GG Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 I shouldn't be laughing at this, but the image is so incredibly offensive that I can't help it. If it's not at the museum, the street peddlers will hawk it on the periphery. IMHO, the victims' families have had way much sway on the development as it is. If they have a museum shop in the Holocaust museums or any other places where people died, there is no reason there shouldn't be a museum shop at the 9/11 memorial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 If it's not at the museum, the street peddlers will hawk it on the periphery. IMHO, the victims' families have had way much sway on the development as it is. If they have a museum shop in the Holocaust museums or any other places where people died, there is no reason there shouldn't be a museum shop at the 9/11 memorial. They don't at Auschwitz. They have a bookstore, but the rule of thumb is nothing that's not educational. They won't sell Monowitz snow globes just for the money. Buchenwald, on the other hand... I shouldn't be laughing at this, but the image is so incredibly offensive that I can't help it. That's so offensive I'd actually buy one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Adams Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 That's so offensive I'd actually buy one. My million dollar idea will be a huge seller in Kabul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azalin Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 Buchenwald, on the other hand... That's so offensive I'd actually buy one. I know, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 They don't at Auschwitz. They have a bookstore, but the rule of thumb is nothing that's not educational. They won't sell Monowitz snow globes just for the money. Buchenwald, on the other hand... I was referring to the museums in NYC, DC & Berlin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 (edited) I've never seen a museum that didn't have a gift shop. That's their source of funding. Like concessions at a movie theater. Pear Harbor has a gift shop. It's all kind of tasteless but it is a free country. Getting less so every day but still. Edited May 19, 2014 by Dante Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 I wasn't kidding. I don't know if it still does, but Buchenwald at one time (relatively recently) had a gift shop where you could by honest-to-God souvenirs. Not as tacky as Holocaust snow globes...more along the lines of commemorative Shoah key chains. The Auschwitz committee has the right of it, I think. If it doesn't educate, don't sell it. If it's just to say "I was at Auschwitz!" it's commercialization, crass and shallow, and don't do it. Although some people would consider an Auschwitz snow globe appropriate for "raising awareness." #SaveOurJews. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4merper4mer Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 I bet they debated it. And if it was December 11 instead of September 11 who knows which side would have won the snow globe debate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 Pear Harbor has a gift shop. Yeah. It's called frickin' Oahu. Hell, the whole state is a tourist trap and gift shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azalin Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 I wasn't kidding. I don't know if it still does, but Buchenwald at one time (relatively recently) had a gift shop where you could by honest-to-God souvenirs. Not as tacky as Holocaust snow globes...more along the lines of commemorative Shoah key chains. The Auschwitz committee has the right of it, I think. If it doesn't educate, don't sell it. If it's just to say "I was at Auschwitz!" it's commercialization, crass and shallow, and don't do it. Although some people would consider an Auschwitz snow globe appropriate for "raising awareness." #SaveOurJews. Buchenwald actually had a gift shop? I can only imagine how careful they would have had to be with their choice of souvenirs (a whole string of extremely tasteless ideas are parading through my imagination right now.....) I can only imagine what it must be like to tour places like that...to actually be in a place where so much evil was perpetrated on so many others. I've been to many places in the US like Jamestown, Monticello, Willamsburg, and several others where they had, among other structures, slave quarters. that was bad enough. I can't imagine actually being at Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Dachau, or any of the others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-Man Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 I was referring to the museums in NYC, DC & Berlin You are correct. I know that the Holocaust Museum in DC has a gift shop, my daughter brought me back a "pinback" from there, because she knows that I collect them . It was of the outside of the building, very generic, and there being a gift shop certainly didn't detract from the overwhelming experience of visiting there. She talked about it for hours. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TakeYouToTasker Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 I wasn't kidding. I don't know if it still does, but Buchenwald at one time (relatively recently) had a gift shop where you could by honest-to-God souvenirs. Not as tacky as Holocaust snow globes...more along the lines of commemorative Shoah key chains. The Auschwitz committee has the right of it, I think. If it doesn't educate, don't sell it. If it's just to say "I was at Auschwitz!" it's commercialization, crass and shallow, and don't do it. Although some people would consider an Auschwitz snow globe appropriate for "raising awareness." #SaveOurJews. I'd probably buy a "Livestrong" style bracelet with a bar-code on it were one available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted May 19, 2014 Share Posted May 19, 2014 Buchenwald actually had a gift shop? I can only imagine how careful they would have had to be with their choice of souvenirs (a whole string of extremely tasteless ideas are parading through my imagination right now.....) I believe it got as bad as keychains made from pebbles taken from the camp before common sense started to reassert itself. I can only imagine what it must be like to tour places like that...to actually be in a place where so much evil was perpetrated on so many others. I've been to many places in the US like Jamestown, Monticello, Willamsburg, and several others where they had, among other structures, slave quarters. that was bad enough. I can't imagine actually being at Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Dachau, or any of the others. I've been to Mt. Vernon, Monticello, Lee's mansion in Arlington...the slave quarters never registered with me as more than historical fact. Probably because slavery as an institution was relatively benign in Virginia, compared to the !@#$s in South Carolina or Mississippi. Treblinka is just an open field with a stone cairn in the middle (Treblinka was one of the camps specifically created to gas Polish Jews. When they'd killed all the Polish Jews - and yes, that's literal - they had no more use for the camp, and tore it down. And "planted lupins," which I've always found to be an oddly specific fact.) But I've read stories from visitors that just waking across the field, it feels oppressively evil and creepy as !@#$-all. And somehow, I suspect that still has nothing on the Nyamata Memorial in Rwanda. Just the pictures of that memorial are too much for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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