St Louis holocaust museum quadruples in size to take the fight to hate

A new Holocaust museum will open its doors on 2nd November, after a $21 million (£17 million) expansion.

The expansion quadrupled the size of the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum in Creve Coeur, with rooms dedicated to preserving over 12,000 artefacts. It will also include new innovative technology and meeting rooms.

The museum, named after the family of local Holocaust survivors Gloria Kaplan Feldman and her brother David Kaplan, aims to help reject hatred, promote understanding, and inspire change.

"We envision a transformative Holocaust museum experience that fosters empathy and empowers our visitors to take action against bigotry," their website reads.

It is one of 22 Holocaust museums across the United States.

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Last month, the museum received a hefty $1 million (£813,000) pledge from Tilles Foundation, which is "committed to improving the Greater St. Louis Region through innovative charitable investments in leading-edge organisations."

The donation was given to help fund educational efforts in a bid "to stand up in the face of hate or bias or stereotyping."

“It’s not a classroom. It really is a lab — a lab of self,” said Director of Education Helen Turner. “It’s a place for self-exploration and to challenge, to maybe change one’s thinking. And to practice what we do when we confront hate or bigotry or bias.”

“A lot of times Holocaust museums, or museums in general, leave visitors with the feeling that you’ve learned about this difficult history and now can go forward and change the world,” Turner said. “But that's a heavy weight to put on a student or an adult. And so the lab is really designed to practice what it means to stand up in the face of hate or bias or stereotyping.”

For more information, click here.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.