seltsam - strange
this is a relatively boring story (i take public transit to a museum and come home) and i wouldn't trouble you with it, fair reader, except that something strange happened today. i thought you all might have some thoughts (comments - click below).
the anne frank zentrum is one floor (the fourth to be exact) of a small building entered from a dark alley. the exhibit aligns frank's short life with a timeline of the rise of hitler's regime and the holocaust. it seems the museum had been closed for renovations and had just reopened today, so while the lighting was bright and new, the content was, well, not.
as i began looking at the pictures, and consulting my english-language guide, people began to accumulate in the lobby. then more people came. they spread out into the exhibit, they continued to fill the museum, they spoke in lilting too-loud-for-a-museum voices. they're laughing! i must have looked troubled because i was approached by a man who inquired something of me. it went like this:
him: blah blah Sie blah german blah?
me: (blink, blink) uh... bitte?
him: are you just looking?
me: um, yes, just looking. what are you doing?
him: we are having a party. don't let us bother you! (he smiles) :D (emoticon used in place of the picture in my head.)
so THAT'S what's going on. a party. at a holocaust museum. hmm... . i kept my nose in my guide book and continued the exhibit. so they want to have a party to celebrate the reopening of the museum. good for them.
they have a lecture of some kind going on now, and i am finishing the exhibit. i reach one of the last pictures, one taken in 1983 of an anne frank statue with a swastika painted on it, when a champagne cork pops. "okay," i think, "now this is just weird." so i left.
their jubilation at having the anne frank museum open again is a testment to the progress made here, but the timing seemed insensitive. i'm not saying that they shouldn't celebrate. just maybe not while it's Open To The Public. but what do i know? it was strange.
the anne frank zentrum is one floor (the fourth to be exact) of a small building entered from a dark alley. the exhibit aligns frank's short life with a timeline of the rise of hitler's regime and the holocaust. it seems the museum had been closed for renovations and had just reopened today, so while the lighting was bright and new, the content was, well, not.
as i began looking at the pictures, and consulting my english-language guide, people began to accumulate in the lobby. then more people came. they spread out into the exhibit, they continued to fill the museum, they spoke in lilting too-loud-for-a-museum voices. they're laughing! i must have looked troubled because i was approached by a man who inquired something of me. it went like this:
him: blah blah Sie blah german blah?
me: (blink, blink) uh... bitte?
him: are you just looking?
me: um, yes, just looking. what are you doing?
him: we are having a party. don't let us bother you! (he smiles) :D (emoticon used in place of the picture in my head.)
so THAT'S what's going on. a party. at a holocaust museum. hmm... . i kept my nose in my guide book and continued the exhibit. so they want to have a party to celebrate the reopening of the museum. good for them.
they have a lecture of some kind going on now, and i am finishing the exhibit. i reach one of the last pictures, one taken in 1983 of an anne frank statue with a swastika painted on it, when a champagne cork pops. "okay," i think, "now this is just weird." so i left.
their jubilation at having the anne frank museum open again is a testment to the progress made here, but the timing seemed insensitive. i'm not saying that they shouldn't celebrate. just maybe not while it's Open To The Public. but what do i know? it was strange.
posted by jordan at
5:04 PM
1 Comments:
Flipping bizarre. In Germany, no less. You'd think, given the baggage of being German, they'd be extra cautious of appearing insensitive about *anything* at all related to the holocaust there, wouldn't you? Reopening or no reopening, I would expect muted voices, not laughter. I've been in many a holocaust museum before, and a champagne cork popping is definitely a first.
(Obviously, you can disregard my earlier email about enabling comments, as you've obviously done so!)
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Anonymous, at January 19, 2006 9:07 PM
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