United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Last updated

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum logo.svg
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum interior.JPG
Location map Washington, D.C. central.png
Red pog.svg
Location in Washington, D.C.
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (the United States)
EstablishedApril 22, 1993
Location100 Raoul Wallenberg Place, Southwest, Washington, D.C.
Coordinates 38°53′12″N77°01′57″W / 38.88667°N 77.03250°W / 38.88667; -77.03250
TypeHolocaust museum
Visitors1.6 million (2016) [1]
Director Sara J. Bloomfield
CuratorSteven Luckert
Public transit access WMATA Metro Logo.svg              Smithsonian
Website www.ushmm.org OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history. It is dedicated to helping leaders and citizens of the world confront hatred, prevent genocide, promote human dignity, and strengthen democracy. [2]

Contents

In 2008, the museum had an operating budget of $120.6 million. [3] a staff of about 400 employees, 125 contractors, 650 volunteers, 91 Holocaust survivors, and 175,000 members. It had local offices in New York City, Boston, Boca Raton, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas. [4]

Since its dedication on April 22, 1993, the museum has had nearly 40 million visitors, including more than 10 million school children, 99 heads of state, and more than 3,500 foreign officials from over 211 countries and territories. The museum's visitors came from all over the world, and less than 10 percent are Jewish. In 2008, its website had 25 million visits, from an average of 100 countries daily. Thirty-five percent of these visits were from outside the United States. [2]

The USHMM's collections contain more than 12,750 artifacts, 49 million pages of archival documents, 85,000 historical photographs, a list of over 200,000 registered survivors and their families, 1,000 hours of archival footage, 93,000 library items, and 9,000 oral history testimonies. It also has teacher fellows in every state in the United States and, since 1994, almost 400 university fellows from 26 countries. [4]

Researchers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum have documented 42,500 ghettos and concentration camps created by the Nazis throughout German-controlled areas of Europe from 1933 to 1945. [5]

The museum is located geographically in the same cluster as the Smithsonian museums.

History

14th Street entrance of USHMM United States Holocaust Memorial Museum after the shooting.jpeg
14th Street entrance of USHMM

On November 1, 1978, President Jimmy Carter established the President's Commission on the Holocaust, chaired by Elie Wiesel, a prominent author, activist, and Holocaust survivor. Its mandate was to investigate the creation and maintenance of a memorial to victims of the Holocaust and an appropriate annual commemoration to them. The mandate was a joint effort of Wiesel and Richard Krieger [6] (the original papers are on display at the Jimmy Carter Museum). On September 27, 1979, the Commission presented its report to the President, recommending the establishment of a national Holocaust memorial museum in Washington, D.C., with three main components: a national museum/memorial, an educational foundation, and a Committee on Conscience. [7]

After a unanimous vote by the United States Congress in 1980 to establish the museum, the federal government made available 1.9 acres (0.77 ha) of land adjacent to the Washington Monument for construction. Under the founding director Richard Krieger, and subsequent director Jeshajahu Weinberg and chairman Miles Lerman, nearly $190 million was raised from private sources for building design, artifact acquisition, and exhibition creation. In October 1988, President Ronald Reagan helped lay the cornerstone of the building, designed by architect James Ingo Freed. Dedication ceremonies on April 22, 1993, included speeches by American President Bill Clinton, Israeli President Chaim Herzog, Chairman Harvey Meyerhoff, and Elie Wiesel. On April 26, 1993, the museum opened to the general public. Its first visitor was the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. [8]

Attacks

In 2002, a federal jury convicted white supremacists Leo Felton and Erica Chase of planning to bomb a series of institutions associated with American black and Jewish communities, including the USHMM. [9]

On June 10, 2009, 88-year-old James von Brunn, an antisemite, shot Museum Special Police Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns. Special Police Officer Johns and von Brunn were seriously wounded and transported by ambulance to the George Washington University Hospital. Special Police Officer Johns later died of his injuries; he is permanently honored in an official memorial at the USHMM. Von Brunn, who had a previous criminal record, died before the conclusion of his federal criminal trial, [10] in Butner federal prison in North Carolina. [11]

