Holocaust Museums

This chapter focuses on the creation of Holocaust Museums in the years since the Holocaust. Written by a scholar who also works as a public historian in the creation of museums, it is a review of the diverse museums that have been created; their process of creation; the historical, political, and social issues they confronted in their creation; and how each related to advancements in the field of Holocaust studies as well as in the transformation of memorialization. Because the author was the Project Director overseeing the creation of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and served as the Conceptual Developer of Holocaust museums in Skokie, Illinois, Cincinnati, Ohio, Dallas, Texas, Mexico City, Bucharest, Romania, and at the death camp Belzec, Poland, and is now at work on the Warsaw Ghetto Museum, this chapter also features personal reflections on the evolution of Holocaust museums as we grow distant from the event, which tragically has increasing relevance for 21st-century humanity.