The Melbourne Holocaust Museum (MHM) (formerly known as the Jewish Holocaust Centre) was founded in

Elsternwick Elsternwick is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 9 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Glen Eira local government area. Elsternwick recorded a population of 10,887 at the 2021 ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, in 1984 by

Holocaust survivors Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and Axis powers, its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no unive ...

. It is currently Australia’s largest institution dedicated to Holocaust education, research & remembrance. Its mission is to commemorate the six million

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

s murdered by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

between 1933 and 1945. The museum was founded without significant public or private funds and thus has always had to rely on support from Holocaust survivors, their relatives, volunteers and philanthropists. It is thanks to the unique contribution of Melbourne's Holocaust survivors that the JHC has become a vibrant institution. The museum contains a specialist Holocaust library, a collection of over 1300 survivor video testimonials as well as thousands of original documents, photos, artworks and objects from the Holocaust period. Miriam Fink was a member of the centre's original organising committee and together with her husband Leo, she established the Leo and Mina Fink Fund, which enabled the purchase of the Centre's building. In 2019, the museum began a major redevelopment project with Kerstin Thompson Architects and McCorkell Constructions, due to reopen in late 2022. In 2022, ahead of their anticipated reopening, they also updated their name to th
Melbourne Holocaust Museum
with a fresh logo. Jewish_Museum_of_Australia

The purpose of the MHM is to fight

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

and to encourage harmony within the community. It attempts to reach these goals by providing information about the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

through its permanent exhibition and periodic temporary exhibitions. The main focus lies on the younger generation, and over 21,000 students visit the museum every year and participate in a powerful education program. In 2011 the museum was the recipient of the MAGNA Best Small Museum award by

Museums Australia The Australian Museums and Galleries Association (AMaGA), formerly Museums Galleries Australia and Museums Australia, is the national professional organisation and peak council for museums and public art galleries in Australia. It advocates for ...

, following a redesign of the permanent exhibition. Apart from guided tours through the museum, which are often led by Holocaust survivors, the MHM offers adult education programs, teacher training and also hosts lectures which are open to the public. Furthermore, the MHM provides assistance for Holocaust Survivors in cooperation with JewishCare, a Jewish welfare organization. Since 2008 Austrian volunteers from the

Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service Gedenkdienst is the concept of facing and taking responsibility for the darkest chapters of one's own country's history while ideally being financially supported by one's own country's government to do so. Founded in Austria in 1992 by Andreas Ma ...

are able to work for 10–12 months in the MHM alternatively to compulsory military service or civilian service in Austria. Their work includes, among other things, the translation of documents, the preparation of exhibitions, working in the library and cataloguing of photographs.

Sources/ External links

Jewish Holocaust Centre

Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service

Austrian Service Abroad

References

{{Jews and Judaism in Australia Holocaust museums Jews and Judaism in Melbourne Museums in Melbourne 1984 establishments in Australia

See also

Sources/ External links

References