After two years of renovations, Melbourne’s Holocaust Museum is set to reopen this month as the city’s new educational hub. Museum visitors will have a multi-sensory experience as they learn about survivors’ stories using the latest virtual reality technology, writes Naomi Kaltman, Waved journalist.
“We hope that those who visit the museum will broaden their thinking and ask questions like, ‘How on earth can this happen in front of other people?'” “
said Jane Josem, director of the museum. We deliberately chose images this They were conceived. We want to be a place for good conversation, and a safe space for difficult topics about the Holocaust.”
An ongoing project that will put Australia first in the world to have a Holocaust museum in every country, regardless of the size of the Jewish community in the area. In Tasmania, for example, there are only 376 Jews, and in the Northern Territory even less, and the number of Jews does not reach a hundred people, despite this, plans for the establishment of museums there are already being prepared, which will soon be implemented. Queensland’s Holocaust Museum opens in June.
Former Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, a descendant of Holocaust survivors and a major supporter of the project, said:
“I don’t think we can overestimate the important development that will take place in Holocaust education and memorialization in Australia. It is our collective duty to say never again!”
Melbourne’s Holocaust Museum’s renovation was also timely, because in 2016, they were forced to turn down a school block because they no longer had a larger capacity. Thanks to the current renovation, they can increase the number of annual visitors from 23,000 to 35,000. “We want the school children to say at home when they come home: I had a great trip. Which then encourages parents to come to our museum as a family.” Jane Josem said.
