UK’s National Holocaust Centre and Museum Commemorates 20th Anniversary

The National Holocaust Centre and Museum, founded by USC Shoah Foundation Executive Director Stephen Smith and James Smith, will commemorate its 20th anniversary June 26 with a service at Westminster Abbey in London.

Stephen and James Smith founded the Centre in Nottinghamshire in 1995. It is the first and only national museum in the UK dedicated to teaching and learning the lessons from the Holocaust.

Westminster Abbey will host “A Service of Thanksgiving and Re-commitment” for the Centre Sunday, June 26 at 6:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public. The Smiths will attend the service along with other supporters, scholars and survivors.

The Centre provides a permanent memorial to the victims of the Holocaust; offers an understanding of the causes and events of the Holocaust through exhibitions and survivor testimonies; and presents programs of learning that encourage personal responsibility and the promotion of fairness and justice while challenging learners to take positive action.

The Centre includes a Holocaust exhibition, exhibit of art created by survivors after liberation, and memorial gardens.

Its Journey exhibition follows the story of Leo Stein, a 10 year old German Jewish boy, living with his parents and younger sister Hannah. By following Leo’s life from his family home, through to his Journey to England on the Kindertransport, visitors to the museum learn about the impact of Nazi propaganda, anti-Jewish measures, and anti-Semitism.