Holocaust Memorial Center
Encyclopedia
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
(near Detroit) was the first institution of its kind in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
History
GroundGroundbreaking
Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are often attended by dignitaries such as politicians and...
was broken for the Holocaust Memorial Center on the property of the Jewish Community Campus at Maple and Drake Roads in West Bloomfield, Michigan December 6, 1981. Almost three years later, in October 1984, the Holocaust Memorial Center was dedicated and opened.
Since then, the HMC has welcomed more than one million visitors from all over the world. Tens of thousands of schoolchildren tour the museum each year and have the unique experience of speaking with a survivor of the Holocaust. The Detroit News has rated the Holocaust Memorial Center as "Michigan's #1 historical tourist attraction."
The Holocaust Memorial Center (HMC), the first free-standing institution of its kind in the United States, is the fulfillment of a dream nurtured by Founder and C.E.O. Rabbi Charles H. Rosenzveig and embraced by his fellow members of Shaarit Haplaytah ("the Remnant," survivors of the Holocaust). It took nearly twenty years of planning and grassroots fundraising before Shaarit Haplaytah was ready to build. Rabbi Charles H. Rosenzveig, a dynamic visionary passed on December 11, 2008 in Royal Oak, Michigan at Beaumont Hospital as the result of heart failure.
The organization opened their new Holocaust Memorial Center at 28123 Orchard Lake Road in Farmington Hills, expanding and adapting the former Old Orchard movie theater. The Center's new design received front-page coverage in the Wall Street Journal, with a headline asking, "Should a Museum Look as Disturbing as What it Portrays?"
The Holocaust Memorial Center is a partner organization of the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service
Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service
The Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service is an alternative to Austria's compulsory national military service / alternative service founded in 1992. Since 1998 it is part of the Austrian Service Abroad...
, making it possible for Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n men to work abroad as an intern instead of their conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
at the military.
The HMC built a new museum on the grounds of the Old Orchard Theatre. The expansion on the new site consists of an expanded Holocaust Center and two new museums:
Museum of European Jewish Heritage
The Museum of European Jewish Heritage provides visitors with a comprehensive view of Jewish life in Europe before the Holocaust,The goal of the Museum of European Jewish Heritage is to educate visitors about the culture and way of life that were destroyed by the perpetrators of the Holocaust. We aim to kindle an awareness of the ethical, moral, spiritual, educational and cultural contributions of the Jewish people, and thereby promote inter-cultural understanding.
Upon entering the museum, visitors will be confronted by a map detailing the contributions of each major community of Jews, organized by country and historical period. Visitors will be faced with the cultural and historical highlights of the various regions, including names, pictures and the nature of individual contributions by authors, artists, communal leaders and institutions.
The museum will bring this vibrant culture to life through art exhibits, maps, pictures, descriptions, displays and audio-visual presentations. To give visitors an even greater understanding of Jewish life in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the museum will also feature a replica of a Jewish settlement, situated around a town square, and including a typical home, synagogue, shops, school and stables.
International Institute of the Righteous
The International Institute of the Righteous provides visitors with an inspirational look at the people and institutions who performed brave acts of altruism throughout history in the face of evil or great danger.The goal of the International Institute of the Righteous will be to present a powerful message of the best attributes of human nature and a vision of a better future. It will highlight righteous deeds and altruistic acts both in the present and throughout history. It will also mount an ongoing exploration into the motivation for righteousness in the face of evil and inhumanity.
It will pay tribute to the men and women who, throughout history, have rescued and supported their fellow human beings, even at great risk to themselves and their families. Exhibits will include portraits and individual biographies together with governmental and organizational histories that highlight altruistic acts. The mission is to draw attention to even the quiet acts of valor that have as of yet gone unnoticed.