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
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.
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
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.
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
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
VHM Artifact Highlight: Hyde Farmland
May 25th, 2017– While the Germans increased their restrictions on Jewish citizens in an effort to force them to leave the country, foreign governments continued to show no interest in taking in refugees from Europe. Though national reluctance to aid those in peril would continue throughout the war years, a
VHM Artifact Highlight: Baermann Family Immigration
May 1st, 2017– By stripping German Jews of their rights and livelihoods, the Nazi government sought to create a nation inhospitable to its Jewish population. In turn, they hoped to force emigration in an attempt to rid Germany of Jews. In response to this increasingly hostile environment, many German Jews
VHM Artifact Highlight: Jewish Passport
April 17th, 2017– The Nazis continued to pass decrees and regulations throughout the second half of the 1930s. Each new law further excluded Jews from society, while creating an ever-increasingly hostile environment for them. While many Jews hoped to emigrate during this period, quotas and anti-Semitic policies, both in Germany
NOVA Preview: Holocaust Escape Tunnel
April 6th, 2017– On Wednesday night, the Museum hosted a preview of one of NOVA's latest documentary films, Holocaust Escape Tunnel for members of the VHM and WCVE followed by a panel discussion. Holocaust Escape Tunnel centers around a group of archeologists who traveled to the Lithuanian city Vilnius to