Tuesday, November 29th
I woke early– like, REALLY early, and spent the first few hours of the morning writing feverishly… By the time I emerged from my room, Rachael was just about ready to launch into the day as well, and we started the day with a trip to the library to pick up museum passes.
The St. Petersburg West Community Library evoked the same familiar comfort that all libraries bring me, and I really liked how open the design was.
It was a very simple process to check out the museum passes and we were in and out of the library in less than five minutes.
We decided to stop at the Pass A Grille Community Church (located at 107 16th Ave in St. Pete Beach, Florida 33706) for a labyrinth walk before going to the Florida Holocaust Museum. Pass A Grill was only 15 miles (and 20-ish minutes) away, so we were there fairly quickly and enjoyed our labyrinth walk, then spent a few minutes sitting quietly on some chairs they had at the labyrinth.
Afterwards, we took a quick walk across the street (literally) to check out Pass A Grille Beach. We didn’t linger (because the rental car fees for sand in the car would have been exorbitant), but it sure was pretty!
With a lovely labyrinth walk completed and the beauty of the beach in my mind, we turned towards downtown St. Petersburg and the Florida Holocaust Museum.
In retrospect, we probably should have gone to the Holocaust Museum first, THEN visited the labyrinth (and popped over to the beach).
After the tranquility of a labyrinth walk at and the peacefulness of the beach views, the weightiness, horror and solemnity of the Florida Holocaust Museum left me with a raw ache on my soul.
Part of me doesn’t even want to share what I learned (and was reminded of) from my time there, however it too important that we keep the atrocities of our humanity firmly fixed in our mind- not to emulate or aspire to such barbarism, cowardice and indifference, but as a steady reminder of the dangers of complacency, bias and ignorance.
We tend to focus on the atrocities of the Hitler and the Nazi party, and are equally quick to point fingers at how other countries failed to prevent the atrocities that occurred. However, the United States government’s (and people of the United States) initial and subsequent response reflected poorly on us as citizens, as a community and as a country.
While the US did eventually enter WWII (as a result of Japan’s December 7th attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941), our involvement in the preceding two years was limited to the US clandestinely providing funding, weapons and supplies to our allies- specifically France, Canada & Britain.
Why was America determined to remain neutral at the start of WWII?
Over 100,000 Americans were killed in WWI and we, as a country, were still mourning those losses. In addition, Americans were upset about loaning our World War I allies a lot of money to buy weapons and food- money that was not repaid. Americans did not want a repeat of either issues.
The US had also tightened immigration restrictions (in part due to the Great Depression), and remained inflexible in its policies, despite the horrors occurring to Jewish people in Europe.
In June 1939, the M.S. St. Louis, a German ocean liner with 937 passengers (mostly Jewish) were turned away by immigration official in Cuba, then the US (in the port of Miami),lay and finally Canada, forcing the ship to return to Europe. Many of those fleeing refugees that were turned away later died in the Holocaust.
Politicians and government officials opted to not only turn a blind eye, but also to suppress sharing with the American people what heinous acts were transpiring in Europe.
It begs me to ask myself (and you), “Do you turn a blind eye to injustice and depravity? Do you deny such things occurred? Do you realize that we (as a people, community and country) chose comfort and self-preservation over humanity and intercession against unimaginable evil?
However, there are those who did NOT look the other way.
The things I saw beggar description... I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to 'propaganda'.
Hitler and the Third Reich were relentless in working towards accomplishing three things:
Spreading hatred and dissension.
2. Extermination of those they did not consider worthy of life (i.e. The Jewish population, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Roma (Gypsies), homosexuals, institutionalized persons (including toddlers and children) with disabilities, etc.)
3. Racial ‘purity’, (i.e A ‘pure’ Aryan race)
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Though it took longer than it should have, eventually America, and the world as a whole, opened our eyes to the atrocities happening in Europe. The liberation of the Nazi death camps showed, with a starkness and horror that cannot be forgotten, the level of depravity of the Nazi party.
Silence in the face of cruelty is not ok.
Indifference in the face of cruelty is unacceptable.
Impassivity in the face of cruelty is intolerable.
Wanting to be a good person is not enough.
Thinking that we are a ‘good’ person is not enough.
Our character is reflected in our silence as much as it is in our words, in our actions as much as our inaction.
We wrapped up our visit to the Florida Holocaust Museum with heavy hearts and weary spirits, however I don’t regret my time there at all. It was a powerful reminder that life is all about choices, and the choices we make dictate not only the course of history, but also who we are as a people, community and society.
It forced me to re-examine the times I chose silence over the discomfort of calling out bias and bigotry. It has not happened often, but the fact that it has ever happened means it has happened TOO often.
Tuesday wrapped up my St. Pete adventures with Matt & Rachael, and I left bright and early Wednesday morning.
I am so grateful for the time I had with them. Lessons learned, friendships strengthened, adventures undertaken.
