The Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is located in the Battery Park City neighborhood of New York. It is dedicated to the history, culture, and traditions of the Jewish people, as well as to the memory of the six million Jews who died during the Holocaust.
What makes the museum special is that it tells the story not only of the Holocaust, but also of Jewish communities before, during, and after World War II. Through historical artifacts, photographs, documents, and survivors’ testimonies, visitors learn about Jewish traditions, everyday life, cultural heritage, and the personal stories of individuals.
The building’s hexagonal shape and tiered roof are meant to evoke the Star of David and the six million Holocaust victims. The museum therefore serves as a historical exhibition, an educational center, and a memorial dedicated to preserving the memory of this tragedy for future generations.
Interesting Facts About the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York
- The building’s shape recalls the Star of David and commemorates the six million Jews who died during the Holocaust.
- The museum’s collection contains more than 45,000 objects, including family photographs, letters, documents, religious artifacts, and survivors’ testimonies. Together, they tell the story of Jewish communities before, during, and after the Holocaust.
- In 2003, the Garden of Stones, an installation by artist Andy Goldsworthy, opened next to the museum. Trees grow among large boulders, symbolizing life and renewal.
- Visitors can learn about people who helped save Jews during the Holocaust. One exhibition focuses on Denmark, where, in 1943, local residents helped most of the country’s Jewish population escape Nazi persecution.
- Visitors can ask questions of Holocaust survivors and receive answers through prerecorded videos.
- The museum also houses a Jewish genealogy center, where visitors can search for information about their ancestors and explore their family history.
- Admission is free on Thursdays from 4 to 8 p.m.
Founding of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York
The idea of creating a museum devoted to Jewish heritage emerged soon after World War II, but it struggled to gain support for decades. Interest revived after the Six-Day War in 1967, as the American Jewish community renewed its commitment to preserving the memory of the Holocaust.
Key figures in the museum’s eventual creation included U.S. President Jimmy Carter and New York City Mayor Ed Koch, who in 1981 established the New York City Holocaust Commission.
Initially, the museum was planned for the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, but financial challenges, political complications, and the 1987 stock market crash delayed construction. Eventually, a new site was chosen in Battery Park City.
The museum officially opened on September 15, 1997. Its first director was David Altshuler, with Dr. Jud Newborn serving as chief historian and helping to shape the concept and content of the core exhibition.
The Museum of Jewish Heritage has occasionally found itself at the center of public attention. In 2021, during the U.S. Capitol riot, a Confederate flag — a symbol in America often associated with racism, slavery, and white supremacy — was hung on the museum’s door.
The act was widely condemned as a gesture of hate and intimidation, especially against an institution dedicated to the memory of Holocaust victims and Jewish history. The NYPD opened a hate crime investigation, but the perpetrator was never identified.
Architecture of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York
The museum offers views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, the gateway through which millions of immigrants arrived in the United States, including Jewish families fleeing persecution in Europe. The building was designed by architect Kevin Roche, a recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
The building’s most distinctive features are its hexagonal shape and tiered roof, which consists of six levels and rises approximately 26 meters (85 feet). Its design is based on the symbolism of the number six: the shape evokes the Star of David, while the six roof levels commemorate the six million Jews who died during the Holocaust. From a distance, the building resembles a pyramid. Its restrained, austere appearance, with few decorative elements, reflects the museum’s role as a memorial.
The main building houses the museum’s principal exhibition galleries. The exhibits are arranged across three floors and introduce visitors to Jewish life before the Holocaust, recount the tragedy itself, and show how Jewish communities rebuilt their lives after the war. Moving through the building thus becomes a journey from life before the catastrophe to renewal and rebirth.
In 2003, the museum expanded with the opening of the Robert Morgenthau Wing. Unlike the imposing main building, the addition has a lighter, more contemporary appearance. It houses additional exhibition spaces, a theater, classrooms, and offices. The two buildings are connected, but their architectural styles are noticeably different: the main structure emphasizes remembrance, while the new wing also serves as a space for educational programs and cultural events.
Next to the Morgenthau Wing is the Garden of Stones, created by British artist Andy Goldsworthy in collaboration with Holocaust survivors. It consists of 18 boulders, each with a young oak tree growing in a hollow. The contrast between the heavy stone and the living trees symbolizes resilience, the continuation of life, and renewal. The number 18 also has special significance: in Jewish tradition, it is associated with the Hebrew word chai, meaning “life.”
Exhibitions at the Museum of Jewish Heritage
In 2022, the museum updated its main permanent exhibition, The Holocaust: What Hate Can Do. It explores how prejudice, propaganda, and hatred gradually led to one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century. Rather than focusing solely on dates and statistics, the exhibition tells the story through the lives of individuals, using their photographs, letters, documents, and personal belongings.
The exhibition covers approximately 1,100 square meters and features more than 700 objects from the museum’s collection. These include family photographs, clothing, letters, and everyday items that people managed to preserve during the war. Many of the objects belonged to Holocaust survivors who later settled in New York. Through these personal stories, visitors learn not only about persecution and loss, but also about Jewish life before the war and the challenges survivors faced as they tried to rebuild their lives afterward.
Another unusual feature is Survivor Stories: An Interactive Dialogue. This interactive exhibition allows visitors to ask questions of Holocaust survivors and receive answers through video recordings. To create it, participants were filmed answering hundreds of questions about their childhoods, experiences during the war, and lives afterward. When a visitor asks a question, the system selects a relevant response from the recordings, creating the impression of a real conversation. This technology helps preserve survivors’ testimonies and pass their stories on to future generations, even when meeting eyewitnesses in person is no longer possible.
In addition to the permanent exhibition, the museum hosts temporary exhibitions dedicated to specific events and individuals connected to the Holocaust. It also runs Heritage Testimonies, a program in which the children and grandchildren of survivors share their family stories. In this way, the museum preserves not only historical documents and objects, but also personal memories passed down from one generation to the next.
