Holocaust Museum LA

Established in 1961, Holocaust Museum LA is one of the oldest establishments in the United States dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of the Holocaust. The museum was also the first to be established by Holocaust survivors. The museum building, designed by architect Hagy Belberg, was completed in 2010 thanks to donors and supporters. In addition to exhibits drawn from a vast collection of artifacts, the museum offers exhibits that blend technology and oral history to allow visitors to experience conversations with Holocaust survivors. The museum also offers educational programs for youth and intergenerational conversations with survivors. In addition to the museum galleries, residents and visitors can experience the Goldrich Family Foundation Children’s Memorial and the outdoor Martyrs Memorial.

The history of the museum begins in the 1960s when a group of survivors of the Holocaust realized they each had photographs and other artifacts that needed to be preserved, in addition to stories they wanted to share for generations to come. Randy Schoenberg, Dr. Vladmir Melamed, and Joanna Chenn helped lead the effort to turn this idea into a museum that has won multiple awards for programs, exhibits, and architectural design. Implementing features such as lower ceilings and darkened rooms for certain parts of the museum, architecture and artifacts work together to offer a sense of tragedy while interpretive signs help to convey the scope of the Holocaust.

Highlights of the museum include an exhibition called Tree of Testimony that offers around 70 screens that display over 50,000 survivors sharing their memories of life before, during, and after World War II. Museum patrons can use headphones to listen to any of the survivor stories while the screens rotate different between survivors to help convey the scope of the Holocaust.

“Holocaust Museum La.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Nov. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_Museum_LA. 

“Los Angeles.” Holocaust Museum LA, https://www.holocaustmuseumla.org/. 

“Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust Changes Its Name, Putting History First.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 28 Aug. 2020, https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2020-08-28/los-angeles-museum-of-the-holocaust-changes-its-name-putting-history-first.