Architecture

Designed by the architect James Ingo Freed of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, in association with Finegold Alexander & Associates, the USHMM is created to be a "resonator of memory". (Born to a Jewish family in Germany, Freed came to the United States at the age of nine in 1939 with his parents, who fled the Nazi regime.) The outside of the building disappears into the neoclassical, Georgian, and modern architecture of Washington, D.C. Upon entering, each architectural feature becomes a new element of allusion to the Holocaust. [12] In designing the building, Freed researched post-World War II German architecture and visited Holocaust sites throughout Europe. The Museum building and the exhibitions within are intended to evoke deception, fear, and solemnity, in contrast to the comfort and grandiosity usually associated with Washington, D.C., public buildings. [13]

Other partners in the construction of the USHMM included Weiskopf & Pickworth, Cosentini Associates LLP, Jules Fisher, and Paul Marantz, all from New York City. The structural engineering firm was Severud Associates. The Museum's Meyerhoff Theatre and Rubenstein Auditorium were constructed by Jules Fisher Associates of New York City. The Permanent Exhibition was designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates. [14]

Exhibitions

The USHMM houses two exhibitions open continuously since 1993 as well as rotating exhibitions on topics related to the Holocaust and human rights.

Hall of Remembrance

Panoramic view of the Hall of Remembrance HallOfRemembrance.jpg
Panoramic view of the Hall of Remembrance

The Hall of Remembrance is the USHMM's official memorial to the victims and survivors of the Holocaust. Visitors can light candles and view the eternal flame in the hexagonal hall. [15]

Permanent Exhibition

Using more than 900 artifacts, 70 video monitors, and four theaters showing historic film footage and eyewitness testimonies, the USHMM's Permanent Exhibition is the most visited exhibit at the Museum. Upon entering large industrial elevators on the first floor, visitors are given identification cards, each of which tells the story of a person such as a random victim or survivor of the Holocaust. Upon exiting these elevators on the fourth floor, visitors walk through a chronological history of the Holocaust, starting with the Nazi rise to power led by Adolf Hitler, 1933–1939. Topics dealt with include Aryan ideology, Kristallnacht, antisemitism, and the American response to Nazi Germany. Visitors continue walking to the third floor, where they learn about ghettos and the Final Solution  –the Nazis's plan for the genocide of the Jews of Europe –during which the Nazis murdered six million Jews, many in gas chambers. The Permanent Exhibition ends on the second floor with the liberation of Nazi concentration camps by Allied forces; it includes a continuously looped film of Holocaust survivor testimony. First-time visitors spend an average of two to three hours in this self-guided exhibition. Due to certain images and subject matter, it is recommended for visitors 11 years of age and older. [16]

To enter the Permanent Exhibition between March and August, visitors must acquire free timed passes from the Museum on the day of the visit, or online for a service fee. [17] The Armenian genocide is not mentioned in the permanent exhibition because Turkish diplomats warned that doing so could affect safety of Jews in Turkey. [18] [19]

Remember the Children: Daniel's Story

Remember the Children: Daniel's Story is an exhibition designed to explain the Holocaust to elementary and middle school children. Opened in 1993, it follows true stories about children during the Holocaust. Daniel is named after the son of Isaiah Kuperstein, who was the original curator of the exhibit. He worked together with Ann Lewin and Stan Woodward to create the exhibit. Because of its popularity with families, it is still open to the public today. [20]

Stephen Tyrone Johns Memorial

In October 2009, the USHMM unveiled a memorial plaque in honor of Special Police Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns. [21] In response to the outpouring of grief and support after the shooting on June 10, 2009, it has also established the Stephen Tyrone Johns Summer Youth Leadership Program. Each year, 50 outstanding young people from the Washington, D.C. area will be invited to the USHMM to learn about the Holocaust in honor of Johns' memory. [22]

Special exhibitions

Notable special exhibitions have included A Dangerous Lie: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (2006). [23]

