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The Ground Zero Museum
A Must-do When in New York City
By Jenn Director Knudsen
Why such Herculean efforts for seemingly such little reward?
Of Jewish descent, Suson says an August 2004 trip to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, Netherlands, goaded him into doing whatever it took to create a home available to the public for his photographs and salvaged remnants.
"When I left the Anne Frank House I was very emotional, and I own this collection, and this collection has been called 'rare photos' by the New York Times," says Suson, named in 2004 an FDNY Honorary Battalion Chief. "It'd be wrong of me not to create something like this in New York."
And so with $60,000 – tens of thousands of his own savings and donations from private sources and Manhattan businesses – he opened the Ground Zero Museum Workshop.
Nuts and Bolts of the MuseumOff a cobblestone street, the small, brightly lit loft space is one floor up and can accommodate only 25 people per tour. The Web site recommends visitors call before dropping in. I called on my cell phone during my walkabout; they were expecting me when I finally arrived.
There is no admission fee, but a donation of $19, $16 for children 12 and under and seniors is suggested. Suson agreed to share his profits from his Ground Zero work, according to an agreement in 2001 established by Fire Union officials who granted the photographer his unique access.
Every last cent given to the Ground Zero Museum Workshop pays either for overhead – it costs about $160 a day to operate the pace and pay for its two employees – or is funneled to eight nonprofit charities, some for 9/11 victims and their families.
