(New York, NY)— The following is a statement issued by Chairman of the Board Bruce Ratner and President and CEO Jack Kliger on behalf of New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in response to today’s jury verdict:

“While today’s verdict from the jury in Virginia was mixed, it delivered on its most important message, affirming what was long apparent to all who witnessed, or saw recordings from, the 2017 Charlottesville rally: White nationalist organizers were responsible for the day’s violence and the injuries and trauma that resulted.

As a Holocaust memorial museum, our daily work is to warn visitors of this most simple fact: Hatred breeds violence. Bigotry endangers the safety of us all, but none more so than its intended targets, along with those brave enough to stand up and resist, like the Charlottesville counterprotestors and plaintiffs who came to great harm that day.

It was our honor to host the lawsuit’s lead attorneys, Roberta Kaplan and Karen Dunn, and Integrity First for America’s Amy Spitalnick at our Museum in 2018 and to continue providing a platform for discussion of these issues across multiple programs we have hosted since. We remain resolute in our mission to educate on the dangers of hate.”

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 almost 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.

The Museum’s current offerings include Boris Lurie: Nothing To Do But To Try, a first of its kind exhibition on the 20th century artist and Holocaust survivor on view through April 29, 2022, and Tovah Feldshuh in Becoming Dr. Ruth, a limited engagement through January 2, 2022.

The Museum receives general operating support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts.