Renovated/Expanded Holocaust Museum Opens November 2
Date Posted: November 1, 2022
Posted In: News, Projects,
From STL Jewish Light: The St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum officially re-opens to the public at 1 p.m. Nov. 2 with many more resources to continue its mission to reject hatred, promote understanding and inspire change. Following a 2½-year, $21 million renovation and expansion, the museum features a wide range of exhibits and education tools to achieve those goals.
In recent months, museum staff and volunteers have been preparing for this day as construction crews put the finishing touches on the structure. The building design and entrance strike a balance that is both solemn and welcoming.
With 36,000 square feet of space, the museum is already booking school outings and group tours. Those opportunities to educate students and adults are key to making sure the lessons of the Holocaust don’t fade from memory.
The museum’s reopening comes at an important time, said Frances Levine, interim executive director. “I think we’ve opened this museum at a really critical juncture when the rhetoric and conspiracy theories have brought so many issues home to us,” said Levine, who holds a doctorate in anthropology and is former CEO of the Missouri Historical Society. “I think that we couldn’t have opened at a better time in our history.”
An asset for the community
The new Holocaust museum will take on the crucial task of education and fighting hatred, said Carol Staenberg, who spearheaded the museum’s capital campaign.
“The previous museum was pretty outdated,” Staenberg said. “And with the rise of antisemitism all over the world, we built a place that is so beautiful and impactful on the outside, but also inside. We raised a lot of money for the capital to build it, and then we started to talk about what was going to happen inside and what people would take away from visiting the museum. That was my motivation and why I really thought it was important to be a part of this project.”