Permanent collection

The Museum's holdings included art, books, pamphlets, advertisements, maps, film and video historical footage, audio and video oral testimonies, music and sound recordings, furnishings, architectural fragments, models, machinery, tools, microfilm and microfiche of government documents and other official records, personal effects, personal papers, photographs, photo albums, and textiles. This information can be accessed through online databases or by visiting the USHMM. Researchers from all over the world come to the USHMM Library and Archives and the Benjamin and Vladka Meed Registry of Holocaust Survivors. [24]

Financial administration

The USHMM operates on a mixed federal and private revenue budget. For the 2014–2015 fiscal year, the museum reported total revenues of $133.4 million; $81.9 million and $51.4 million from private and public sources, respectively. Nearly the entirety of private funds come from donations. Expenses totaled of $104.6 million, with a total of $53.5 million used to pay 421 employees. [27] Net assets tallied $436.1 million as of September 30, 2015, of which $319.1 million is classified as long-term investments, including the museum's endowment. [28]

Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies

In 1998, the museum established the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies (CAHS). Working with the Academic Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, the CAHS supports research projects and publications about the Holocaust (including a partnership with Oxford University Press to publish the scholarly journal Holocaust and Genocide Studies ), helps make accessible collections of Holocaust-related archival material, supports fellowship opportunities for pre- and post- doctoral researchers, and hosts seminars, summer research workshops for academics, conferences, lectures, and symposia. The CAHS's Visiting Scholars Program and other events have made the USHMM one of the world's principal venues for Holocaust scholarship. [29]

The slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei" displayed at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Arbeit Macht Frei at Holocaust Memorial Museum.jpg
The slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei" displayed at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

Committee on Conscience

The Museum contains the offices of the Committee on Conscience (CoC), a joint United States government and privately funded think tank, which by presidential mandate engages in global human rights research. Using the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, approved by the United Nations in 1948 and ratified by the United States in 1988, the CoC has established itself as a leading non-partisan commenter on the Darfur Genocide, as well as the war-torn region of Chechnya in Russia, a zone that the CoC believes could produce genocidal atrocities. The CoC does not have policy-making powers and serves solely as an advisory institution to the American and other governments. [30]

National Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust

While standing inside The Hall of Remembrance, located within the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, a volunteer reads the names of Holocaust victims during the Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust. Holocaust Remembrance Week.JPG
While standing inside The Hall of Remembrance, located within the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, a volunteer reads the names of Holocaust victims during the Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust.

In addition to coordinating the National Civic Commemoration, ceremonies and educational programs during the week of the Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust (DRVH) were regularly held throughout the country, sponsored by Governors, Mayors, veterans groups, religious groups, and military ships and stations throughout the world. Each year, the USHMM designated a special theme for DRVH observances, and prepares materials available at no charge to support observances and programs throughout the nation, and in the United States military. Days of Remembrance themes have included:

National Institute for Holocaust Education

The USHMM conducted several programs devoted to improving Holocaust education. The Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Conference for Teachers, conducted in Washington, D.C., attracted around 200 middle school and secondary teachers from around the United States each year. The Education Division offered workshops around the United States for teachers to learn about the Holocaust, to participate in the Museum Teacher Fellowship Program (MTFP), and to join a national corps of educators who served as leaders in Holocaust education in their schools, communities, and professional organizations. Some MTFP participants also participated in the Regional Education Corps, an initiative to implement Holocaust education on a national level. [31]

Since 1999, the USHMM also provided public service professionals, including law enforcement officers, military personnel, civil servants, and federal judges with ethics lessons based in Holocaust history. In partnership with the Anti-Defamation League, more than 21,000 law enforcement officers from worldwide and local law enforcement agencies such as the FBI and local police departments have been trained to act in a professional and democratic manner. [32]

Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos

Replica of Auschwitz sign "Arbeit Macht Frei" which means "work will set you free" Replica of Auschwitz Entrance.jpg
Replica of Auschwitz sign "Arbeit Macht Frei" which means "work will set you free"

The Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945 is a seven-part encyclopedia series that explores the history of the concentration camps and the ghettos in German-occupied Europe during the Nazi era. The series is produced by the USHMM and published by the Indiana University Press. The work on the series began in 2000 by the researchers at the USHMM's Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies. Its general editor and project directory is the American historian Geoffrey P. Megargee. As of 2017, two volumes have been issued, with the third being planned for 2018. [33]

