By Samuel Asher, Executive Director, Virginia Holocaust Museum
Get ready for Purim on March 23rd this year!
The sweet aroma of freshly baked Hamantaschen always reminds me of my mother’s kitchen. Although I’m not an expert cook, I’m excited to try my hand at making Hamantaschen this year with a recipe I found in the Honey Cake & Latkes: Recipes from the Old World by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Survivors cookbook, which is available on Amazon and in our newly renovated Museum Bookstore.
If you haven’t visited the Museum in a while, now is the perfect time to stop by and check out our new Museum Shop and Bookstore.
We have hundreds of wonderful books for readers of all levels and interests in the bookstore. And in our new Museum Shop, you will find the best selection of Judaica in town!
Speaking of new, we just opened a new exhibit about the Wannsee Conference, which was a turning point in the Nazis’ policy toward Jews. The conference, held on January 20, 1942, was where the plan for the “final solution” was mapped out.
The exhibit features photos and historical documents that tell the story of this important meeting.
We are ready to begin construction on our Dimensions in Testimony theater that will feature Holocaust Survivor Halina Zimm. In the theater, visitors will be able to ask direct questions to Halina. Please follow us on social media for updates on construction.
School groups are touring the Museum in large numbers this spring, and attendance is expected to exceed pre-Covid levels. It’s encouraging to see so many young people eager to learn about the Holocaust and how to fight antisemitism.
We are thrilled to announce two professional development workshops for educators in March:
- The first workshop, conducted by Centropa, is titled “When Civil Society Stands Up – Sephardic Jews, the Holocaust, and the Bosnian War,” and will take place on March 7th. In this workshop, teachers will have the opportunity to learn about the history of Sephardic Jews in the Balkans, the Holocaust, and two inspiring stories of when civil society took a stand during times of war.
- The second workshop, titled Antisemitism – Understanding and Countering this Hatred Today, was created by the ADL’s Echoes & Reflections department and will take place on March 20th.
In this program, educators will learn how to help students understand that antisemitism did not begin or end with the Holocaust.
They will also learn how to help their students recognize antisemitism today and stand up to antisemitism and other forms of hate. The best part is that both workshops are completely free!
For updates on these and all the other programs coming up at the Museum, please visit the “Events” tab on our website – https://www.vaholocaust.org/events-grid/.
The submissions for our 2024 Student Visual Arts contest will remain open until March 31st, allowing students from 6th to 12th grade to showcase their artwork depicting how the stories of local survivors inspire them. The winners will be announced during our Yom HaShoah Commemoration.
To learn more about the contest and download the necessary materials, please visit: https://bit.ly/3StDUIf.
Our commemoration for Yom HaShoah will take place on May 5th this year.
We are honored to have Stuart Eizenstat, an American diplomat and attorney, as our keynote speaker.
Ambassador Eizenstat serves as Chair of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. He previously served as the United States Ambassador to the European Union from 1993 to 1996 and as the United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001.
To register for the Yom HaShoah commemoration event, visit https://www.vaholocaust.org/yom-hashoah-2024-registration/.
