Two museums on opposite ends of Ohio have joined forces to create the Holocaust Education Campaign.
Cincinnati’s Holocaust and Humanity Center and Cleveland’s Maltz Museum will work together to ensure future generations are aware and will remember the Holocaust. A recent study revealed 22% of millennials have never heard of the Holocaust.
HHC CEO Sarah Weiss said more work needs to be done to make sure it’s not just a footnote.
“There’s stories, there’s museums, there’s books,” Weiss said. “I think there’s also at times an oversimplification that happens with it or this assumption that people know what it is when it’s said and actually people don’t.”
The museums cite a rise of antisemitism across the country as reason for the campaign. Weiss said there’s always work to be done.
“The one thing that we need to always need to ensure, especially our elected officials, is that we’re not only calling it out on the other side when we see it on the other side, but we’re also calling it out when we see it in our own circles,” Weiss said.
Dahlia Fisher from the Maltz Museum says there’s lessons to be learned from the Holocaust and that’s it “not just a Jewish story, but a human story.”
The museums will offer educational programming and workshops to reach thousands of Ohioans. Programs will be offered digitally, as well as in-person. They expect to offer more programming and create more partnerships throughout communities in the future.
The campaign comes as a state Senate bill has been introduced to create the Holocaust and Genocide Memorial and Education Commission.
