Regarding Marvin Kalb’s Feb. 24 commentary “Holocaust museum’s shameful episode” (Op-Ed):
It is unfortunate and quite troubling that at a time when the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum should be gearing up for a celebration of its fifth anniversary, its essential mission of Holocaust awareness and education has been obfuscated and, in fact, jeopardized by the conflicts, crises and scandals of the past few weeks.
It is imperative that the governance problems that have been brought to light by these distressing events be resolved efficiently and effectively. Whether the museum’s entire governing council needs to be immediately replaced, as Mr. Kalb suggests, may be debatable. At the very least, however, a critical inquiry into its operational structure must be undertaken now, because business cannot go on as usual. Clearly, “as usual” is just not good enough.
The Holocaust is the greatest atrocity Western civilization has both permitted and endured. Providing people with the opportunity to learn about the Shoah and its crucial lessons is far too important a purpose for the museum to be the target of such mudslinging.
