Political Prisoner detail

VHM Artifact Highlight: Political Prisoner Uniform

December 11th, 2017– Each act of passive and active resistance was a potential threat to the Third Reich. Not only could these acts physically impede the progress of Nazi plans, but they could also challenge the ideological basis of the Nazi regime. Those who stood in opposition to the government,

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Torah (Lithuanian) 2

VHM Artifact Highlight: Torahs

October 30th, 2017– Armed acts were not the only form of resistance during the Holocaust. The Third Reich’s attempt to eradicate Jews began by disrupting Jewish daily life while also enacting a wide range of dehumanizing initiatives. This process was not only part of the Nazis’ effort to murder the

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Blank-Giving-Awards-to-Wilkinson-and-Lemons

Law Day 2017

October 27th, 2017– Last Wednesday, October 25th, the Virginia Holocaust Museum hosted the annual Rule of Law Day Awards. One of the central lessons of the Holocaust focuses on the centrality of the Rule of Law in the creation and maintenance of civil societies. To safeguard that belief, the Nuremberg Courtroom Committee

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Untitled, Serge Mendjisky Painting

VHM Artifact Highlight: Mendjisky Painting

September 7th, 2017– It is a common misconception that Jews and citizens of German-occupied territories did not resist or fight back against Nazi forces. Resistance, in fact, was widespread and implemented by both Jews and non-Jews. Further, resistance took on many forms, ranging from upholding Jewish traditions to taking up

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Niusia & Wanda Kazusek (1942)

VHM Artifact Highlight: Hiding in Plain Sight

August 24th, 2017– As the ghettoization/deportation phase began across Europe, some Jews attempted to escape. However, it was often not possible to get out of Nazi controlled territories, forcing some to go into hiding. A well-known example of someone who hid during the Holocaust is that of Anne Frank, the

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Melissa Answering Teachers Questions at TEI 2017

TEI 2017 Highlights

July 25th, 2017– This year marks the 15th year the Virginia Holocaust Museum hosting the Alexander Lebenstein Teacher Education Institute. Back in 2002, as part of the Museum's primary focus on education, the VHM's volunteers developed this program originally as a two-weekend workshop. It has now expanded with the Museum.

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ID-web-feature

VHM Artifact Highlight: False IDs

July 10th, 2017– As the government began isolating Jews in ghettos and camps, Jews in German-occupied territories could not escape Nazi persecution and eventual deportation, a reality that sent many Jews into hiding. The decision to go into hiding was incredibly dangerous not only for those hiding, but also for

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Deporation-2017-sitefeatured

New Exhibit Being Installed

June 26th, 2017– A new exhibit installation will be taking place June 27th & 28th. This room will be closed for two days while the rest of the core exhibit and the Auschwitz exhibit will be open and available to view. Sorry for any inconvenience.

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VHM Artifact Highlight: Ghetto Stories

June 20th, 2017– The main function of ghettoization -- physically segregating Jewish citizens from the rest of society -- eventually served as a key step in the deportation of Jews to killing fields and extermination camps during the Final Solution. Prior to the spring of 1942, relatively few Jews were

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VHM Artifact Highlight: ID Badges

June 5th, 2017– For Jews who remained in Europe, it became more and more difficult to escape the reach of the Third Reich. With every country they invaded, the Nazis increased efforts to identify Jews in the areas they took over. After the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, they required

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