London’s effort to preserve and display history is remarkable. Over the last week, I have observed this dedication to history by visiting the Churchill War Rooms, Bletchley Park, and the Imperial War Museum. I also visited Westminster Abbey, Kensington Palace, the Royal Guard Museum, the HMS Belfast, and Greenwich Park.
The view of the Thames River from the HMS Belfast
The Churchill War Rooms do well to show the impact Winston Churchill’s powerful rhetoric had on the public. For the British, World War II was the “People’s War” and Churchill emphasized that there was no effort too small in helping the British cause. It was fascinating to observe that Churchill never claimed that the war would be easy, but he rather promised a great struggle that would have had horrific consequences had they failed. 
We were privileged to listen to Michael Hanscomb’s story, who reiterated the important role that Churchill’s honest and inspiring speeches played in allowing Londoners like himself to persist through the Blitz. After studying how the British people endured the Blitz with a “stiff upper lip” in class, it was interesting to listen to Mr. Hanscomb’s firsthand account to support this.
The mansion at the heart of Bletchley Park
At Bletchley Park, we learned the history of the estate and its function during the war. I found the intensity of the secrecy that Bletchley demanded most interesting. The huts of Bletchley were filled with posters which bluntly stated that failure to keep secrets was equivalent to supporting the enemy. Workers were forbidden to discuss their role at Bletchley during the war, and they had to continue their silence for 30 years after the war. While this caused the codebreakers of Bletchley to never get the credit they fully deserved, it was relieving to learn that President Roosevelt and Churchill both acknowledged their vitality to the Allied victory.
On our last day in London we visited the Imperial War Museum. This was my favorite stop in London and I explored the museum for over five hours, visiting exhibits on WWI and WWII and concluding with a beautifully designed section on the Holocaust. The WWI and WWII exhibits allowed for a particularly fascinating opportunity to see many of the various weapons of the war that we previously mentioned in class. I spent the bulk of my time, however, in the Holocaust section. My first impression was that the exhibit did well to intertwine the events of the Holocaust with the major events of the war to provide context. Secondly, given their clear appreciation for history, it came as no surprise to see the incredible detail put into the exhibit. The exhibit went well beyond conventional teaching of the Holocaust with an extensive focus on the escalation of anti-Semitism that preluded the concentration camps. Additionally, I was impressed by the detailed model of the entrance to Auschwitz, a somber display of confiscated shoes, and personal stories and artifacts from Jews of many different nationalities and experiences. I also found it interesting how the museum, albeit briefly, discussed Jewish emigration to Palestine, which was a British mandate at the time. Overall, I enjoyed the exhibit’s strong focus on the conditions that led to the Holocaust. I have previously visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. and Yad Vashem in Israel, and it is interesting to observe what each museum chooses to focus on and how they display the information.
I am excited to visit more Holocaust museums and memorials moving forward, but first we are headed to Bayeux to visit the beaches of Normandy!