By Paul Wein
Greenwald is no stranger to documenting human tragedy. Since 1986, she has worked in Washington's Holocaust Museum, and she is a member of the design team for the museum's permanent exhibition. She currently serves as the museum's associate director, a position she will leave this month to begin her new job, one that she says is a huge undertaking. "I am very humbled and terrified," Greenwald said after being chosen as the leader of the 9/11 museum, which will be built at ground zero. "It's an enormous honor and a huge responsibility. I hope that I can bring to it some clarity and vision for what needs to be a world-class institution."
Greenwald was chosen for the position after meeting officials from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation last summer. "I met the staff and took them through [the Holocaust] museum," she recalled. "After some conversation, one of them sent me the notice of the [9/11 museum] job, and after some further meetings, I was chosen for the position." Greenwald said that being chosen to lead such a historic memorial is a great honor, and added that she sees the importance of taking this task of preserving the memories of those lost. "Having worked for 20 years at the Holocaust Museum, this is not new territory for me. I don't think I would have left the museum if I didn't think the 9/11 museum has the level of significance that makes the work a calling."
When she begins her job later this month, her first duties, according to Greenwald, will be "to get my feet wet in the deep end of the pool, so when I start full-time in April, I can hit the ground running." Her first tasks will include meeting her new colleagues and the family members who are on the committee to help create the museum, as well as viewing the artifacts and debris from the Twin Towers.
As for what shape the 9/11 museum will take and what will be featured, Greenwald said that it is too early to tell. "It's a little premature," she said. "I need to come up to speed on the work that has been done so far. I think that on a fundamental level, this institution needs to be about memory, and honor those who were lost."
Greenwald did say that there is one clear message that she would like the museum, which is slated to open in 2009, to project. "Every individual has their own 9/11 story," she said. "In the end, this is a story about people who got up in the morning to go to work and lost their lives. I feel the message should reflect the absolute unacceptability of indiscriminate murder."
Greenwald said she will miss her current position. "I will miss the Holocaust Museum more than words can say," she said. "It has been my home, and I have some great friends and colleagues there. It will be very hard to leave."
No matter what shape the 9/11 museum takes, Greenwald said she realizes that the lives of the people who were killed is what she and her colleagues must focus on. "It's a site where lives were lost, and it's a charged site of memory," she said. "Looking through a lens from that perspective will give us clarity on how to appropriately tell the story."
Comments about this story? PWein@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 204.
