Virginia Holocaust Museum
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The Virginia Holocaust Museum opened its doors at the current location (2000 E. Cary Street, Richmond, VA 23223) in April 2003. There are currently 27 exhibits, with more in the planning. In the first year of operation, over 10,000 visitors toured the museum. People came from almost every state in the U.S., as well as countries in Europe, Asia and South America. The museum has hundreds of school groups visit the museum each year.
[edit] Exhibits
As you enter the Museum, you are transported back in time. You will experience the atmosphere of Dachau Concentration Camp. You have two options as a free tourist of the museum: you can either walk through with a tour book, or you can wear the head set and be guided by the voice of the Holocaust survivor, Jay Ipson. Listening to the tone and heartfelt message while walking through, you get a true feeling for the impact this event had on his life. As you enter the city of Frankfurt, Germany, you will hear on the radio the announcement of "Kristallnacht" in a dining room. You will enter a ghetto which you will "escape" from to a farm in Lithuania where you have the option to crawl through a tunnel to the "hiding place". This leads the focus to the experience of the Holocaust victims, particularly the life of the Ipson family who had to take that way. Jay Ipson, who was only six years old when his family was forced into Kovno Ghetto, is now the Executive Director of the museum. Further on you will be "traveling" in a cattle car, you will enter the "Final Solution": a shower/gas chamber and walk through a crematory. You will also see the ship Exodus 1947. This is the ship that launched a nation, the nation known as Israel. The Survivor's Room and the Cattle Car are places for meditation and reflection. There is also a synagogue which is a replicate of the famous choral synagogue in Lithuania. With the tour, programs, lectures, films and other events, the museum strives to educate the public of the importance of tolerance towards all, whether it is religion, nationality, race, sex or creed. Many of the emphasized stories throughout are about the Holocaust survivors that reside or had resided in Richmond.
The Virginia Holocaust Museum is one of many organizations worldwide where young Austrians can serve their Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service (Gedenkdienst). This museum is well worth the visit, more than once.
