The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum was officially dedicated on April 22, 1993. Since its opening, more than forty million visitors, including more than 10 million school children have visited.
Though the museum is located in the same area as the Smithsonian museums, contrary to popular belief, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is an independent museum, and is not part of the Smithsonian.
One of the most moving exhibits in the museum, and one that school groups almost always experience is Daniel’s Story.
Daniel’s Story is a story of death and survival, of desperation and hope, and finally, evil and love.
The story is told from Daniel’s point of view as he experiences the atrocities of the holocaust for Jews in central Europe.
A brief film introduces the exhibition’s narrator, Daniel, a fourteen year old boy. Visitors enter realistic environments where they can touch, listen to and engage in Daniel’s world as it changes during the Holocaust.
Daniel’s diary entries, which serve as the exhibitions primary text, are based on the wartime writings of young people and on the memories of some of those who survived.
The exhibit ends with a short film where we learn that Daniel was the only surviving member of his family, and that to help viewers understand the magnitude of the Holocaust, we learn that more than one million children were put to death at the hands of the Nazi’s
