REMEMBERING THE HOLOCAUST

Dedication Ceremony for the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust

Los Angeles - In 1961 a group of Holocaust survivors were brought together by fate at Hollywood High School while learning to speak English. They shared their stories and discovered that each of them had different artifacts from the Holocaust era. They decided that the special relics needed a permanent home where they could be safely displayed and preserved. Together they founded the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.

Now, after fifty years and four different locations, the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum has found a permanent home at Pan Pacific Park, a City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks facility. The new building is located next to the Martyrs Memorial and is partially built underground to preserve the green parkland.

The Department of Recreation and Parks General Manager Jon Kirk Mukri along with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Councilmembers Tom LaBonge, Eric Garcetti and Paul Koretz, Supervisor Zev Yaroslovsky, Assemblymember Mike Feuer and a group of Holocaust survivors proudly dedicated and opened the new Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust on Thursday, October 14, 2010.

The $18 million structure was created by award-winning architect, Hagy Belzberg. The new museum building has one of the largest green roofs in California and mixes technology advanced exhibits and authentic artifacts. The high-tech design has already received the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commission Design Honor Award and the Green Building Design Award.

The museum presents the history of the Holocaust as objectively as possible by displaying original artifacts. The museum's architecture and layout play significant roles in visitors' experiences. The rooms descend and decrease in light as they progress towards the darkest part of history. A powerful and affecting interactive Memory Pool in The World That Was will help build understanding of Jewish life throughout Europe prior to World War II. Other displays include a touch-screen computer table with 25,000 floating photographs and a testimonial wall with 85 video screens that allow visitors to hear survivor stories.

The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust is the only Los Angeles institution with a sole focus on the events of the Holocaust and FREE admission. Museum attendance is expected to increase to 50,000 visitors per year from the 13,000 average of previous years.

The new museum is located at 100 South The Grove Drive in Los Angeles 90036. For more information visit http://www.lamoth.org/ or call (323) 651-3704.

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