The Cultural Functions of History and Memory

Hey reader,

Today we visited the Freedom Center, a museum about slavery, the underground railroad and the experience of African Americans in the United States.
There where a painting that impressed me very much. It was depicted in dark impressive colours. In the centre of the picture was a black woman who held her hands on her head, like she has very bad headache. The viewer almost feel her stress and anxiety. Its impresive that more than a million people were sold in the deep south, doens't matter if there were man, woman or even children. People were violently taking away from their families. This picture showed the whole process of being sold from the kidnaping and transfering via waggon or ship to the auction. Even if the transatlantic trade breaks up in 1808 the trade in America itselfs continued, calls internaltrade. The narrator explained how the persons were auctioned for the highest price that a stranger bets. For the slaves holder it was just business. The slaves were products not more.

The holocaust is similar to the slavery in america. When I visited Buchenwald in 7th class I can remember that the size of the buildings where the people were housed are very impressive to me. It was a lot to small for such a huge amount of people. Illnesses could spread very fast and I imagined the terrible smell I may could had.

I think it is very important to keep such historical events in mind, because we only can learn from mistakes done my human beeings. May it helps to prevent that such terrible things nerver happen again.

To my mind museums are a good way to bring historical stuff to students even if their are born long after the event. Some exhibitions are so good that the visitor feel included in the topic so that it stays in their mind for a long time. I think visual aids are absolutley essential for making the issue interessting and understanding.