Guestbook & Reflections

Not from Miami, but visited in 2009. Seeing the monument was the most powerful thing I have seen in my life. The emotions of that visit are with me to this day.

Thank you for everything that you told me about the Holocaust. I feel like this is a life learning lesson for all people and all races and for the people who were bystanders and that didn't do anything about it when they first saw the unfair treatment, I hope we never let another group get treated like this again. I would also like to give a thank you to the tour guides who are Jewish and had family and friends who survived. The art and stories were an eye opener for me to show that anything could happen if you're not paying attention. All in all, I appreciate your time and thank you for having us.

My time at the Holocaust Museum was great! I had so many questions to ask about the Holocaust. We got to watch a video and we saw the art and statue of the hand. People were crawling up the hand struggling to find their children. The hand signified to me the struggle for freedom. I have learned so much and now I understand the Diary of Anne Frank better because Anne lost all of her friend and family and memories when she went into hiding and she didn't even know what has happening and she thought it was unfair but she didn't even know what was happening outside the annex until she was caught. Then, just that quick her entire family was wiped out and they last longer than most people. It really showed me that Anne was lucky because everyone couldn't go into hiding like she did. Most were rounded up early and it was clear that their lives were over. All in all, thank you to the Memorial for helping me to make this connection I will never forget it.

I want to thank Ms. Bryant, my teacher and our tour guide. I don't know his name but he was very nice with blue eyes and also Jewish. What I am thanking them for is for me being able to go out to the Memorial and actually see what people had to go through. I thought the Holocaust was bad from class and I thought people had to struggle today but what I thought really doesn't compare to what really happened in the Holocaust. Thank you for this opportunity.

When reading about the Holocaust in class, I felt for the situation. I felt like I was impacted. I felt sorry. But from the art and creativity I saw today at the Holocaust Memorial, and actually seeing their expressions. I felt like I was one of them crying for my life. Begging for the Nazis to stop. This visit was very saddening for me. I would never wish this upon someone. Thank you for your time.

The Holocaust Memorial is a reminder of what happened in the past when Hitler was killing because of Hitler's ideology. The art and quotes at the museum portrayed what happened and made us emotional. I understand now how terrible the Holocaust was.

I had no idea that we had a Holocaust Memorial and I had never been to South Beach. But Ms. Bryant said that is could be symbolic. We learned in class in a story we read that people tried to make beauty in a dark situation and I think that is what happened there. I am going to tell everyone about the Memorial and I am able to understand what we read in class now. Thank you for the tour.

We visited the memorial yesterday with some families with our homeschool group. This was our families second time visiting. First of all, thank you for helping us all to remember and educate our children on a topic that is sometimes very hard to explain. We appreciated the new movie. Very powerful. Again, thank you for helping us to remember and honor those that lost their lives and prayerfully prevent it from happening again.

On January 11th, me and my fellow classmates had took a tour through the Miami beach holocaust memorial. At the start of the memorial our tour guide had first guided us to a room where there was a video played about holocaust survivors and their testimonies about their personal experiences , this part of the tour was very heartfelt and profound. After the video was over our tour guide gave me and my class mates very extensive explanations of the pictures of the walls of the memorial . For example their was a picture of the number of people who died in each country of Europe and the amount was astonishing. We were then guided to the inside where the ''hand'' sculpture is and their were many statues of random people and families , all the statues had a look of suffering and pain which makes you think about how awful these people were treated. I believe that the memorial was not something for people to look at and feel depressed about, but something to reflect on and make sure that nothing as gruesome and horrific as the holocaust ever happens again.

I was very ignorant towards The Holocaust before I took this insightful class trip. Whenever I heard anything about Nazis or a Jewish persons rough past I always respected, but disregard the information, thinking it was too political and boring for me to spend my time on. Although visiting this memorial gave me a clear visual on the gruesome horrors that the Jewish community had to go through, the facility provided a beautiful setting where I could take in such a mournful subject while still feeling peaceful. I enjoyed the way the artwork was set up, especially the entrance into the hand sculpture. The music they played was soothing and the architecture included a shadow of a Jewish star. The statue of a mother and her children with an Anne Frank quote, I believe, was very influential. In the beginning of the tour I read an optimistic quote describing her faith in people, but at the end of the tour I read a quote full sadness and loss of hope. During this tour I was watching a TV show and one of the characters portrayed an infamous Nazi, Dr.Mengele. During the tour we got a brief summary of the terrible things he did to the Jewish prisoners. This information interested me and I began researching the twins of Auschwitz. I found myself watching history documentaries about the Holocaust in the middle of class and watching Inglorious Bastards on the weekend. I am very grateful for this trip and it really helped me understand and respect The Holocaust.

