“If you don’t learn the lessons of history, you’re doomed to repeat their worst mistakes.”

This is the message teacher Mr. Paul Vale wanted 48 Trinity students to understand. These 48 students recently had an opportunity to discover a more complete understanding of the Holocaust by visiting the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

Students who expected a traditional museum were surprised to see that the interactive museum offered students the Tower of Faces, a three-floor-high room of pictures of Jews massacred by the Nazis, and the chance to walk through a freight car once used to deport Jews to concentration camps. Other exhibits included voice recordings of soldiers telling their stories about the camp experiences.

These students experienced more than 900 relics from the Holocaust.

“The most interesting thing was walking through the unwashed train car,” junior Nick Flood said.

The group also heard from Mr. Ernie Marx, a Holocaust survivor who has spoken to Trinity students about the Holocaust since the school’s first trip to the museum six years ago.

“Ernie Marx is willing to assist us by bringing the experience much more to life,” Vale said. “It wouldn’t be nearly as rich without Mr. Marx.”

Marx gave an introduction to his experience of escaping a camp and touched on the “night of broken glass” shortly before the trip. While moving through the museum, he recounted stories of his personal experiences to the students. “I hope they may take greater interest,” Vale said. “They are witnesses and should share that information with others.”

Junior Kevin Golden said, “I’ve heard people talk about it but have never gone before. Mr. Marx’s story is really inspiring.”

After returning home, one thing that touched Golden was the dramatic “video footage of the liberated.”

Vale, whose passion for this trip continues to grow, encourages everyone to attend.

“The students have a different view now,” he said, “that it was not a crime against Jews; it was a crime against humanity.”