JEWISH HOLOCAUST MUSEUMS. Are they ethnocentric? Should they include other holocausts?

Question

The Jewish community was wise to create holocaust museums as a reminder to humanity, and if you've ever been to one, you are certain to agree, however, I now wonder why these museums aren't more inclusive.

If these museums are intended to educate the masses, why do they not include exhibits of other holocausts, like for example, the greatest genocide in human history - The Arab Muslim Invasions of India where as many as a billion (estimate) perished over several hundred years of savage Jihad.

Why not include the Armenian holocaust by the Turkish Muslims. This holocaust was similar in size to the jewish holocaust and is said to be the inspiration Hitler drew from the Muslims, who would later support and serve him.

Answer 1

They do.

The permanent exhibit at the US Holocaust Museum not only covers the killing of Jews by Nazis, but also the Nazi murders of Roma, homosexuals and other minorities in Europe. There are also changing exhibits that cover other genocides. There is currently an exhibit on Darfur.

Answer 2

Jewish Holocaust Museums are just that. They are an important reminder of the cruelty of humans against humans.
They don't need to include other holocausts, as these are specifically for the Jewish Holocaust.
Peoples who have suffered through other such tragic events have the ability to form their own museums for their own people.

Answer 3

the jewish holocaust museums are a great reminder of what humans are capable of, where we have been and what we have to learn from the past. Are they ethnocentric? yes they tend to be. But it seems that jews, out of all the groups of people oppressed by hitler, are the only ones that want to keep that memory alife. I just got back from backpacking in europe and i visited the holocaust memorial in berlin, the concerntration camp in sachsenhausen, the holocaust section of the british imperial war museum and several other jewish quarters and museums. I am by no means jewish but it was a great eye opening experience for me. Personally, i think that in order to prevent such great atrocity from happening again, we need to be educated about it. People keep asking how hitler was able to convince that many people to commit such heinous crimes? I think i know how. He took advantage of very vulnerable germany, and sentiments of the time and little by little, dehumanized jews and therefore made it acceptable for people to feel ok believing that jews etc deserved to be tortured and put to death. Not to go on a soap box but even though i think that part of our anti-islamic sentiment is warranted, we need to be careful not to repeat history with muslims. It's a slippery slope, really

Answer 4

How about if someone creates museums dedicated to those terrible events and leave the Jewish holocaust museums alone. Jewish holocaust museums are dedicated to the Shoah, not other events.

Answer 5

The Jews were the first to recognize the mass murder of their own people and to memorialize it in a museum. If nothing else, it serves to symbolize man's inhumanity to man wherever it occurs. I doubt that it was created to "educate the masses" beyond its' obvious implications. Museums aren't created to be "inclusive". Otherwise the Oklahoma City Memorial would have to include all other tragedies that fit within its' parameters; the WW2 Memorial would have to include WW1; the Vietnam war Memorial would have to include all names of war casualties. You can see that museums and Memorials are created for a specific purpose, to honor and remember a certain group of people, not necessarily all groups.

Answer 6

why? thats like saying all Egyptian museums should include dinosaurs. the museum was made for a purpose, that purpose was to remember the events of the Jewish Holocaust not any other Holocaust.

Answer 7

It's kind of the point that a Jewish museum only describe the Jewish experience. Perhaps Muslims should create their own museum?

It's kind of like walking into a Chinese food restaurant and asking why there isn't Italian food on the menu.

Answer 8

I can answer 2 & 3s. I don't like commenting on the holocaust really, except that it was terrible and to deny it is disgusting and wrong. And also, it wasn't just Jews who were discriminated against and lost their lives in great numbers. 2. Yes. Some Jews, after ww2, believed God broke the covenant with the Jews, and acctually tried to sue him. (for real, I'm not making that up.) 3. Jews were forced to wear yellow Star of David's, marking them as Jews. Jews could not attend public places of entertainment (i.e cinemas), and people would turn in Jews if they saw them. Jews feared being discovered as Jews by others. Jews were often seen as pariyahs(sp?) Jews were often berated in public in the later years. -Tila.

Answer 9

Actually, I am more concerned about the lack of balance with regard to the Germans depicted in these displays. They do not seem to acknowledge that the vast majority of Germans were victims, too. They were forced to do things which were hateful to them (or would be if they allowed themselves to think about it; the propaganda machine was very effective) or face horrible consequences. The ordinary citizen in Nazi Germany was very nearly as afraid as the Jew. Perhaps more, as the Jew had a sense of community and a nobility about his position, while the Germans just felt dirty. Horrible and dirty. Just ask modern Germans what their grandparents have said about it.

Answer 10

As Jewish people are more smarter than you are,don't ask them anything as though they were wrong.