“In the wake of alarming studies that point to the ways in which collective Holocaust memory is disappearing, the Museum is increasingly focused on ensuring that visitors not only walk through the doors of our lower Manhattan home, but also leave with a more concrete and expansive understanding of the Holocaust,” said Bruce C. Ratner, Chairman of the Museum’s Board of Trustees.
“Auschwitz did not start with the gas chambers. Hatred does not happen overnight: it builds up slowly among people. When we had the vision to create the exhibition we conceived its narrative as an opportunity to better understand how such a place could come to exist, and as warning of where hatred can take us to,” said Luis Ferreiro, Director of Musealia and the exhibition project.
“All through the exhibition there are stories—stories about individuals and families, stories about communities and organizations, stories about ideologies that teach people to hate, and responses that reveal compassion and love. There are stories of victims, perpetrators, and bystanders, stories with heroes and villains—stories that all merge into an epic story of a continent marked by war and genocide,” said Chief Curator Dr. Robert Jan van Pelt.
The exhibition features artifacts and materials on loan from more than 20 institutions and private collections around the world. In addition to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust from where most of the objects come, participating institutions include Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, Auschwitz Jewish Center in Oświęcim, the Memorial and Museum Sachsenhausen in Oranienburg, and the Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide in London.
GENERAL INFORMATION & OPENING HOURS & TICKETS are already available at the website:
a stripe uniform of an Auschwitz prisoner prepared to be sent to the exhibition. Photo: Marek Lach