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My Holocaust Museum Experience In Washington Dc

 

April 20th 2016 (My 9th Grade Year):

I had taken the train from Frederick, Maryland with my entire German 1 Class to Union Station in Washington DC. My German teacher had this tradition where every other year in April she'd take her German classes to the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, I just happened to be part of that trip.

When we arrived at Union Station we broke up into groups of 5, we were to go get some food, go to the restroom, then meet up with everyone else in the middle of the Station. After all of us returned to Frau, we walked to a bus stop that would take us from Union Station all the way to the Holocaust Museum. When we arrived at the entrance of the museum I chose 4 other kids to be in my group, I only remember the name of one group member, Jason. So after getting our bags checked we entered the museum, we then had to sit through a 25 minute lecture (which was normal for the museum). After the lecture, Frau let us go with our groups to explore the museum.

Once my group got to the first exhibit I didn't feel right, so I took out my rosary and started to pray for protection, but after 2 minutes of me silently praying Jason cut me off, he's a hardcore Atheist, this is what he said, "stop praying, you're hurting me." I stopped praying like he said and put my rosary back in my purse, I didn't get to finish praying, now this is where things took a turn.

My group and I began walking around the museum checking out every exhibit, everyone in my group were acting normal but also respectful, but, for me, this wasn't the case. As we were walking I began to feel light headed, I brushed it off as being me not taking Advil before the train ride so I kept walking. But, as we got deeper into the museum I was still feeling lightheaded and it was slowly getting worse, the entire left side of my back felt like it was on fire, I squinted a little at the feelings. We continued on and my condition wasn't getting any better, the deeper we were in the museum the worse my pain got.

Soon we were near a bridge made of glass and on either side of the bridge there were long glass panels and on the other side of the panels were real shoes with real dried blood from the Jews. I was walking slowly across the bridge, I was still lightheaded, the left side of my body still felt like it was on fire and now another feeling was added, near my lower back it felt like someone was kicking it with a metal tip on their boot, but it wasn't just a small kick, no, it was a harsh kick that really hurt. After we crossed the glass bridge, I walked past a glass container that had the Nazi flag in it, I stopped for a second and looked at the container, then I saw someone who looked transparent, he obviously wasn't from this time period and he also looked way too old to be part of my group. The semi transparent man looked to be covered in blood and soot, his clothes were torn and he had a black eye, I felt my pain grow stronger. Jason noticed that I was staring at the glass and not moving, he called out to me and I snapped back to reality, I walked over to him and he lead me back to the group. At this point, we were almost out of the darkest parts of the museum, the pain I was feeling was so bad I felt like I was going to pass out. I just couldn't take it anymore, dry tear stains were on my cheeks because I was silently crying, but I pressed on so I could get to the last part of the museum and be done with this.

My group entered a place in the museum called "The Hall of Remembrance" the moment I stepped into that hall, all of the pain I was feeling somehow disappeared like it was never there to begin with, for the rest of my time in DC I was happy and laughing.

When the train brought us back to Frederick I found my dad and walked with him to his car, as we were heading home I told him about everything that happened to me in that museum. He seemed shocked but then said to me that it was probably Jesus showing me what the Jews felt during the Holocaust and I was feeling the pain that they felt.

I am now 18 years old and I've graduated from my high school, this is an experience that I'll never forget, and about that bloody man I saw in the museum, that was most definitely an apparition, I believe in ghosts, I'm not a skeptic at all. I also believe that what my dad told me on the way back from the train station was true, ever since then, I've never had any other experiences like that, that experience will stay with me until the day I die.

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The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, Glaziola-Nacht, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

Glaziola-Nacht (1 stories) (1 posts)
+2
5 years ago (2019-12-02)
Thank you, everyone for commenting (sorry for the late response, I didn't know this story had comments)

Now as for the way I was feeling during my experience there, I wouldn't consider myself a psychic, but I am highly sensitive to these things, I do have Autism, ADHD, OCD, PTSD, Clinical Anxiety, Clinical Depression, and Bi Polar Disorder, and in 2016 (my 9th grade year) I was diagnosed with Epilepsy.

I think because of all of my mental disabilities I've become more aware to these kinds of feelings. But I don't have spiritual experiences anymore, it was only at the museum.

And I feel like I should bring this up as a bit of background information. When I was in 5th grade I was playing with my Jewish friend at her house, I told her that I have German in my DNA. At first she didn't really mind but a few minutes after a told her she asked me if I knew what the Holocaust was, I said no. So she told me all about it and she didn't sugarcoat any of it. After that I thought I was a descendant of Hitler (take into account my mental disabilities and how I'm wired differently, and I know for a fact that I'm not a descendant of Hitler) so as I sat in her room where we were playing, my eyes were wide and tears were streaming down my face without me even noticing. Then my friend stood up and told me to leave her house and never come back or talk to her ever again. Our Kindergarten to 5th grade friendship ended right then and there.

So I guess I do have a few issues when dealing with/hearing about that horrible genocide. I refuse to go back to that museum because I'm scared of it. I know it sounds irrational, but this experience left me slightly traumatized.

And yes, I do pray for protection when I'm faced with such scary things. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
2nd1st (1 stories) (118 posts)
+3
5 years ago (2019-06-26)
Glaziola, thanks for this. It is very interesting. Do you ever get random intense emotions that seem to come from nowhere? Just from your description of the feelings, it sounds like an empathic response possibly. Essentially an empath is someone that takes on the emotional energy of others either directly or through objects or places that that energy has lingered.

