The Virginia Holocaust Museum first opened in 1997 in the former Education building at Temple Beth El, but within a few years, it outgrew the space. The Virginia General Assembly then offered the American Tobacco Company Warehouse which was refurbished and is now the home of VHM.
The museum boasts over 6,000 archived artifacts, 1,400 documents, 4,500 library titles, and 345 recordings of oral history and draws over 44,000 guests each year.
The entrance to the museum is set off with barricade fencing and a Deutsche Reichsbahn rail transport from Hannover Germany. The cobblestones in front of the museum were from the Warsaw Ghetto and the rail lines from the Treblinka death camp. At the entrance lobby are some sobering photos and artwork.
After checking in, the first exhibit I saw was the Memorial’s Survivor Wall followed by the Tower Of Remembrance with photos of holocaust persons and families plus a stained glass image which is used on the museum information pamphlet.
Next was suitcases with names of Jews transported to concentration camps and a boxed crate sent to Richmond relatives awaiting their arrival, but they never made it.
The Palace of Justice Exhibit was a mockup of the courtroom of the Nuremberg Palace of Justice where Nazi criminals were tried.
Prisoners were bunked in the camps and their uniforms were identified as to what type of prisoner they were and some assignments came accordingly.
A few Nazi exhibits are displayed. A first edition of Mein Kampf, a quote and banner from Hans Kriegler a member of the SS, and a Nazi flag.
The Kovno Ghetto in Lithuania is prominent in the VHM. Approximately 30,000 Jews were imprisoned here with only 2,000 survivors. Kovno originally had 40 synagogues but only two survived after Nazi occupation and Lithuanian nationalism. Inside the VHM is a reconstruction of the Chore Shul from Kovno, Lithuania.
There are many donated artifacts. On display is also restraints used by the SS at Dachau. Prisoners were also labeled with prisoner uniform markings as to their various status.
Mockups of the holocaust are throughout the VHM, some with donated artifacts.
Lastly, in 1972 my wife and I visited the Dachau concentration camp and took the attached blurry photos and then a second time in 1993. In the year 2000 we visited the camp in Buchenwald, Germany.
The VHM is located at 2000 East Cary Street in Richmond Virginia, 23223. It is open Monday through Friday from 9 AM until 5 PM. It is also open Saturday and Sunday from 11 AM to 5 PM. It is closed on various holidays. Check with their website at www.vaholocaust.org.
Admission is free though donations are accepted. Parking in their lot across the museum is free. There is also street parking with time limits. The VHM requires masks for entry to the museum for all unvaccinated guests.
