Grim yet hopeful addition to National WWII Museum addresses the conflict’s world-shaping legacy

By KEVIN McGILL
Associated Press

The latest major addition to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans is called the Liberation Pavilion. And it’s ambitious in scope. Exhibits commemorate the end of the war’s death and destruction, emphasize its human costs and capture the horror of those who discovered the aftermath of Nazi atrocities. It also spotlights the war’s enduring social and geopolitical legacies — from the acceleration of civil rights and women’s equality movements in the U.S. to the formation of world alliances. The pavilion was set to open Friday and among those expected to attend were some of the few surviving veterans of the war that ended nearly eight decades ago.