El Paso, TX

El Paso Holocaust Museum

Address: 715 N. Oregon St., El Paso, TX 79902 - MAP
Phone: (915) 351-0048
Web: www.elpasoholocaustmuseum.org

One survivor's vision and determination to pass along the history of the Holocaust has earned worldwide recognition and mobilized the community of El Paso to support the establishment of the El Paso Holocaust Museum and Study Center.

The project began in 1984, when Holocaust survivor Henry Kellen decided to tell his story of what he endured as a victim of the Holocaust as a young boy.

Those moments began at the Jewish Community Center, where Kellen would bring a few books and personal items for children and adults to view while he told his firsthand account. With the support of the community and a single $250,000 donation, the design and construction of a Holocaust museum began.

The Museum opened a few years later but was destroyed in an electrical fire in 2001. Undeterred, the community set about rebuilding the museum and raised most of the funds within the area.

The new $2.5 million building was designed by El Paso artist Victor Mireles and reopened in 2008. It features 4,000 square fee of exhibit space, which is in both English and Spanish.

Lessons in the multimedia galleries include: Life in Europe before the Nazi Party; the Rise of the Nazi Party; the Use of Nazi Propaganda; Kristallnacht ; Life in the Ghettos; Transportation by Railcars to the Camps; Life and Death in Nazi Concentration Camps; Liberation by the Allied Forces; the Righteous Among the Nations; a Memorial and Reflection Room; and a Gallery of El Paso Holocaust Survivors.