Making Sure We Never Forget
North Carolina Memorial Holocaust Museum
Introduction
- Hadley Bradford: Historian and Awareness Activities Coordinator
- Cooper Creech: Engineer and 3D Model Designer/Builder
- Delaney Welsh: Historian and Exhibit Designer
- John Evanish: Engineer, Artist, and Building Designer
Potential Locations
Location Two:
- Located on Rocky River Road in Mooresville, NC.
- About five miles away form Interstate 77.
- Pros to this location: a centralized location, reasonable price, and bigger size.
Location One:
- Located on Mecklenburg Highway in Mooresville, NC.
- Closer to Intertstate 77, better price.
- Split in two by a highway, and it is smaller.
Recommended: Site Two:
- Lot one is less expensive, but its land distribution is inconvenient and it is smaller.
- Lot two costs more than lot one, but it is significantly larger and it is in one piece.
Building Design
The Auschwitz Gate:
- A replica of the gate will be built right outside the entrance of the museum for all visitors to walk though.
- Chosen to commemorate and honor all those who died in the camp.
This is what the gate will mimic:
The Hexagonally Shaped Building:
- Chosen because the Star of David, a familiar symbol of the Jewish religion, has six points.
- It commemorates the struggle the Jews went through.
- All six exhibits have a "backbone" wall.
Pyramid-Shaped Roof:
- Chosen because it creates a feeling of openness in the memorial room.
- The top third of the roof will be glass panels to allow more sunlight in and enhancing the open feeling in the space.
Memorial Design
Star of David Statue:
- We chose the Star of David because it is a widely recognized symbol for the Jews.
- The center of the star will say "Jude" which translates directly to "Jew" from German.
- Each of the six tips of the star will have the name of a highly impacted country and the ten largest concentration camps in each country.
- Having the names of sixty of the largest concentration capms commemorates the struggle so many people went through and honors all who died.
Exhibit Hall Design
Exhibit Hall One: Hitler's Rise to Power
- Will feature a timeline of Hitlers life and explanations of certain events that helped mold Hitler into the man he was.
- Nazi Party uniforms and flags will also be included along with a description of the artifacts and the party itself.
- A copy of Mein Kampf, Hitler's autobiography, will be on display accompanied by an informational plaque depicting the impact the book had on the German people.
Exhibit Hall Two: The Ghetto Experience
- Pieces of artwork and literature created by suffering Jews in ghettos will be displayed along with their backstory.
- Pictures of the living quarters in ghettos will be included in this exhibit with descriptions of what is happening in the photos.
- There will be three specific sections, each dedicated to either Lodz, Warsaw, or Theresienstadt (three major ghettos in German occupied area).
- Each section will have a map with the location of the ghetto highlighted.
- Artifacts from the different lifestyles in each location will be collected and put on display.
Exhibit Hall Three: Life in the Camps
- One part of the hall will be about the terrible conditions in the camps and describe the struggle it was to get through the night.
- We will have a few life-size replicas of bunks from the barracks that the prisoners were forced to stay in.
- Another section will focus on the starvation of the prisoners. There will be examples of the food they ate and the portion sizes on display.
- Most of the exhibit will focus on the mass murdering of Jews. There will be artifacts from different methods that Hitler used to murder prisoners.
Exhibit Hall Four: The Final Solution
- There will be a section dedicated to The Night of Broken Glass with pictures of the destruction, a Nazi soldier in the motion of breaking a Jewish shop window.
- There will be a few Stars of David on display that the Jews were forced to wear, along with pictures of the ghettoes and the concentration camps.
- There will also be the methods Hitler used to murder his prisoners depicted in photos and descriptions.
- Replicas of objects that were used in Hitler's mass killings will be on display with descriptions and explanations.
Exhibit Hall Five: US Documents Pertaining to the Holocaust
- This exhibit will focus on how President Roosevelt reacted to the Holocaust.
- We will have a copy of the detailed form that had to be completed in order to obtain a visa.
- Various letters, documents, diary entries and declarations that cover the issue of migrants and the United State's involvement will be included also.
Exhibit Hall Six: Genocide Today
- There will be information and pictures of the terrible occurrences going on in Darfur, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- Each regions section will include a picture of an individual that has greatly suffered, along with their personal life story to help the public better connect with the struggles these people go through.
Why include these exhibits?
- The first five exhibits cover the major issues that occurred during the Holocaust. Everything that is put into these exhibits is carefully thought over and discussed. We want the public to know what actually happened during the Holocaust, as well as be able to connect with the information and understand that it is not just all numbers and statistics; everyone who went through the Holocaust, whether it be a survivor, or a murdered soul, had a life and dreams.
- The last exhibit, Genocide Today, was included in the museum because the public needs to realize that the Holocaust was not the only mass murdering and we need to be aware of what is going on in countries like Darfur and Rwanda. Something needs to be done to stop these mass killings, and awareness is a great place to start.
3D Exhibit Piece
Barracks:
- This cross-section of a barrack is similar to what was in Auschwitz.
- We chose to construct this piece because the cramped barracks played a huge role in the death of many. With tight quarters came the fast spread of disease.
- This piece will be built to full scale in the "Life in the Camps" exhibit.
This is an example of the barracks that would be used in concentration camps:
Awareness Activities
Activity One: Social Networking Pages
- Our message will be shared with the public by posting legitimate facts and pictures on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. We have created a flyer to catch the publics attention and have them visit our pages.
- We chose these social networks to create accounts on because they are widely used by a larger range of age groups and hope to inform the general public about what happened during the Holocaust.
- These accounts are the best choice for accomplishing our goal because the sites that they are on are good at spreading information to a mass of people.
Instagram Page:
Twitter Page:
Facebook Page:
Activity Two: Traveling Exhibit
- There will be an event held at the local Civics Center where the exhibit "Triumph of Life" will be set up and open to the public. We have created a colorful brochure to spread the news about the event to the public.
- We chose this exhibit to come to Mooresville because it is informative, interesting, and will leave people wanting to know more so they will come to the museum when it opens.
- Choosing this exhibit is the best way to accomplish what we hope because it is an interesting collection of pictures and personal accounts that has the capability to captivate minds.
Budget
- Lot -($795,000)
- Glass Roof -($50,000)
- Auschwitz Archway -($1,000,000)
- Exhibit Artifacts 1 -($400,000)
- Exhibit Artifacts 2 -($400,000)
- Exhibit Artifacts 3 -($400,000)
- Exhibit Artifacts 4 -($400,000)
- Exhibit Artifacts 5 -($400,000)
- Exhibit Artifacts 6 -($400,000)
- Floor Tiles -($50,000)
- Railroad -($1,000)
- Parking Lot/Turn Signal -($200,000)
- Museum Design -($5,000,000)
- Lighting/Electrical/Plumbing -($40,000)
- Construction Crew/Material Cost -($2,000,000)
- Traveling Exhibit -($50,000)
- Total Average Cost -($11,586,000)