Liberation Pavilion at National WW2 Museum

Now that the last piece of the puzzle is complete, you could easily spend a good couple of days exploring the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. The Liberation Pavilion at the National WW2 Museum was that last piece and opened on November 3, 2023.

Staggering statistic at the entry of the Liberation Pavilion at National WW2 Museum. Can you tell what this wall is composed of?

Liberation Pavilion at National WW2 Museum

These are all dog tags from those Americans who served in WWII

Steve and I have been to the museum many times because each time we have visited New Orleans they seemed to open a new exhibit. We even went to the Yom HaShoah event there last April. So our main priority on this trip to The Big Easy, was to tour this latest and last edition to the National WW2 museum.

Liberation Pavilion at National WW2 Museum with quote from Gen. Eisenhower

Quote from General Eisenhower

The Liberation Pavilion is the museum’s final permanent exhibit hall. In this new building we get to explore the end of World War II, the Holocaust and the years immediately following the war. In addition, this three story Pavilion is home to two floors of exhibit space that features the first hand experiences, photos, film interviews and artifacts. The third floor is dedicated to a high tech theater that gives the audience a brand new cinematic experience. This new wing gives visitors the opportunity to appreciate the joys, costs and meaning of being liberated and being free.

First floor

Death Throes of Nazism

Photo of soldiers at the Siegfried line at the Liberation Pavilion at National WW2 Museum

Overcoming Hitler’s West Wall

On the Liberation Pavilion’s first floor. the exhibition Finding Hope in a World Destroyed, “honors the great sacrifices of the WWII generation. This section explores the incredibly high cost of the war. There are exhibits on the Holocaust, Anne Frank and faith in wartime. Here you will hear stories of both loss and liberation that reveal the actual horror of the war. Victors and vanquished both had the tough job of rebuilding their devastated world.

Those who served

Memorabilia of American soldiers at the Liberation Pavilion at National WW2 Museum

American soldiers memorabilia

Photo and story of writer Ernie Pyle at the Liberation Pavilion at National WW2 Museum

The story of Ernie Pyle

World War II placed unprecedented demands on the men and women who fought in it. These brave men and women fought not matter what the conditions. Whether it was the jungles of the South Pacific, the deserts of North Africa or the dense urban terrain of Western Europe, they plodded on. There had never been battles so large or military technology so deadly. More than 16 million Americans put on this country’s uniform. But sadly more than 414,000 of these courageous Americans did not return to their homes and families.

Liberation and loss

Newspaper headlines about the invasion of Normandy at the Torn roof exposed to the sky with WW2 planes seen flying overhead

All headlines were about D-Day

Pages of pinup girls taped to a wall at the Torn roof exposed to the sky with WW2 planes seen flying overhead

Pinup girls were a pleasant distraction for our soldiers

Photos of Anne Frank, Gen. Eisenhower and Winston Churchill at the Torn roof exposed to the sky with WW2 planes seen flying overhead

World War II Icons

The Orientation Theater, on the first floor, shows a film on how liberation led to immediate celebrations and visions of a hopeful outlook for millions of Americans. On the opposite side of the coin there was the tragedy of the many who carried the war’s scars for the rest of their lives. There were some hopes for a better future that were shown to be difficult to realize. Many Americans discovered that the battlefield was not the final struggle. The fight for freedom was not over, in fact that fight will never truly end.

Cost of victory

Torn roof exposed to the sky with WW2 planes seen flying overhead

Attention to detail is astounding at the Liberation Pavilion. You could hear the planes flying overhead!!

Norden Bombsight

Coats, jackets and headgear of American aviators during WW2

Aviators gear

There was an enormous human cost of WWII. At least 65 million people were dead, complete cities were demolished and entire continents ravaged. Even when the fighting ended in 1945, the suffering and violence continued world wide. There was famine in Europe and Asia and at the same time political uprisings and civil wars shook the countries that had only recently been liberated from Axis occupation.

The world over men and women returned home only to discover that people and places that had been familiar to them were forever changed. At the same time that people were celebrating with victory parades, families were mourning their lost loved ones. It’s difficult for anyone to truly comprehend such losses!

