(Posted January 18, 2017)

Politics professor Dennis Plane (back row, far left) and 11 Juniata students pose at the entrance to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.
Politics professor Dennis Plane (back row, far left) and 11 Juniata students pose at the entrance to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.

On Monday, Jan. 9, a group of 11 Juniata College students and Dennis Plane, professor of politics, arrived in Washington, D.C. for a variety of political programming events at The Washington Center during the city’s preparation for the Presidential Inauguration.

            That Thursday, the students went to The United States Holocaust Memorial and Museum. The museum featured a permanent exhibit that takes guests through the history of the Holocaust and looks at its legacy.

            There was also an exhibit on a young child named Daniel who survived the Holocaust. It’s a 3-D experience that takes you through his life from his home, to the ghetto (secured Jewish communities), to the concentration camp and ends with his eventual escape. There was also a special exhibit called, “Some Were Neighbors.” It gave first-person accounts of survivors who had been turned in by friends, by enemies and for petty vengeance.

            After the museum tour, the Juniata students were gathered into an auditorium with groups from other schools who were also participating in The Washington Center Inauguration program and discussed which stories stood with us the most.

            One Juniata student, Josh Keszczyk, a junior from Gilbertsville, Pa, pointed out that there was one man who had gotten a bad feeling about the dangers that were approaching for him and asked his neighbor if he could sleep in his home for the night. The man gave his neighbor 20 dollars as a courtesy for letting him stay the night. That neighbor then proceeded to turn the man in to the SS Police.

            The other question focused on during the presentation was the deeper reasons that people turned Jewish people in to the police. Especially since so many were, “neighbors.” Plane pointed out that there was not only fear and mental vulnerability due to intense propaganda campaigns, but also greed and vengeance. In the exhibit, there were two stories that really highlighted the last two points.

One of the illustrative examples centered on a Jewish landowner, and although he was friendly with his neighbor, the neighbor wanted more land. So, the neighbor turned him in and bought the land and house after the Jewish man was arrested. Another example was that a Jewish man was dating a Gentile woman, but another man wanted the girl too. She was loyal to the man she was dating and refused to leave her boyfriend. So instead, the other boy reported the Jewish man and had him arrested.

The museum was incredibly poignant for the Juniata students and only one of the many activities that students participated in. You can follow their journey on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/JuniataInauguration2017/ .

Isabella Bennett ’20, Juniata Online Journalist 

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.