Volume I covers the early camps that the SA and SS set up in the first year of the Nazi regime, and the camps later run by the SS Economic Administration Main Office and their numerous sub-camps. The volume contains 1,100 entries written by 150 contributors. The bulk of the volume is dedicated to cataloguing the camps, including locations, duration of operation, purpose, perpetrators and victims. [34] Volume II is dedicated to the ghettos in German-occupied Eastern Europe and was published in 2012. [35]

Outreach

A dedication plaque outside the Museum HolocaustMuseumPlaque.jpg
A dedication plaque outside the Museum

Through its online exhibitions, [36] the Museum published the Holocaust Encyclopedia —an online, multilingual encyclopedia detailing the events surrounding the Holocaust. It was published in all six of the official languages of the United Nations—Arabic, Mandarin, English, French, Russian, and Spanish, as well as in Greek, Portuguese, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu. It contained thousands of entries and includes copies of the identification card profiles that visitors receive at the Permanent Exhibition. [37]

The USHMM had partnered with Apple Inc. to publish free podcasts on iTunes about the Holocaust, antisemitism, and genocide prevention. [38] It also had its own channel on YouTube, [39] an official account on Facebook, [40] a Twitter page, [41] and an e-mail newsletter service. [42]

The Genocide Prevention Mapping Initiative was a collaboration between the USHMM and Google Earth. It sought to collect, share, and visually present to the world critical information on emerging crises that may lead to genocide or related crimes against humanity. While this initiative focused on the Darfur Conflict, the Museum wishes to broaden its scope to all human rights violations. The USHMM wanted to build an interactive "global crisis map" to share and understand information quickly, to "see the situation" when dealing with human rights abuses, enabling more effective prevention and response by the world. [43]

Elie Wiesel Award

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Award, established in 2011, "recognizes internationally prominent individuals whose actions have advanced the Museum’s vision of a world where people confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity." [44] It has been renamed the Elie Wiesel Award in honor of its first recipient. Winners include:

2018 Holocaust awareness survey

In 2018, a survey organized by the Claims Conference, USHMM, and others found that 41% of 1,350 American adults surveyed, and 66% of millennials, did not know what Auschwitz was. 41% of millennials incorrectly claimed that 2 million Jews or less were murdered during the Holocaust, while 22% said they had never heard of the Holocaust. Over 95% of all Americans surveyed were unaware that the Holocaust occurred in the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. 45% of adults and 49% of millennials weren't able to name a single Nazi concentration camp or ghetto in German-occupied Europe during the Holocaust. [48]

Governance

The museum is overseen by the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, which includes 55 private citizens appointed by the President of the United States, five members of the United States Senate, and five members of the House of Representatives, and three ex-officio members from the Departments of State, Education, and the Interior. [49]

Since the museum opened, the council has been led by the following officers: [49]

The council has appointed the following as directors of the museum: [49]

Controversy

The museum was criticized for refusal to address alleged incidents of genocide in non-Jewish contexts, such as the Syrian civil war. [55] [56] In June 2019, the USHMM took part in a public debate about the inappropriate use of Holocaust-related terminology after U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called the detention camps along the southern U.S. border "concentration camps", and used the phrase "Never Again". [57] The USHMM published a statement declaring that it "unequivocally rejects efforts to create analogies between the Holocaust and other events, whether historical or contemporary." [58] A group of historians and scholars responded with an open letter portraying the stance of the museum as "a radical position that is far removed from mainstream scholarship on the Holocaust and genocide." They claimed it "made learning from the past almost impossible." [59]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extermination camp</span> Nazi death camps established to systematically murder

Nazi Germany used six extermination camps, also called death camps, or killing centers, in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million people – mostly Jews – in the Holocaust. The victims of death camps were primarily murdered by gassing, either in permanent installations constructed for this specific purpose, or by means of gas vans. The six extermination camps were Chełmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau. Extermination through labour was also used at the Auschwitz and Majdanek death camps. Millions were also murdered in concentration camps, in the Aktion T4, or directly on site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elie Wiesel</span> Romanian-born American writer and political activist (1928–2016)

Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yad Vashem</span> Israels official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust

Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the survivors; honoring Jews who fought against their Nazi oppressors and gentiles who selflessly aided Jews in need; and researching the phenomenon of the Holocaust in particular and genocide in general, with the aim of avoiding such events in the future. Yad Vashem's vision, as stated on its website, is: "To lead the documentation, research, education and commemoration of the Holocaust, and to convey the chronicles of this singular Jewish and human event to every person in Israel, to the Jewish people, and to every significant and relevant audience worldwide."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuart E. Eizenstat</span> American diplomat and attorney

Stuart Elliott Eizenstat is an American diplomat and attorney. He served as the United States Ambassador to the European Union from 1993 to 1996 and as the United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001. For many years, and currently he has served as a partner and Senior Counsel at the Washington, D.C.–based law firm Covington & Burling and as a senior strategist at APCO Worldwide.

This is a selected bibliography and other resources for The Holocaust, including prominent primary sources, historical studies, notable survivor accounts and autobiographies, as well as other documentation and further hypotheses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kraków Ghetto</span> Nazi ghetto in Poland

The Kraków Ghetto was one of five major metropolitan Nazi ghettos created by Germany in the new General Government territory during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. It was established for the purpose of exploitation, terror, and persecution of local Polish Jews. The ghetto was later used as a staging area for separating the "able workers" from those to be deported to extermination camps in Operation Reinhard. The ghetto was liquidated between June 1942 and March 1943, with most of its inhabitants deported to the Belzec extermination camp as well as to Płaszów slave-labor camp, and Auschwitz concentration camp, 60 kilometres (37 mi) rail distance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Zekelman Holocaust Center</span> Holocaust museum in the United States

The Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Michigan, near Detroit, is Michigan's largest Holocaust museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kovno Ghetto</span> Jewish ghetto in Kaunas, German-occupied Lithuania during World War II

The Kovno Ghetto was a ghetto established by Nazi Germany to hold the Lithuanian Jews of Kaunas (Kovno) during the Holocaust. At its peak, the ghetto held 29,000 people, most of whom were later sent to concentration and extermination camps, or were shot at the Ninth Fort. About 500 Jews escaped from work details and directly from the ghetto, and joined Jewish and Soviet partisan forces in the distant forests of southeast Lithuania and Belarus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florida Holocaust Museum</span> Holocaust museum in St. Petersburg, Florida

The Florida Holocaust Museum is a Holocaust museum located at 55 Fifth Street South in St. Petersburg, Florida. Founded in 1992, it moved to its current location in 1998. Formerly known as the Holocaust Center, the museum officially changed to its current name in 1999. It is one of the largest Holocaust museums in the United States. It was founded by Walter and Edith Lobenberg both of whom were German Jews who escaped persecution in Nazi Germany by immigrating to the United States. Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel served as Honorary Chairman and cut the ribbon at the 1998 opening ceremony. The Florida Holocaust Museum is one of three Holocaust Museums that are accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The museum works with the local community and survivors of the Holocaust to spread awareness and to educate the public on the history of the Holocaust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish ghettos established by Nazi Germany</span> Areas of Jewish imprisonment during the Holocaust

Beginning with the invasion of Poland during World War II, the Nazi regime set up ghettos across German-occupied Eastern Europe in order to segregate and confine Jews, and sometimes Romani people, into small sections of towns and cities furthering their exploitation. In German documents, and signage at ghetto entrances, the Nazis usually referred to them as Jüdischer Wohnbezirk or Wohngebiet der Juden, both of which translate as the Jewish Quarter. There were several distinct types including open ghettos, closed ghettos, work, transit, and destruction ghettos, as defined by the Holocaust historians. In a number of cases, they were the place of Jewish underground resistance against the German occupation, known collectively as the ghetto uprisings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Holocaust Remembrance Day</span> International memorial day on 27 January for the victims of Nazi genocides

The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, is an international memorial day on 27 January that commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, which resulted in the genocide of one third of the Jewish people, along with countless members of other minorities by Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945, an attempt to implement its "final solution" to the Jewish question. 27 January was chosen to commemorate the date when the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the Red Army in 1945.

