Los Angeles has a sizeable Jewish community. Therefore, it makes sense to build a Holocaust museum to commemorate the 6 million Jews who got murdered by the Nazis and educate society against hatred and racism.
LAMOTH, the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, was built by Holocaust survivors in 1961. In 2010 they moved to the current building near the Grove and the Old Farmers Market.
The displays have a chronological order, from the Jewish world before the Holocaust, through the rising of the Nazis to power in Germany, and then the persecution of Jews, Ghettos, extermination, and the last two rooms dealing with resistance, the response of the nations and the Jews life after liberation.
Most of the written content is on the six black columns standing outside the museum entrance. The visitors have to use an audio guide inside the museum to understand the exhibitions, consisting of primary images.
As the loyal readers of this blog already know, I have a particular interest in the Holocaust. I used to guide Israeli Students in their journey to Poland to visit the extermination camps and ghettos. I also recorded an album with my band El Hameshorer, dedicated to the poems of Wladyslaw Szlengel from Warsaw Ghetto. However, I found the newspaper's display most interesting – To see how this enormous tragedy got such minor headlines in Los Angeles. Unbelievable.
Admission is free.
