Yad Vashem to establish first Holocaust education centre outside of Israel
Jerusalem-based Shoah museum says choice of Munich, the birthplace of the Nazi Party, ' reflects the importance of confronting this history where it began'
Yad Vashem’s first education centre outside of Israel will be established in Munich, with the intention to open the site within the next three years.
Based at Karolinenplatz in the heart of the Bavarian city, the centre, which has received the backing of the German government, is intended to serve as a platform for audiences across the country and strengthen the world Holocaust remembrance museum’s global outreach to advance Shoah education and remembrance.
Yad Vashem is also exploring opening an extension of the institution in Leipzig, Saxony, with interactive learning spaces and broadening its long-standing educational partnership with North Rhine-Westphalia, a region incorporating major cities like Cologne, Düsseldorf (the capital), Dortmund, and Bonn, to start the process of developing the centre into a nationwide cooperation model.
Yad Vashem chairman Dani Dayan said: “As we move further from the era of living survivor testimony, historically grounded Holocaust education is more important than ever. Through this education centre, Yad Vashem will bring to Germany its unique educational approach at a critical juncture of growing Holocaust distortion, denial, and antisemitism.
“The choice of Munich, the birthplace of the Nazi Party, carries deep symbolic significance and reflects the importance of confronting this history where it began. Working together with our German partners, this centre will help ensure that the truth of the Holocaust is preserved and passed on to future generations.”
Federal education minister Karin Prien, the first Jewish woman to serve in the German federal cabinet since the Shoah, said the aim of The Yad Vashem educational centre in Germany is “to strengthen Holocaust education and remembrance, and to combat antisemitism across Germany and Europe.”
She added: “Knowledge of the past is essential to preventing such evil in the future. Many young people in Germany still know too little about the Shoah – the systematic murder of millions of Jews under National Socialism. The Free State of Bavaria, and Minister-President Markus Söder personally, have for decades demonstrated a strong commitment to Jewish life in Germany and to the fight against antisemitism.”
Kai Diekmann, chairman of the Friends of Yad Vashem in Germany said the decision “builds on many years of successful collaboration.”
The idea of opening a Holocaust Education Centre in Germany was first raised during a 2023 meeting between Dani Dayan and Germany’s chancellor at the time, Olaf Scholz.
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