Holocaust victims were people targeted by the government of Nazi Germany based on their ethnicity, religion, political beliefs, or sexual orientation. The institutionalized practice by the Nazis of singling out and persecuting people resulted in the Holocaust, which began with legalized social discrimination against specific groups, involuntary hospitalization, euthanasia, and forced sterilization of persons considered physically or mentally unfit for society. The vast majority of the Nazi regime's victims were Jews, Sinti-Roma peoples, and Slavs but victims also encompassed people identified as social outsiders in the Nazi worldview, such as homosexuals, and political enemies. Nazi persecution escalated during World War II and included: non-judicial incarceration, confiscation of property, forced labor, sexual slavery, death through overwork, human experimentation, undernourishment, and execution through a variety of methods. For specified groups like the Jews, genocide was the Nazis' primary goal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janowska concentration camp</span> Nazi concentration camp on the outskirts of present-day Lviv, Ukraine

Janowska concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp combining elements of labor, transit, and extermination camps. It was established in September 1941 on the outskirts of Lwów in what had become, after the German invasion, the General Government. The camp was named after the nearby street Janowska in Lwów of the interwar Second Polish Republic.

Holocaust studies, or sometimes Holocaust research, is a scholarly discipline that encompasses the historical research and study of the Holocaust. Institutions dedicated to Holocaust research investigate the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary aspects of Holocaust methodology, demography, sociology, and psychology. It also covers the study of Nazi Germany, World War II, Jewish history, antisemitism, religion, Christian-Jewish relations, Holocaust theology, ethics, social responsibility, and genocide on a global scale. Exploring trauma, memories, and testimonies of the experiences of Holocaust survivors, human rights, international relations, Jewish life, Judaism, and Jewish identity in the post-Holocaust world are also covered in this type of research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust</span> Period of commemoration in the United States

The Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust (DRVH) is an annual eight-day period designated by the United States Congress for civic commemorations and special educational programs that help citizens remember and draw lessons from the Holocaust. The annual DRVH period normally begins on the Sunday before the Israeli observance of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day, and continues through the following Sunday, usually in April or May. A National Civic Commemoration is held in Washington, D.C., with state, city, and local ceremonies and programs held in most of the fifty states, and on U.S. military ships and stations around the world. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum designates a theme for each year's programs, and provides materials to help support remembrance efforts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death marches during the Holocaust</span> Nazi forced transfers of prisoners

During the Holocaust, death marches were massive forced transfers of prisoners from one Nazi camp to other locations, which involved walking long distances resulting in numerous deaths of weakened people. Most death marches took place toward the end of World War II, mostly after the summer/autumn of 1944. Hundreds of thousands of prisoners, mostly Jews, from Nazi camps near the Eastern Front were moved to camps inside Germany away from the Allied forces. Their purpose was to continue the use of prisoners' slave labour, to remove evidence of crimes against humanity, and to keep the prisoners from bargaining with the Allies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vladka Meed</span>

Vladka Meed was a member of Jewish resistance in Poland who famously smuggled dynamite into the Warsaw Ghetto, and also helped children escape out of the Ghetto.

<i>Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945</i> American seven-part encyclopedia series

Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945 is a seven-part encyclopedia series that explores the history of the concentration camps, ghettos, forced-labor camps, and other sites of detention, persecution, or state-sponsored murder run by Nazi Germany and other Axis powers in Europe and Africa. The series is produced by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) and published by Indiana University Press. Research began in 2000; the first volume was published in 2009; and the final volume is slated for publication in 2025. Along with entries on individual sites, the encyclopedias also contain scholarly overviews for historical context.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holocaust Museum in Odesa</span> Non-state museum on the Holocaust in Ukraine

Museum of the Holocaust – victims of fascism, Odesa – the first Museum in Ukraine, which is based on the events of the genocide of the Jewish population in Transnistria Governorate.

