Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust
The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMOTH) is a renowned holocaust museum in Los Angeles, California.
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[edit] History
The Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust is the oldest holocaust museum in the United States of America. In 1961 at Hollywood High School, a group of holocaust survivors taking English as a second language classes got together to talk about their experiences. They began to realize that each of them had a photograph, an artifact, concentration camp uniforms, or other precious primary source objects carried with them from the Holocaust era. They decided that these objects needed a permanent home where they could be displayed safely and in perpetuity. The Survivors also realized that a place was needed to memorialize their dead and help to educate the world so that no one would ever forget. Many of these survivors still remain active on the LAMOTH Board of Directors.
The Museum is always free and open to the public, as the founders never wanted to turn anyone away for want of an entry fee. Over the last 50 years, Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust has created unique programming in the field of holocaust education. LAMOTH was the first museum in the country to create a teacher training program to train educators on how to teach the holocaust in the classroom. The Museum created the first Catholic/Jewish dialogue in California, and the first dialogue between the families of victims and families of perpetrators in the early 1980s. The Museum published the first holocaust curriculum guide in Spanish for bilingual education, and in 2003, curated the first Holocaust exhibit displayed in Cuba. The Museum has hosted groundbreaking exhibits, including The Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals, which LAMOTH was the first in the country to host. Currently the Museum is hosting artifacts from the Auschwitz Museum in Poland, which are on display, as well as the largest collection of Erich Lichtblau-Leskly original ghetto diary collection paintings.
The Museum strongly believes in educating about the Holocaust in order to encourage civic and social responsibility in today's youth. This is done by providing inquiry based tours of the Museum. Students learn about the Holocaust by exploring original historical artifacts and documents. Visiting the Museum also provides the opportunity to meet a first-hand witness of history, a Holocaust survivor.
In October 2010 the Museum opened its new and permanent home in Pan Pacific Park. The new Museum space, with its ground-breaking architecture and innovative exhibits, is visually stunning inside and out. The permanent home includes extensive archives, interactive exhibits, an audio visual room, and opportunities for special events and cultural programing.
The Museum is open M-Th:10am-5pm, Fri:10am-2pm, Sat-Sun:10am-5pm
[edit] Mission statement
Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMOTH) has a twofold mission that has remained constant since its inception in 1961.
- Commemoration: LAMOTH dedicates itself as a primary source institution, one that houses the few precious artifacts that miraculously weathered the war, the ghettos, and ultimately, the death camps.
- Education: LAMOTH is committed to providing free education to the public of Los Angeles and Southern California. We are the only Jewish/Holocaust organization in Los Angeles which guarantees dialogue with an actual Survivor, a living embodiment of history.
[edit] See also
- LAMOTH participates in the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service of Austrian Service Abroad.
[edit] External links
Coordinates: 34°03′50″N 118°22′09″W / 34.063886°N 118.369285°W
