NYC’s Museum of Jewish Heritage to light facade, host events for Holocaust Remembrance Day
The museum launched Collections Online, a new digital portal providing free public access to more than 10,000 digitized artifacts from its permanent collection. Photo credit: Museum of Jewish Heritage
For International Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorated on January 27 to mark the liberation of Auschwitz, the Museum of Jewish Heritage will illuminate its facade in vibrant yellow and host a weeklong series of programs. The Battery Park City museum will be symbolically lit on Tuesday, anchoring exhibitions and events running from Sunday, January 25, through Thursday, January 29. The museum has honored the day annually since 1997, and this year’s programming reflects the urgency of preserving the stories of Holocaust survivors as their generation continues to dwindle.
As part of the annual observance, the museum has marked Holocaust Remembrance Day with talks, film screenings, discussions, concerts, and specially curated tours and exhibitions. The event commemorates the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, and all victims of Nazism.
January data from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany estimates that fewer than 200,000 Holocaust survivors are still living.
The commemoration coincides with the launch of Collections Online, a new digital portal providing free public access to more than 10,000 digitized artifacts from the museum’s permanent collection.
In addition to the searchable database, the portal features two special curated experiences: a spotlight on recent acquisitions exploring themes of immigration, displacement, trauma, and renewal; and a room-by-room, object-focused walkthrough of the museum’s core exhibition “The Holocaust: What Hate Can Do.”
“Our mission is to remember and honor the victims of Nazism and the Holocaust every day,” Joshua Mack, senior vice president of marketing and communications at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, said.
“Sharing the lessons of the Holocaust is central to our work, especially as the number of living survivors continues to diminish. On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the world joins us in reflecting on this history and its continued relevance.”
The week of programming includes film screenings, book talks, and educational events, concluding with a special Young Friends Dinner.
Starting Tuesday, the waterfront museum’s facade will be illuminated in vibrant yellow. The display is presented in partnership with Light Up America Yellow, a nationwide coalition organizing lighting events nationwide to honor the victims of the Holocaust and Nazism.
On Wednesday, a virtual talk will explore a famous 1671 oil portrait of Süßkind Stern, one of the earliest known depictions of a German Jew. Stern is an ancestor of both Anne Frank and Ralph Stern, who will present the history of the painting during the webinar.
Also on Wednesday, the museum will live-stream its Jewish Heritage tour of London, exploring the many layers of Jewish life that have shaped the city over centuries. The program highlights how Jewish communities established traditions, institutions, and daily rhythms in a constantly evolving urban landscape.
On Thursday, the Young Friends of the Museum will host an intimate dinner for early- and mid-career professionals ages 21 to 45. The evening will include testimony from a Holocaust survivor affiliated with the museum’s Speakers Bureau.
That same day, the museum will host two film screenings. The first film, “Defiant Requiem,” tells the stories of Terezín, an infamous Nazi prison that held thousands of scholars, performers, musicians, writers, and philosophers. The prison’s predominantly Jewish occupants turned to the arts not only as entertainment but also as a vital means of coping with the atrocities.
The second film, “Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire,” explores the life of the Buchenwald survivor. Drawing on personal archives, original interviews, and hand-painted animation, the film highlights Wiesel’s experiences as a survivor, writer, teacher, and public figure.
Find out more about the museum’s Holocaust Remembrance Day programming here.
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