On January 11, 2016 Mr. Reese’s 3 period went to the Miami Beach Holocaust Memorial. We had a wonderful experience with a great volunteer tour guide. We went into the classroom they had and we watched a film. Sadly, we could not have a holocaust survivor volunteer at that time. But, we still learned so much on the film they showed which was a timeline of what happened during the holocaust. When the film ended we had a tour around the memorial. Our volunteer tour guide showed us the pictures on the wall of the memorial and the statues there. She was able to answer our questions and teach us what happened during the holocaust. We learned about the Death Marches the Holocaust prisoners had to take. We were then going to see around the hand and saw all the statues and the hand which is signaling hope to others. We had a great time at the holocaust and learned so much and the volunteer tour guide was a huge help to us learn about the holocaust.

On January 11, 2016, my class and I visited the Holocaust Memorial. Our tour guide walked us through the genocide that was taking place in not only Germany, but most of Europe.The most intriguing part of the tour, in my opinion, was when we heard the survivors' testimonies in the video about the Holocaust. This video mainly talks about the beginning of the Holocaust, Kristallnacht, and what is was like to live in concentration camp. After we finished the short film and discussed the history of the memorial itself, we walked outside. There was one statue outside with a woman and her two children under her arms, as if she was guarding them or protecting them. We then circled the large statue of the hand reaching out of the ground. Our tour guide then asked us what we saw, and we each had our different interpretations of what the statue meant to us. We then walked to the other side of the courtyard, and there was another statue of the same woman and her two children that we had seen on the other side. This time, they were dead. This portion of the tour was very profound and depressing in a way. Seeing all of those statues, of what appeared to be people yelling, gave me an idea of what those people were feeling at that time. Overall, the field trip as a whole was a great experience, I enjoyed the tour of he memorial, and learned I a lot.

Tuesday January 19, I went on a field trip to the Holocaust Memorial and learned so much about what truly went on during rein of the Nazis. My class was split up into two groups, one group watched a movie and the other toured the memorial. I was in the tour group so we went out side and saw all the significant statues, our docent Francine was great, she explained everything so well. During the tour I learned that so many children were deprived of food and their family. Normally there would be a real holocaust survivor but no one could make it that day so we watched a film they prepared. During the film they showed a miniature time line and all the survivors that volunteered said a small portion. At the end of the field trip Francine showed us the remaining statues and I can definitely say that I took in some deep things from the videos and explanations because I didn’t know how bad the little children had it, I thought it was just the parents and all the adults working at the concentration camp but the children did the same. Overall a summary of the field trip would be a great learning experience and something I would love to do again.

On January 19, 2016, Mr. Reese’s class and I visited the Miami Beach Holocaust Memorial for a field trip. This was truly an amazing experience. I thought I knew a whole lot about the Holocaust before this trip but turns out there was more to know. When we first arrived, the first thing I saw was the huge hand going high up in the sky. There was also a statue of a mother and her two children, they were in great fear. Behind the statue was an Anne Frank quote, this quote read “In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” A moment after a tour guide showed up who showed us around. The tour guide walked us around , and gave us information as we walked by the walls with engraving on them. It was a curved wall with a walkway which I thought was nicely done. The walls had engravings of different pictures through the years showing the events that occurred before and during the Holocaust. The guide also brought out a tablet that played a video that gave some extra information on the walls that we were walking by. The part that had the biggest impact on me was when we followed the guide into this dome like shape area and it had a tunnel with a child signing a song. The tunnel led towards the tall hand. When we reached the hand, you would walk pass this girl, lying on the floor, reaching for help. After that I noticed all the names of people on the wall. Then I walked pass multiple statues with these facial expressions that made me feel like it was real. The work done with these statues were amazing. Then I saw the hand with all the people, climbing up the hand as if they were reaching for something good. Hope. After we finished things off with the guide we walked into this mini-theater, and watched this movie about the holocaust. The movie had survivors that spoke at the Miami Beach Holocaust Memorial which I thought was really cool. I really like how everything was set up, they did a great job with everything. I left knowing a few new interesting facts such’s as what a ghetto was and that 3,000,000 Jews were killed in Poland. I had a wonderful time at the Miami Beach Holocaust Memorial and surely would love to go again!

