Since the beginning of last year, an unusual vehicle has been travelling to some of the cities of the southern United States, causing shivers in the spines of onlookers. It is a replica of a cattle car used in the Second World War to transport Jews and other minorities to their deaths.
Inside the cattle car is the itinerant exhibition The Cattle Car: Stepping In and Out of Darkness, with an immersive video telling the story of the Holocaust survivors and showing real examples of how hate continues to exist in our society.
This initiative is part of the Hate Ends Now project, aimed at promoting knowledge of the Holocaust and tolerance, based on an immersive experience that makes use of the senses to raise public awareness.
Fariha Hossain, 21, came across this exhibition on campus: “The exhibit affected me deeply and made me want to learn more about the subject. This experience made me think about our world today and inspires me to contribute to making a better world. The world did not stand up for the victims of the Holocaust.”
In a world where antisemitism persists, seeing young people interested in the theme of the Holocaust raises hope. Proof of this are the numbers recorded by The Holocaust Museum of Oporto, which welcomed 40 thousand visitors during its first year, particularly minors. Although closed to the general public because of the pandemic, every day the museum is visited by students from schools in many cities of Portugal.
