The Tragic or Joyful Events of a Culture or Civilization - Essay Example

Controversies were caused because some companies doing work on the memorial colluded with the Nazi’s and other Jewish groups felt the memorial was unnecessary. Controversies were caused because some companies doing work on the memorial colluded with the Nazi’s and other Jewish groups felt the memorial was unnecessary. Another surprising controversy was the inclusion of an underground information center.  Some Jewish groups felt that the inclusion of this center was designed to make the memorial a tourist destination.

  They said that the memorial speaks for itself and there is no need for a special center.  The underground location was praised because it did not detract from the purpose of the memorial visually, but it still created controversy. In the United States, many memorials and monuments serve a dual purpose.  They try to commemorate or bring to remembrance the tragic or joyful events of a culture or civilization while focusing on the current state of that civilization as well.  There is a Jewish Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. but no museum for American genocide because there is a National Native American Museum.

  The genocide is featured, but not the focus of the exhibit.  Maybe Americans have a hard time facing the fact that we have made horrible mistakes in how we have behaved in the past.  That is why we do not focus solely on one tragic aspect of the past when building our monuments, museums, and memorials.