The Holocaust Centre Competitors

A living memorial to the Holocaust, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum inspires citizens and leaders worldwide to confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity. With unique power and authenticity, the Museum teaches millions of people each year about the dangers of unchecked hatred and the need to prevent genocide. And we encourage them to act, cultivating a sense of moral responsibility among our citizens so that they will respond to the monumental challenges that confront our world. Today we face an alarming rise in Holocaust denial and antisemitism—even in the very lands where the Holocaust happened—as well as genocide and threats of genocide in other parts of the world. All of this when we are soon approaching a time when Holocaust survivors and other eyewitnesses will no longer be alive. For more information, please visit http://www.ushmm.org/museum.

As the Jewish people’s living memorial to the Holocaust, Yad Vashem safeguards the memory of the past and imparts its meaning for future generations. Established in 1953, as the world center for documentation, research, education and commemoration of the Holocaust, Yad Vashem is today a dynamic and vital place of intergenerational and international encounter. For over half a century, Yad Vashem has been committed to four pillars of remembrance: Commemoration: Yad Vashem is dedicated to commemorating the six million Jews murdered by the Germans and their collaborators, as well as the numerous Jewish communities destroyed during the Shoah, so that they will have an eternal remembrance. Documentation: The Yad Vashem Archives house the largest collection of Holocaust documentation in the world. The 125 million pages of documentary evidence, films, and 420,000 photographs, as well as more than 100,000 survivor testimonies stand as indisputable proof of the genocide and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Nazis and their collaborators. Research: Since its establishment, one of Yad Vashem’s priorities has been to research the Holocaust and to distribute publications on the subject. Education: The International School for Holocaust Studies conducts educational programs and produces educational materials for a variety of target populations and educational organizations in Israel and abroad.

Holocaust Museum Houston is dedicated to educating people about the Holocaust, remembering the 6 million Jews and other innocent victims and honoring the survivors' legacy. Using the lessons of the Holocaust and other genocides, we teach the dangers of hatred, prejudice and apathy. Charged with educating students and the public about the dangers of prejudice and hatred in society, Holocaust Museum Houston opened its doors in March of 1996. Since that time, impassioned notes, poems, artwork and other gifts, from school children and adults alike, attest to the life-changing thoughts generated by just one visit to this unique facility. The Permanent Exhibition is called “Bearing Witness: A Community Remembers,” and it focuses on the stories of Holocaust survivors living in the Houston metropolitan area. A tour begins with a look at life before the Holocaust. Visitors then see the beginnings of Nazism and Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. The displays progress through the disruption of normal life, to segregation, to imprisonment in concentration camps and finally to extermination. The roles of collaborators, by-standers, rescuers and liberators are portrayed through artifacts, film reels, photographs, and text panels. The main exhibit ends with the moving short films “Voices” and “Voices II,” which alternate daily in the 100-seat theater. These films are compilations of verbal testimony from area survivors.