Auschwitz Exhibition At Museum Of Jewish Heritage Opens

BATTERY PARK CITY, NY — The Museum of Jewish Heritage opened the largest Holocaust exhibition about Auschwitz in North America Wednesday.

The Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust opened "Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away." Wednesday in partnership with the international exhibition firm Musealia and the Auschwitz—Birkenau State Museum in Poland.

The exhibition features hundreds of objects never displayed in North America previously, according to the museum. It will run through Jan. 3, 2020.

The opening marks the anniversary of VE Day, or victory, in Europe at the end of World War II in 1945 when Nazi Germany surrendered.

"As the title of the exhibit suggests, Auschwitz is not ancient history but living memory, warning us to be vigilant, haunting us with the admonition ‘Never Again.’ It is a prod to look around the world and mark the ongoing atrocities against vulnerable people," Bruce Ratner, the museum's board of trustees chairman, said in a statement.

"While we had all hoped after the Holocaust that the international community would come together to stop genocide, mass murder, and ethnic cleansing, these crimes continue," he said. "And there are more refugees today than at any time since the Second World War. So my hope for this exhibit is that it motivates all of us to make the connections between the world of the past and the world of the present, and to take a firm stand against hate, bigotry, ethnic violence, religious intolerance, and nationalist brutality of all kinds."

The exhibition will display hundreds of objects and photographs, including personal items such as suitcases, glasses and shoes belonging to survivors and victims of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Concrete posts from the fence at the Auschwitz camp will be on display, as well as a desk used by the longest-serving Auschwitz commandant, Rudolf Höss.

A freight car used to transport Jews to ghettos and extermination camps is on display outside of the museum in Battery Park City.

"Seventy-three years ago, after the world saw the haunting pictures from Auschwitz, no one in their right mind wanted to be associated with Nazis. But today, 73 years and three generations later, people have forgotten, or they never knew," Ron Lauder, founder and chairman of the The Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation Committee and president of the World Jewish Congress. "This exhibit reminds them, in the starkest ways, where anti-Semitism can ultimately lead and the world should never go there again. The title of this exhibit is so appropriate because this was not so long ago, and not so far away."

Here's more information on how to see the exhibition:

Where?

Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place in Battery Park City

When?

Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. with the last entry at 7 p.m. and Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with the last entry at 3 p.m.

The museum is closed on Saturdays, Jewish holidays and Thanksgiving.

The exhibition runs through Jan. 3, 2020.

Tickets:

Entry by timed tickets are available at Auschwitz.nyc. Audio guide in eight languages included with admission.

$25 — Flexible entry, any time on a specific day
$16 — Adults
$12 — Seniors and people with disabilities
$10 — Students and veterans
$8 — Museum members
Free — Holocaust survivors, active members of the military and first responders, NYC public school students and educators with valid school-issued ID

For group sales, contact the museum at 646-437-4304 or email groupvisits@mjhnyc.org.