Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust

Museum Mission

The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is New York’s contribution to the global responsibility to never forget. The Museum is committed to the crucial mission of educating diverse visitors about Jewish life before, during, and after the Holocaust.

As a place of memory, the Museum enables Holocaust survivors to speak through recorded testimony and draws on rich collections to illuminate Jewish history and experience. As a public history institution, it offers intellectually rigorous and engaging exhibitions, programs, and educational resources.

The Museum protects the historical record and promotes understanding of Jewish heritage. It mobilizes memory to teach the dangers of intolerance and challenges visitors—including more than 60,000 schoolchildren a year—to let the painful lessons of the past guide them to envision a world worthy of their futures.

Location and Cultural Landscape

Anchoring the southernmost tip of Manhattan, the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust completes the cultural and educational landscape it shares with the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Across the water, Lady Liberty lifts her lamp and Ellis Island marks the gateway through which millions flowed into this country seeking refuge. The Museum’s meaningful location inspires its mission.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage is a public, American institution with strong Jewish roots. The Core building’s six-sided shape and six-tiered, louvered roof rising 85 feet in the air are reminders of the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. They are also reminiscent of the six-pointed Star of David, symbolizing the Museum’s commitment to representing Jewish life and culture as it has endured and evolved.

To the north of the Museum, the buildings of the new World Trade Center gleam—reminders, etched into the New York City skyline, of a collective responsibility to remember and renew.

Plan Your School Visit

All New York City public and charter school visits are free of charge but must be reserved in advance.

A Note on Museum History

Dr. Yaffa Eliach’s groundbreaking Center for Holocaust Studies, Documentation and Research merged with the Museum of Jewish Heritage in 1990. The Museum was still a work-in-progress and would not open its doors to the public until 1997. Today, the results of its early merge with the Center for Holocaust Studies—and the impact of Dr. Eliach’s collection—can still be seen throughout our institution. The testimonies, artifacts, and archival materials that Dr. Eliach so carefully collected form the basis of much of what we present to the public, researchers, and students who visit us each year.

Credits

The Museum of Jewish Heritage Holocaust Curriculum is made possible through the generosity of The Molly Blank Fund of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. Major support has been provided by The Myron and Alayne Meilman Family Foundation in memory of Alayne Meilman, and the Mildred and Alvin Caplow Fund of The Leo Rosner Foundation. Additional support has been provided by Young Friends of the Museum, and the Gallery Educator Friends of the Museum Fund.