UK Trip 2005

There were far darker challenges to the soul than the timing of the day. The brilliant new Children's War exhibition will apparently run until at least 2008, and the permanent Holocaust exhibition is beyond description (in all sorts of ways), but if you're at all moved by such things you're asking for trouble to tackle them both in the one afternoon. Spent most of the day struggling with my face and the lump in my throat. It's quite something spending almost a whole day reaching the verge of tears afresh every several minutes (whether I confess to this or not!). Completely draining. Totally numb by the end of the Holocaust exhibition on its own, reaching saturation point well before the final room and unable to actually absorb every last item, such was the scale and depth of the information (never mind the horrors within). It's arranged on two levels of the building, and the physical descent from one level to the other is neatly synchronised with the point in the timeline when awful, racist and threatening descends into total, bonkers, insane, gibbering hell. Children's War exhibit had several punches of its own. The very first image is the girl with flag on VE Day who graces the cover of the exhibition's commemorative book and is the poster girl for the whole thing. You learn she was four when the shot was taken, that she survived the war because that was on VE Day, 1945...and then that she died of meningitis a few days later. Very few things in life are fair, but that's one hell of a tone to set for the show to follow. Included is a complete walk-through replica of the West Wickham house used in the "1940s House" TV series a few years back. Just an amazing amount of paraphernalia and detail throughout. Those who know of the IWM, know these two exhibits are on, come to London and choose to leave without seeing them are fools...or have souls the depth of a Britney album. Probably. Next Previous

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Andrew L

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ukmay05@yahoo.co.uk