On the Nazi front, I remember my grandmothers dagger. It was an SS officers dress dagger with "all for Germany" inscribed in German on the blade and the eagle and swastika on the hilt.
One of my grandmother's brothers brought it back from the war. We kept it in the family as a symbol of the part our family members played in the smiting of the Nazi regime.
I was first shown it when I was about four. I knew nothing of the war or Nazis back then. But I wouldn't touch it. To me the air around it felt heavy and I felt what I would now describe as dread. I remember the feeling well. There was a real ominous feel around it. I think whoever owned must have been someone pretty awful.

Objects can hold an energy. Where there any particular Holocaust artifacts at the museum that would have been at the scene of the atrocities and caught your attention particularly?
tace (37 posts)
+3
5 years ago (2019-06-25)
I was in Poland and went to Auschwitz Birkenau and felt an overwhelming feeling of sadness and grief. Ended up going to our motel an not doing anything else for the rest of the day. Very exhausting experience... And other death camps I visited and memorials... Never had same type of experience.
LuciaJacinta (8 stories) (291 posts)
+3
5 years ago (2019-06-19)
I've heard a few people say the same thing about that museum. I've always wanted to go there. But everyone I know who went keep telling me that they felt lightheaded and sick the whole time there. I'll get there one day.

Incidentally, my daughter went to Auschwitz. She said as soon as she went inside she was overcome with sadness and grief and sickness. Especially while looking at the shoes as well.

I don't totally discount your theory but I just attribute it to the fact that humans leave impressions upon places and things that we touch especially in times of distress. Therefore, our impression will be that much more noticeable if we are in severe distress.
Haven (20 stories) (307 posts)
+4
5 years ago (2019-06-19)
Hi, Glaziola-Nacht

Thank you for sharing this with us. It sounds like you had an empathy experience. I know you said that nothing likes this has ever happened again but have you ever just felt suddenly sad, angry or in pain for no apparent reason? Then just as suddenly as those feeling start they go away? Are you a highly sensitive person? Being an empath or having the ability to feel the emotions and energy of other people can be very overwhelming especially as such a young age. I understand your need for prayer during times when you feel something is "just not right". If it brings comfort to you then you should do it regardless of who is bothered by it. I may not completely agree with what your father told you that day but I 100% understand that this is a way to explain things to a child. I think I would have said the same to any of my children.
Cuddlebear (4 stories) (173 posts)
+4
5 years ago (2019-06-19)
Glaziola-Nacht (you play Poke-man at night?)
Greetings!

I am deeply troubled by the actions of your classmate Jason. I'm and atheist and grew up in a very Christian community. As an athlete in HS school we had team prayers. As a coach my team asked if they could hold team prayers and I said yes. I've never been "hurt" or felt uncomfortable around people praying. My philosophy is "whatever gets you through the night".
Bibliothecarius (9 stories) (1091 posts)
+3
5 years ago (2019-06-18)
Greetings, Glaziola-Nacht, and welcome to YGS.

I have yet to see the D.C. Holocaust Museum; however I have been to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. The exhibit that had the most immediate emotional effect on me happened to be the display of shoes within a glass coffin set into the floor. They were so damned *ordinary* looking; every day objects that were taken off of Jewish corpses. I had to sit down for a while, there, just staring at the shoes and feeling overwhelmed with hopeless loss. (I still don't know if that was a natural or a supernatural experience, but --in this case--I don't think that matters.)

Physical reactions to super-emotional stimuli, such as you describe here, tend to occur to people with innate psychic/spiritual tendencies. Your prayer, which was interrupted rudely, is a perfectly normal way to set up some protection around yourself before going through an emotional experience. Jesus told his disciples, "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;" (John 14:16, KJV) the new "Comforter" generally being understood to mean The Holy Spirit (read the entire fourteenth chapter of John for greater context). You were praying and seeking comfort that would help you to get through the emotionally moving and upsetting historical displays; that is EXACTLY what you needed to do. Your instincts were right; if you have to pray in silence to avoid calling the attention of bullies to your prayers, do that.

While I am agnostic, I'm going to disagree *slightly* and as politely as possible with lady-glow's statement, "I highly doubt that our good Lord Jesus would have inflicted such a cruel and painful test on you." I will stress that I agree with her next statement, "it's more likely that you had an empathic connection with the spirit of a victim of the Holocaust." However, religious peoples of many faiths have suffered and died for their beliefs; that's how canonizing Catholic saints began.

Best,
Biblio.
lady-glow (16 stories) (3197 posts)
 
5 years ago (2019-06-18)
Hello Glaziola - though I believe that a collection of so many objects from such a tragic and shameful period as the Holocaust would likely have a lot of negative energy and even one or more restless spirit/s attached to them, I highly doubt that our good Lord Jesus would have inflicted such a cruel and painful test on you. In my opinion, it's more likely that you had an empathic connection with the spirit of a victim of the Holocaust.

"I didn't feel right, so I took out my rosary and started to pray for protection"

Do you usually pray when you don't feel right?
What made you think that it was necessary to ask for divine protection at that moment? Did you feel threatened or in danger?
What made you decide that the lightheadedness and pain you felt were not a medical condition?
Please don't think that I am being critical of your actions, I only want to understand the reason behind your need for praying.

I feel like giving Jason a good smack on the head for his intolerance though, sometimes, it's better to keep ones beliefs private... I would have used my fingers instead of the beads of a rosary. 😜

Anyway, I'm glad that your discomfort stopped after exiting that area of the museum.

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