The Museum of Jewish Heritage New York
"Never Forget".
"That we have memories is important. What to do with them is equally important." -Elie Wiesel.
JUST ACROSS FROM THE STATUE OF LIBERTY IN BATTERY PARK CITY IN MANHATTAN, ON THE EDGE OF THE HUDSON RIVER, THE MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE IN NEW YORK CITY, WAS FOUNDED IN SEPTEMBER 1997 UNDER THE MOTTO, "LEARNING THE PAST, CONFRONTING THE PRESENT, EDUCATING THE FUTURE. "
The Museum of Jewish Heritage - "A Living Memorial to the Holocaust" unique contribution to the world's global responsibility to "Never Forget" today, stands firmly in the institution's strong commitment to preserve History and educate people of all backgrounds and ages about Jewish during the '20s and '21s centuries.
THE MUSEUM
The Museum is an American public institution with strong Jewish roots. As a historic institution, it offers intellectually rigorous and engaging exhibitions, programs, and educational resources, promoting Jewish heritage knowledge and understanding.
Since its opening, almost two million visitors, including more than 50 thousand schoolchildren per year, have passed through its doors to discover, learn, and most important than ever, to remember.
A POWERFUL SYMBOLIC BUILDING
The Museum's main building, designed by Roche-Dinkeloo, is an extraordinary granite 85- foot-tall building topped and protected by a pyramid structure called the "Living Memorial to the Holocaust."
The hexagonal shaped and six-tiered louvered roof reminds the six million Jews perished in the SHO (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.
THE CORE EXHIBITION - COLLECTION -
Taking visitors from the 1880s to the present day, the Museum's Core Exhibition features more than 800 artifacts and 2,000 photographs illustrating Jewish History and highlights personal experiences of global significance. It contains more than 25,000 items relating to modern Jewish History and the Shoa.
Throughout the three floors, organized chronologically is a thematic journey around the themes of Jewish Life a Century Ago, The War Against the Jews, and Jewish Renewal, where Jewish people's voices from all walks of life tell their stories of survival and hope.
Enabling Holocaust survivors to speak through recorded testimony and presenting the Holocaust story through their experience during the tragedy, the Museum becomes a memorial to their heritage, providing a remembrance of the past and the promise of a better future.
The whole third floor represents Jewry after 1945 and includes information on displaced persons, the emergence of the Jewish State, continued anti-Semitism, and a reminder to "Never Forget."
GARDEN OF STONES
A PERMANENT INSTALLATION BY ANDY GOLDSWORTHY
Andy Goldsworthy's Garden of Stones is a living memorial garden. The installation is the artist's first permanent commission in New York City. It opened to the public on September 17, 2003. It is an outdoor space devoted to contemplation and reflection, dedicated to the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust and honoring those who survived. The sculpture, 18 massive stone boulders with holes fire-seared through their centers, are intended to be viewed, contemplated, and cared for by future generations.
This living memorial garden of trees growing from stones was planted by the artist, Holocaust survivors, and their families in 2003. A single planted sapling grows in the hollow within each Stone. As the trees mature, each will become a part of the Stone, its trunk and roots widening and fusing to the base—the artist's metaphor for the tenacity and fragility of life.
This contemplative space, meant to be revisited and experienced differently over time as the garden matures, is visible from almost every Museum floor. The effect of time on humans and nature is richly present in the Garden of Stones.
The Museum also features a virtual exploration of Andy Goldsworthy's Garden of Stones called Timekeeper. Andy Goldsworthy is a British artist, well-known for his use of stones, leaves, wood, and water, among other materials, to create art pieces.
THE EDMOND J. SAFRA HALL
At the 375-seat, state-of-the-art Edmond J. Safra Hall, the Museum offers a full schedule of films, concerts, and panel discussions throughout the year that is consistent with its mission. Past programs have included symposia on the Holocaust, interfaith dialogues, and concerts featuring established and emerging artists.
Over the last few years, the Museum has held day-long symposiums on Darfur with policymakers and leaders on human rights. It has presented performers such as Idan Raichel and David Strathairn. It has also hosted film screenings with actors and directors such as Kirk Douglas, John Turturro, Quentin Tarantino, Claude Lanzmann, and Edward Zwick. Finally, it has explored justice after the Holocaust with experts like Alan Dershowitz, and it has even hosted the revival of a Yiddish operetta, Die Goldene Kale.
MUSEUM AFFILIATES
In 2003, the Museum became affiliated with JewishGen, the leading internet site for Jewish genealogy, which provides free online access to a vast collection of Jewish genealogical records.
In addition to the New York campus, the Museum has also operated the Auschwitz Jewish Center in Oświęcim, Poland, since 2006.
ON VIEW:
"Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away”
The Museum presents the most comprehensive Holocaust exhibition about Auschwitz ever exhibited in North America.
The exhibition was conceived of by Musealia and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and curated by an international panel of experts, including world-renowned scholars Dr. Robert Jan van Pelt, Dr. Michael Berenbaum, and Paul Salmons, in an unprecedented collaboration with historians and curators at the Research Center at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, led by Dr. Piotr Setkiewicz.
"Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away." Features more than 700 original objects and allows visitors to experience artifacts from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, including hundreds of personal items—such as suitcases and eyeglasses and shoes—that belonged to survivors and victims of Auschwitz.
The Museum of Jewish Heritage has incorporated into the exhibition more than 100 rare artifacts from its collection that relay the experience of survivors and liberators who found refuge in the greater New York area.
Opened on May 8 2019, marking VE Day or Victory's anniversary in Europe Day, 1945, when the Allies celebrated Nazi Germany's surrender of its armed forces and the end of World War II, is on view today at the museum.
https://mjhnyc.org/exhibitions/auschwitz/
For Virtual Museum Experiences or More info visit: https://mjhnyc.org/
Comments