The Miami Beach Holocaust Memorial was truly an amazing experience where I got the chance to learn much more about life in the Holocaust for Jewish people. The architecture there astonished me at how well it captured the Holocaust with items such as the large hand sculpture of lost lives, and the large Star of David in the enclosed area leading into the sculpture. All of the Holocaust remembrances that were there did come together nicely in order to give a detailed understanding to me of how much the Holocaust has really affected people in Miami Beach as well as the rest of the world. Another thing that I thought was nicely done in captivating the Holocaust is the curved wall pathway which tells the story through years of the events that occurred during the Holocaust and before it. But what really captivated my attention was the mobile device that was brought on the tour in order to provide extra details that were not completely covered on the walls of the memorial area. Some of the most interesting facts that I learned when I was on the tour which was led by the docent was that first of all children were a large target of the Holocaust unlike what I previously believed about men being the only large target. Another interesting fact that I learned while on the tour was that families that were put into a ghetto which is a segregated area which was for Jews at the time. Used their children to go into the sewer because they were small enough so that they could try and get some food outside of the ghetto to bring back. Following on this fact, I also learned that children would also jump over the wall surrounding the ghetto in order to grab some food as well. The last very interesting fact that I thought was incredible was that 3,000,000 Jews were killed in Poland alone. I would like to conclude though that I had a wonderful time at the Miami beach Holocaust Memorial and I believe that it shows us a darker time in history but one that should not be forgotten and should be remembered so as to be prevented in the future.

The Holocaust Memorial field trip on Monday January 11 2016 was an amazing experience. Although Ill never really understand how the victims felt, I can definitely say that I have learned things that have left an impact on me. This field trip was very informational and the memorial itself was very put together in the way that it captured the suffering that many people when through. I can really appreciate the learning aspect of the field trip because it taught me things that I never knew about the Holocaust before. I can definetly say that I left the Holocaust Memorial with a broad range of information. Its comforting to know that there is a Memorial that people all over the world can go to and learn about a big portion of history. I am glad that this memorial is in my community because its nice to know that I live in a community where people can learn about past events that have helped to shape the community that we live in today. I am very glad that we were able to come on this field trip and learn all these things about the Holocaust. I have to say that the most capturing part of the whole field trip was when we got the see that main statue which is the hand. I like the fact that it means different things to different people but in the end they all somehow tie together. Overall this was an amazing field trip and i hope that we can go and visit again in the future.

I went to the holocaust museum on Monday, January 11 2016, and I was very intrigued. I thought I knew about the holocaust prior to my visit but following my memorial experience I realized I knew very little about the Holocaust. As I watched the film, I learned way more than I already knew like how some jews went into the woods and had to live their lives off and excluded due to the Holocaust. The movie was honestly very good and I liked how instead of just facts and history, it included the stories of the survivors and what happened to them and their families. I felt touched by the movie because those survivors were our age when this all happened and it must of been very traumatic for them to have to experience that. It makes me sad that in the future we will not have many of those amazing survivors here with us to tell their stories. The memorial it self was incredible and i especially liked the black dyed water because it adds a tone and a great element to the memorial. The hand has tons of details on it and it really is an amazing piece of art and i hope it stands for many years to come.

The artistry of this memorial is spectacular. Am definitely planning on going back.

The artistry of this memorial is spectacular.

I want to say thank you for hosting our home school group last week. Our group of seventh graders was greatly impacted by the life story of Alex Gross. His positive spirit and outlook on life despite the sorrows he suffered were inspiring. I am so thankful that he shared his life with us. Our tour guide Gerard was a gracious host and we appreciate the time he took to lead us through the memorial. It was a life changing experience for the students that will stay with them.