By Samuel Asher
October is shaping up to be a busy and exciting month as we gear up for our Annual Meeting on Oct. 29, during which we will officially inaugurate our new Dimensions in Testimony theater.
For those unfamiliar, Dimensions in Testimony is a groundbreaking initiative from the USC Shoah Foundation that allows individuals to engage in real-time, interactive conversations with pre-recorded video interviews of Holocaust survivors and other witnesses to genocide. This pioneering project blends advanced filming techniques, cutting-edge display technologies, and next-generation natural language processing to create an immersive interactive biography. This ensures that now, and for generations to come, museum visitors, students, and educators can engage in conversational experiences with eyewitnesses to history, learning directly from those who lived it.
The Rule of Law 2024 –Oct. 16, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm
Longtime Jewish community leader Jay M. Weinberg, Esq., will be the Rule of Law Award Recipient. He is a former president of the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond and the Jewish Community Center and was actively involved in leadership roles with many other agencies and organizations in Richmond and Virginia.
Frank Overton Brown, Jr., Esq.
Civility in the Law Award Recipient
The Virginia Law Foundation and the Virginia Holocaust Museum invite you to celebrate the Rule of Law and honor two outstanding citizen lawyers who have devoted their careers to advancing it.
A primary lesson of the Holocaust is the centrality of the Rule of Law in the preservation of civil societies. Established by the Virginia Holocaust Museum’s Nuremberg Courtroom Committee and the Virginia Law Foundation, this program honors individuals whose life and work emulate the highest ideals enshrined in the principles of the Nuremberg Military Tribunal and later the International Court of Justice.
This event is complimentary, but registration is required.
Also happening in October:
- Teacher Workshop – Exploring Black & Jewish Civil Rights Partnerships – Oct. 19, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
In collaboration with the Virginia Museum of History & Culture (VMHC), we are offering an educator workshop focused on the historic partnerships between the Black and Jewish communities during the 20th century.
This workshop includes a tour of VMHC’s newest exhibition, “A Better Life for Their Children: Julius Rosenwald, Booker T. Washington, and the 4,978 Schools That Changed America,” as well as a guided source analysis of paired documents.
The Virginia Holocaust Museum will also highlight the shared experiences, solidarity, and support between Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany and Black Americans facing oppression in the United States.
- The Butterfly Project & Archives Tour –
Oct. 26, 1-3 p.m.
Join us for a behind-the-scenes tour of our archives and participate in The Butterfly Project, an educational and artistic initiative aimed at remembering the 1.5 million children who were killed during the Holocaust.
During this event, participants will explore artifacts from our collections, learn about individual children who perished in the Holocaust, and paint ceramic butterflies in their memory.
These butterflies, symbols of resilience and hope, will be fired by the museum and eventually displayed at the Virginia Holocaust Museum.
VHM Closed Oct. 1-4
Due to construction, the Museum will be closed Oct. 1-4 and reopens Oct. 5
For for on VHM, visit www.vaholocaust.org/
