国立アメリカ歴史博物館さんのインスタグラム写真 - (国立アメリカ歴史博物館Instagram)「On September 11, 2001, this squeegee handle helped save the lives of six people. When a hijacked airplane struck the north tower of the World Trade Center, six men, including Polish immigrant window washer Jan Demczur, found themselves trapped in an express elevator near the 50th floor. Though they were able to stop the elevator from falling, the group was trapped between floors and could smell smoke. Together, they pried open the elevator doors and began to cut through the drywall of the elevator shaft, first with a pocketknife, then with handle of Demczur's squeegee. Eventually, they were able to punch a hole through the wall. The group fled downstairs and out into the street, escaping just minutes before tower fell. After learning about the group's harrowing escape, museum curator David Shayt contacted Demczur. Here's how he described what happened next: "I called Jan in December. . .met with him and asked him the big question: Did you hang onto the handle, do you still have that squeegee handle? He left the room and came back with something wrapped in a red handkerchief. Turned out to be the handle. He had kept the handle without realizing it. In his blind escape, he had somehow stuffed it in his pocket rather than put it in the bucket that he dropped later. His wife found it, rolled up in his dirty uniform, weeks later." Demczur agreed to donate the handle to the museum, along with the uniform and shoes he wore to work that morning. Reflecting on the donation in 2002, Shayt told the Washington Post: "It's collected not as a squeegee handle itself. . .but as evidence of life's affirmation."」9月11日 21時49分