“And then they came for me”

Photo of a crematorium with human bones from a Nazi concentration camp at the Liberation Pavilion at National WW2 Museum

The horrors of the Holocaust

Photo in a concentration camp barracks of emaciated men in bunks at the Liberation Pavilion at National WW2 Museum

No human should ever have to endure such treatment. NEVER AGAIN!!!

This gallery is divided into three sections that examine the Holocaust and its tragic legacy. In the first and second parts there’s an explanation of the rise of Nazi terror and the persecution of Europe’s Jewish population through the story of Anne Frank. The third section focuses on the concentration camp system and the liberation of those camps.

Pam and Mark Rubin Liberation Theater

This panoramic theater offers a 30 minute film with personal testimonies of both those who were liberated and those who freed them. This film captures the complicated emotions felt by all. These Holocaust survivors and the US service members who freed them tell you about their feelings of hope and joy at the moment of liberation from just about certain death.

Okay, this is a spoiler alert. Bring tissues. The entire building is filled with emotional moments, but this theater is where I broke down sobbing. There was a female Holocaust survivor who spoke about how she had been treated as less than human in the concentration camp. On the day she was liberated she saw the American Jeep with soldiers coming to her rescue. One soldier walked over to her and her other female companions and said “Ladies, please follow me”. Just being called a lady resonated with her. But somehow she felt compelled to tell him, so she blurted out “I’m Jewish” and he replied “So am I”. When they got to the Jeep he held the door open for her. And then she smiled and added “He’s been opening the door for me for the last 50 years”. I can’t even write this without tears streaming down my cheeks. She married her savior!!!

Interfaith Chapel

Suitcase with red lining holding items for an Army chaplain to use for religious services

US Army issue portable altar

Photo of a man who was a chaplain during WW2

Philip Hannan, a Chaplain, went on to become the Archbishop of the Diocese of New Orleans

The Frank and Paulette Stewart Interfaith Chapel honors the incredibly important role that faith played in World War II. This is a stunningly spiritual nondenominational space that gives visitors the opportunity to reflect on the stories presented in the museum along with their own personal journeys.

The serene interfaith chapel at the Liberation Pavilion at National WW2 Museum

The Interfaith Chapel, Liberation Pavilion at National WW2 Museum
Photo Credit: National WW2 Museum Website

Steve and I sat and contemplated all we had witnessed. It was so peaceful and uplifting, just as a place of worship should be.

New challenges and new opportunities at home

Items created after the war on display at the Torn roof exposed to the sky with WW2 planes seen flying overhead

New technologies let to the production of plastics. I had a bag exactly like the white one in the center of the photo when I was a little girl!

This totally reminded me of the movie The Graduate with it’s plug for PLASTICS!!!

Clippings of civil rights leaders at the Torn roof exposed to the sky with WW2 planes seen flying overhead

The 50s and 60s brought the fight for civil rights

Photos of women protesting for equal rights at the Torn roof exposed to the sky with WW2 planes seen flying overhead

Women fought for equal pay for equal work!

Article about the new product Tupperware at the Torn roof exposed to the sky with WW2 planes seen flying overhead

And post war America embraced Tupperware

Following WWII the United States experienced a period of unparalleled prosperity due to wartime innovation and technology. But there were still challenges. Though Americans were enjoying their new prosperity there were those who demanded equality and social reform. The US also took on global responsibilities by prosecuting war criminals and establishing standards of international justice.

Restoring Justice

The Nuremberg Trials

Nazi hunter Elie Wiesel

The Allies vowed to hold Japanese and German leaders accountable for their war crimes as early as 1942. The brutal treatment of prisoners of war, the far reaching atrocities they discovered, which included the mass murder of civilians compelled the Allied nations to make good on their promises for justice once the war ended. Thousands were prosecuted in the first ever international trials.

So what does WWII mean today?

After the war ended, we Americans continued the struggle to support opportunity, equality, safety and liberty all over the world. The memory of WWII keeps shaping our world to this day. It continues to inspire Americans in their pursuit of peace, justice and freedom.

I can’t encourage you enough to visit the Liberation Pavilion at the National WW2 Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana!!!

Disclaimer: Steve and I were issued complimentary media passes to explore this exhibit.