Later this month, the world will make Holocaust Remembrance Day. It’s a day to remember the victims of one of the darkest moments in history.
Soon, people in Boston will be able to learn about that period of history at a new facility. The city’s first ever Holocaust museum will be built on the corner of Tremont Street and Hamilton Place, near Park Street Station and directly on the historic Freedom Trail.
“The Holocaust, even though it seems like it was so long ago and so far away, it really wasn’t,” said Jody Kipnis, CEO of the Holocaust Legacy Foundation.
It’s why Kipnis wants to bring the story of Holocaust to Boston. She is the head of the Holocaust Legacy Foundation but this dark chapter of history is something she always shied away from.
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“I avoided the Holocaust, it was scary for me,” said Kipnis. “The reason we're doing this museum is because the education piece is important. I didn't have that education.”
Kipnis along with Todd Ruderman came up with the idea after an emotional visit to concentration camps in Poland. She saw those places through the eyes of Holocaust survivor David Schaecter.
“What changed my life was hearing from a survivor,” she said.
Together they walked through the gas chambers, bunkers and crematorium where millions of Jews were sent to die.
“We walked away from that pit of ash and said, when we leave here, we have to do something. We didn't know what that something was,” said Kipnis.
Turns out it was the museum. When complete in 2026 it will be a place where this generation and every one after it will be able to learn about the horrors of the Holocaust and how to combat antisemitism.
“The Holocaust Museum, was designed to kind of fit in, but also stand out,” said Jonathan Traficonte, principal architect with Boston-based Schwartz Silver.
He said this has been a meaningful project for him.
“It’s a building that is teaching something that is relevant, highly relevant in today's world,” said Traficonte.
The 32,000-square-foot building will be six and a half floors and an immersive experience, including the Dimensions in Testimony theater. It’s where visitors can ask questions to Holocaust survivors projected on a screen. David Schaecter recorded hundreds of answers to a whole host of questions last year in Miami.
“There's just something about talking to a survivor because they were the witnesses and now we have to be their mouthpieces,” said Kipnis.
But maybe the most visible feature of the museum will be a rail car that was used to transport Jews to concentration camps. The car will sit near the top floor and be visible from the street below.
“When you think about putting visitors inside of a story, you really want to make sure you're being authentic with those storytelling techniques and not trying to recreate something,” said A.J. Goehle, CEO of Luci Creative. Goehle has been working with the architects to design the exhibits.
Kipnis said when the doors open in two years she knows how important this museum will be.
“I wish I didn't have to build a Holocaust museum. I wish we didn't have to do that,” she said. “It's important today. Unfortunately, it's going to be important tomorrow as well. I'm hoping this does make a difference. And even if it changes one person a day, I'll take that.”
