- Joined
- Apr 26, 2008
Peace Museum - WWII Exhibit
We saved the WWII exhibit for last as we weren’t sure how we would be on time. I’m glad we had time to visit this section even if we had to skip many of the videos or audio clips through the exhibit.
The exhibit starts with the explanation of how the First World War failed to truly bring peace. It started with explanations of how Mussolini, Stalin and Hitler rose to power within their countries. It showed how the democratic countries didn’t respond to these ideological mobilizations and allowed the Germans to just start occupying other lands despite the treaties from WWI.
It goes into France during the dark years of the war. They went to war with Germany after the invasion of Poland but they were ill-equipped to deal with the strength of the Nazis and lost the Battle of France in June 1940. It went to French society under the German occupation and the Vichy government that led France.
There was a French Resistance during this occupation but it was started by isolated individuals and grew over time to provide information to the Allied forces.
The war became global with the African Campaign and Japan attacking China and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (parts of which in the exhibit provided conflicting information than what we knew of Pearl Harbor but that could be a translation error rather than a factual error as they said all ships were a complete loss when we really only lost 3 ships)
Warning - the section will be behind a spoiler tag as the photos could be a bit much for some people as it deals with the Holocaust and other Mass Killings
We quickly went through the societies war section that explain small resistance movements, how civilians survived during the war such as sending their children off to hopefully survive at some stranger’s house. It also went through the life and death of a soldier.
It continued with showing how towns and countries were slowly liberated from 1943 to 1945 and evnetually the end of the war, Hitler’s suicide, the moral shock of the war and the painful toll of human life because of this war - according to them estimated to be around 70 million most of which were civilians but it will never be truly known due to the various massacres probably not known about.
After this exhibit, we went to the store to pick up a couple things and then used the restroom. We finished these tasks with not a lot of time to spare before our required end time. We did miss the major D-Day film along with the special Norman Rockwell exhibit that was going on. Time passed very quickly there. Once on the bus, we headed to Deauville for the next two nights.
We saved the WWII exhibit for last as we weren’t sure how we would be on time. I’m glad we had time to visit this section even if we had to skip many of the videos or audio clips through the exhibit.
The exhibit starts with the explanation of how the First World War failed to truly bring peace. It started with explanations of how Mussolini, Stalin and Hitler rose to power within their countries. It showed how the democratic countries didn’t respond to these ideological mobilizations and allowed the Germans to just start occupying other lands despite the treaties from WWI.
It goes into France during the dark years of the war. They went to war with Germany after the invasion of Poland but they were ill-equipped to deal with the strength of the Nazis and lost the Battle of France in June 1940. It went to French society under the German occupation and the Vichy government that led France.
There was a French Resistance during this occupation but it was started by isolated individuals and grew over time to provide information to the Allied forces.
The war became global with the African Campaign and Japan attacking China and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (parts of which in the exhibit provided conflicting information than what we knew of Pearl Harbor but that could be a translation error rather than a factual error as they said all ships were a complete loss when we really only lost 3 ships)
Warning - the section will be behind a spoiler tag as the photos could be a bit much for some people as it deals with the Holocaust and other Mass Killings
The next exhibit was about the genocides and mass violence during WWII. The exhibit went into Hitler’s persecution of the jews, including the killing of around 2 million in Ukraine/Belarus region.
Then there was the Death Camps…
It also went into the others attacked during the Holocaust such as the Gypsies, those with disabilities, etc. They had various star symbols for all the classified groups.
It also went into USSR’s mass violence and the Nanking massacre of the Japanese army.
Our next room was the explanation of Total War, explaining how there were deportations to the concentration camps or other work camps. The bombing of cities including a small section on the atomic bombs along with the Battle of Stalingrad
Then there was the Death Camps…
It also went into the others attacked during the Holocaust such as the Gypsies, those with disabilities, etc. They had various star symbols for all the classified groups.
It also went into USSR’s mass violence and the Nanking massacre of the Japanese army.
Our next room was the explanation of Total War, explaining how there were deportations to the concentration camps or other work camps. The bombing of cities including a small section on the atomic bombs along with the Battle of Stalingrad
We quickly went through the societies war section that explain small resistance movements, how civilians survived during the war such as sending their children off to hopefully survive at some stranger’s house. It also went through the life and death of a soldier.
It continued with showing how towns and countries were slowly liberated from 1943 to 1945 and evnetually the end of the war, Hitler’s suicide, the moral shock of the war and the painful toll of human life because of this war - according to them estimated to be around 70 million most of which were civilians but it will never be truly known due to the various massacres probably not known about.
After this exhibit, we went to the store to pick up a couple things and then used the restroom. We finished these tasks with not a lot of time to spare before our required end time. We did miss the major D-Day film along with the special Norman Rockwell exhibit that was going on. Time passed very quickly there. Once on the bus, we headed to Deauville for the next two nights.