References

  1. ↑ "TEA-AECOM 2016 Theme Index and Museum Index: The Global Attractions Attendance Report" (PDF). Themed Entertainment Association. pp. 68–73. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  2. 1 2 "About the Museum". Ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 16 September 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  3. ↑ "2018 Financial Statements" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  4. 1 2 "Press Kit". Ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 5 July 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  5. ↑ Lichtblau, Eric. "The Holocaust Just Got More Shocking." The New York Times. March 3, 2013.
  6. ↑ "President's Commission on the Holocaust Appointment of the Membership and Advisers to the Commission. | The American Presidency Project". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Archived from the original on 29 August 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  7. ↑ "President's Commission on the Holocaust". Ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 3 September 2013.
  8. ↑ "History of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum". Secure.ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 27 August 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  9. ↑ Haskell, Dave (26 July 2002). "Jury convicts white supremacists". UPI . Archived from the original on 13 December 2011. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
  10. ↑ Wilgoren, Debbi; Branigin, William (10 June 2009). "2 People Shot at U.S. Holocaust Museum". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on 26 August 2009. Retrieved 11 June 2009.
  11. ↑ Associated Press January 6, 2010, 2:03 p.m. (6 January 2010). "LA Times article on von Brunn's death". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on 27 August 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ "Art and Architecture". Ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  13. ↑ "The Architecture of the Holocaust". Xroads.virginia.edu. 16 October 1985. Archived from the original on 5 March 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  14. ↑ Pei, Cobb, Freed and Partners. Karl Kaufman was the Director of Architecture. Pcfandp.com Archived 13 January 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ "Remarks by Joel Geiderman and Memorial Candle Lighting — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum". www.ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 26 September 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  16. ↑ "What's Inside". Ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 11 May 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  17. ↑ "Plan a Visit". Ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 6 March 2007. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  18. ↑ Baer, Marc D. (2020). Sultanic Saviors and Tolerant Turks: Writing Ottoman Jewish History, Denying the Armenian Genocide. Indiana University Press. pp. 124, 126, 132. ISBN   978-0-253-04542-3. Astonishingly, President Jimmy Carter's Jewish aide, Stuart Eizenstat, reported that Turkish ambassador Şükrü Elekdağ (in office 1979–1989) told him that although Turkey had treated its Jews well for centuries and had taken in Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, if the Armenian genocide were included in the new museum, "Turkey could no longer guarantee the safety of the Jews in Turkey." Elekdağ was also reported making a similar comment to another member of the Holocaust Memorial Museum Committee... With the opening of the new United States Holocaust Memorial and Museum in 1993, Turkey worked together with Israel and a number of major American Jewish organizations to ensure that the Armenian genocide would not be mentioned in the permanent exhibition. One month before its opening, the Turkish chief rabbi sent a fax to the museum's directors criticizing even minimal mention of Armenians, demanding that the museum include Turkish ambassadors in Europe who had allegedly rescued Jews from the Holocaust. Kamhi would later boast about it in his autobiography: "As Kâmuran Gürün mentions in his memoirs, we worked to ensure that no other claims would be included in the museum." Accordingly, "Our Jewish community Presidents Jak Veissid and Naim Güleryüz and I, as well as Nedim Yahya and many other community members worked tirelessly on this issue." And "with the help of certain Israeli and American Jewish organizations, we were able to prevent the inclusion of the 'so-called Armenian genocide' in the Washington Holocaust Museum."
  19. ↑ "Genocide Seminar, Opposed by Israel, Opens". The New York Times. 22 June 1982. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2020.
  20. ↑ "Exhibitions". Ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 4 November 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  21. ↑ "US Holocaust Memorial Museum Marks First Anniversary of the Loss of Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum". www.ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  22. ↑ "Stephen Tyrone Johns Summer Youth Leadership Program — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum". www.ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  23. ↑ Rothstein, Edward (21 April 2006). "The Anti-Semitic Hoax That Refuses to Die". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  24. ↑ "Collections". Ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  25. ↑ "Double-door railroad freight car with brakeman's cabin of the type used to transport victims throughout the Nazi camp system". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  26. ↑ "Railroad Car Used to Deport Jews is Donated by Poland to Museum". Jewish Telegraph Agency. 20 March 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  27. ↑ "Form 990 (2014)" (PDF). United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 October 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  28. ↑ "Annual Report, 2015-16" (PDF). United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 February 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2017.
