The American Heritage Museum has unveiled the restoration of a WWII-era German Deutsche Reichsbahn Rail Car in the first phase of a project aiming to develop a comprehensive permanent exhibit remembering the Holocaust
Tom Anstey | Planet Attractions | 25 Jan 2024
The restored train car serves as a powerful reminder of the atrocities committed during the Holocaust Credit: American Heritage Museum
The American Heritage Museum in Hudson, Massachusetts, has unveiled an original World War II rail car from the Deutsche Reichsbahn, which is now on display as a reminder of the atrocities committed at the hands of the Nazis during the Holocaust.
Built in 1913 and discovered in Nuremberg, the car has undergone a six month restoration process and is the same make and model of the rail car that was used to transport Jewish people to concentration camps during World War II.
While it is unknown if the car was definitely used for this purpose, it will be used as an educational tool to share how such carriages would transport up to 150 men, women and children to Germany’s death camps, with the journeys often taking days as they travelled through stretches of Europe.
“This museum adheres to an unyielding principle: we are morally obligated to remember the past,” said Rob Collings, president of the American Heritage Museum. “To ensure the memory of those lost and those who suffered, we enshrine this inanimate object, a witness that will stand long after the survivors have all left us.”
The rail car installation is the first phase of a two phase exhibit plan to gain a deeper understanding of the Holocaust, its origins, and its lasting impact on humanity. Phase two, to be completed within the year for the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp on January 27, 2025, will include survivor testimonies, historical documents, and personal artefacts that provides both a comprehensive and immersive experience that pays homage to the victims and preserves their legacy.
Museums and galleries
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