LIBERATION BEYOND &
Historians gather personal stories to conclude museum’s WWII narrative
Scheduled for completion in 2021, the Liberation Pavilion will represent the final chapter in The National WWII Museum’s mission to tell the full story of the American experience in the war that changed the world — why it was fought, how it was won and what it means today — so that all generations will understand the price of freedom and be inspired by what they learn. Exploring the immediate postwar years and its continuing relevance in our lives today, the pavilion’s narrative will be told through the overarching theme of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s famous 1941 “Four Freedoms” speech, his address citing the four universal rights that all people worldwide should have: freedom of speech and worship, and freedom from want and fear. Galleries will examine themes ranging from the joy of homecoming to postwar technological advances to the Holocaust.
In order to share with visitors firsthand experiences of liberation during and after the war, the museum’s Oral History team has been gathering interviews to feature in kiosks throughout the pavilion’s galleries — accounts from Holocaust survivors, soldiers who liberated concentration camps, participants in war-crime trials, as well as WWII servicemembers who were involved in the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.
Hannah Dailey, museum oral historian, is a member of the team gathering these important firsthand accounts. She shared some of her recent experiences in this effort: