried as hard as possible to push back

Nazis with their Jewish resistance. Many of those hard yet long lasting memories of what still

affects the lives of many people live on in a historical museum called The Museum of Tolerance.

This museum puts a strong focus on racism and relates todays society with racial problems

during the Holocaust. Although the Museum of Tolerance shows the racial issues that occurred

during the Holocaust, it still shows how those cultural prejudices exist today toward other ethnic

groups.
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Works Cited

Taylor, Alex. The Roots of Racism. Socialist Worker.http://socialistworker.org/2002-

2/431/431_08_Racism.shtml. 22 November 2002. Web.
"German Police in the Nazi State." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2017.