A Statement from the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust for the High Holidays
(New York, NY) — The following is a statement from Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust President and CEO Jack Kliger and Chairman of the Board Bruce Ratner:
“As we celebrate Rosh Hashanah this weekend, the Museum reaffirms its commitment to Holocaust education as an urgent imperative in the New Year.
Earlier this week, The Claims Conference released its national study on Holocaust knowledge among adults under the age of 40. Their findings in New York, where we are located, were especially appalling:
19% of Gen Z and Millennial New Yorkers believe that Jews caused the Holocaust, 57% confirm having seen Holocaust denial or distortion content on social media or elsewhere online, and 62% report having never visited a Holocaust museum.
A majority believe something like the Holocaust could happen again.
The Museum exists to guard against this very possibility. We tell the stories of those lost and teach these painful events to ensure current and future generations understand this history — and its persistent threat.
This New Year, we blow the shofar to sound the call about the rise of authoritarianism around the world, about racism and antisemitism here at home, and about practices like the anti-immigrant programs that separate children from their families and force sterilization of women — which remind us of what happened during the Holocaust.
We commit to Governor Cuomo’s plan for all New York State students to visit our Museum and will make this possible, physically as well as virtually, with new visiting hours, curricula, online classes, and virtual tours beginning in October.
We will meet the challenges of this New Year with essential lessons from our past.”
About the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
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. The third largest Holocaust museum in the world and the second largest in North America, the Museum of Jewish Heritage anchors the southernmost tip of Manhattan, completing the cultural and educational landscape it shares with the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
The Museum of Jewish Heritage maintains a collection of more than 40,000 artifacts, photographs, documentary films, and survivor testimonies and contains classrooms, a 375-seat theater (Edmond J. Safra Hall), special exhibition galleries, a resource center for educators, and a memorial art installation, Garden of Stones, designed by internationally acclaimed sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. The Museum is the home of National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene.
Currently on view is the acclaimed exhibition Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. This is the most comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the history of Auschwitz and its role in the Holocaust ever presented in North America, bringing together more than 700 original objects and 400 photographs from over 20 institutions and museums around the world.
Also on view are Ordinary Treasures: Highlights from the Museum of Jewish Heritage Collection and Rendering Witness: Holocaust-Era Art as Testimony.
The Museum receives general operating support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts.
For more information, visit mjhnyc.org.