Washington D.C. Monuments
National Museum of American History
The National Museum of American History features many exhibits that are both temporary and ongoing. One exhibit that is ongoing is "The Price of Freedom: Americans at War." This exhibit surveys the history of America's military from the French and Indian Wars to the present conflict in Iraq, exploring ways in which wars have been defining episodes in American history. The exhibition extends far beyond a survey of battles to present the link between military conflict and American political leadership, social values, technological innovation, and personal sacrifice.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The museum's permanent exhibition, "The Holocaust" presents a narrative history using more than 900 artifacts, 70 video monitors, and four theaters that include historic film footage and eyewitness testimonies. The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.

"Holocaust" is a word of Greek origin meaning "sacrifice by fire." The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community.

National WWII Memorial
Pictured above is the first national memorial dedicated to WWII. The memorial honors the 16 million men and women who served in the U.S. armed forces and the more than 400,000 who died fighting in the second World War. The memorial is the newest to be added to the Mall, and was dedicated May 29, 2004.