  29. ↑ "About the Center". Ushmm.org. 22 March 2001. Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  30. ↑ "About the Committee on Conscience". Ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  31. ↑ "Professional Development". Ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 11 May 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  32. ↑ "Law Enforcement and Society". Ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 19 January 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  33. ↑ JTA Staff (5 June 2017). "First Two Volumes of 'Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos' Released". The Jerusalem Post . Archived from the original on 15 June 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  34. ↑ Hesse, Monica (4 June 2009). "U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Encyclopedia on Concentration Camps". Washington Post . Archived from the original on 29 December 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  35. ↑ Silver, Marc (10 April 2010). "Creating a New Map of the Holocaust". National Geographic . Archived from the original on 15 April 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  36. ↑ "Online Exhibitions". Ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 4 November 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  37. ↑ "Holocaust Encyclopedia". Ushmm.org. 12 June 1929. Archived from the original on 23 February 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  38. ↑ "USHMM@iTunes". Ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  39. ↑ "USHMM Channel". Youtube.com. Archived from the original on 7 December 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  40. ↑ "Facebook United States Holocaust Memorial Museum". Facebook.com. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  41. ↑ HolocaustMuseum. "HolocaustMuseum". Twitter.com. Archived from the original on 8 July 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  42. ↑ "United States Holocaust Memorial Museum". Archived from the original on 7 October 2013. Retrieved 1 November 2009.
  43. ↑ "Mapping Initiatives". Ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  44. ↑ "The Elie Wiesel Award". Archived from the original on 8 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  45. ↑ "Museum Rescinds Award to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi". 6 March 2018. Archived from the original on 7 March 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
  46. ↑ "German Chancellor Merkel to Receive Museum's 2017 Elie Wiesel Award". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum . 23 March 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2024.
  47. ↑ "Ambassador Eizenstat, DOJ Special Investigations Office to Receive Museum's 2021 Elie Wiesel Award" (Press release). United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 24 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  48. ↑ "New Survey by Claims Conference Finds Significant Lack of Holocaust Knowledge in the United States". Claims Conference. 2018. Archived from the original on 12 April 2018.
    Astor, Maggie (12 April 2018). "Holocaust Is Fading From Memory, Survey Finds". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 18 April 2018.
  49. 1 2 3 "United States Holocaust Memorial Museum". Encyclopaedia Judaica. Gale. 2007. HighBeam Research. 14 Aprile 2013
  50. ↑ "United States Holocaust Memorial Council (Board of Trustees) — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum". www.ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  51. ↑ "Howard M. Lorber — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum". www.ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 21 May 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  52. ↑ "Amb. Stuart Eizenstat Appointed Museum Chairman". www.ushmm.org. 26 January 2022. Archived from the original on 31 December 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  53. ↑ House, The White (26 January 2022). "President Biden Announces Appointees for the United States Holocaust Memorial Council". The White House. Archived from the original on 31 December 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  54. ↑ "Sara J. Bloomfield — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum". www.ushmm.org. Archived from the original on 21 May 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  55. ↑ Deb, Sopan; Fisher, Max (17 September 2017). "The Holocaust Museum Sought Lessons on Syria. What It Got Was a Political Backlash". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 20 June 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  56. ↑ "Holocaust Museum Pulls Study Absolving Obama Administration for Inaction in Face of Syrian Genocide". Tablet Magazine. Archived from the original on 25 September 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  57. ↑ Stolberg, Cheryl Gay (18 June 2019). "Ocasio-Cortez Calls Migrant Detention Centers 'Concentration Camps,' Eliciting Backlash". The New York Times. New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  58. ↑ "Statement Regarding the Museum's Position on Holocaust Analogies". U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. 24 June 2019. Archived from the original on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  59. ↑ "An Open Letter to the Director of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum". New York Review of Books. 1 July 2019. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2020.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.