In late August, two high schools sent nearly forty students to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. on a class field trip.  Shortly after they left the museum, they were asked to write letters to a loved one about their experience.  The students expressed sadness and confusion about how this could happen.

One student wrote to her father: “When you mentioned the room of shoes to me and said that it’s really hard to even begin to fathom that all of those shoes belonged to someone at some point … you were completely right. I hope we can go there together someday. While I was there I felt sadness overtake my whole being. It was just so sad. Why did this have to happen to our people?”(Cleveland Jewish News)

Visitors pass beneath a cast taken from the original entrance to the Auschwitz death camp, inscribed with the phrase Arbeit Macht Frei (Work Makes One Free). (Photo by Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

Since 2000, the FBI has sent every class of new Special Agents to the museum as part of their ethics training while at Quantico.  This year we are pleased to present the same opportunity to our conference attendees.  Wednesday afternoon, attendees will take a bus to Washington DC and go through the museum with time afterwards to explore more of our Nation’s Capitol.  Our Thursday morning general session will be led by David Friedman of the Anti-Defamation League.  Mr. Friedman will talk with attendees about what separates them from the law enforcement officers that worked with the Nazis.

For more information about the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, please visit their website here.