Holocaust Museum LA receives $2.5 for major expansion project

Holocaust Museum LA (HMLA) received $2.5 million in funding on Oct. 21 from the California Legislative Jewish Caucus. The funds will help educate tens of thousands of California students every year about the Holocaust, and inspire them to stand up against antisemitism, hatred and bigotry. 

During a press conference held at the home of the museum in Pan Pacific Park, HMLA Executive Director Beth Kean said visitors to the museum have increased by 400% since the opening of  its permanent home in 2010. The museum hosts 60,000 people annually, 20,000 of whom are students. Requests for programs and tours have been so high they’ve had to turn people away, she added. 

This latest funding will allow the museum to increase visitor capacity to 500,000 by 2030 including 150,000 students. Ninety percent of the students who visit HMLA are not Jewish. The museum also will feature outdoor reflective spaces, large galleries and classrooms, a theater for survivor talks, film screenings, concerts, conferences and public programs, a new pavilion to house an authentic boxcar, and a dedicated theater for USC Shoah Foundation’s “Dimensions in Testimony” exhibition.

Former Jewish Caucus Chair Senator Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), said that while antisemitism is on the rise, the museum makes an effort to educate through compassion rather than condemnation. Referencing the Orange County teens who threw a swastika party in 2019, Allen said, “Instead of condemning young people and calling them antisemites and bigots, this museum invited those kids here,” to meet Holocaust survivors. “They said this experience opened their hearts. [HMLA] didn’t hand them a book, [they] had them grapple with the legacy of the Holocaust here at this museum surrounded by the mementos. It’s why we work to get state resources here to continue to educate the next generation.”